{"id":42403,"date":"2024-10-24T16:13:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T20:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=42403"},"modified":"2024-10-24T16:13:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T20:13:44","slug":"arizona-mirror-president-biden-to-apologize-for-genocidal-indian-boarding-school-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/10\/24\/arizona-mirror-president-biden-to-apologize-for-genocidal-indian-boarding-school-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Mirror: President Biden to apologize for genocidal Indian boarding school era"},"content":{"rendered":" <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/10\/24\/arizona-mirror-president-biden-to-apologize-for-genocidal-indian-boarding-school-era\/pershlieami\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-42406\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" data-attachment-id=\"42406\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/10\/24\/arizona-mirror-president-biden-to-apologize-for-genocidal-indian-boarding-school-era\/pershlieami\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/24\/pershlieami.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2048,1152\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Pershlie Ami\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Pershlie Ami&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Pershlie Ami, a citizen of the Hopi Tribe, shares her experience of attending Phoenix Indian School when she was a kid during the Road to Healing tour hosted by the U.S. Department of Interior at the Gila Crossing Community School on January 20, 2023. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith  Arizona Mirror&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/24\/pershlieami.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/24\/pershlieami.jpg\" alt=\"Pershlie Ami\"   class=\"size-full wp-image-42406\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"figure-caption\"> Pershlie Ami, a citizen of the Hopi Tribe, shares her experience of attending Phoenix Indian School when she was a kid during the Road to Healing tour hosted by the U.S. Department of Interior at the Gila Crossing Community School on January 20, 2023. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith  Arizona Mirror<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">\u2018We have persevered\u2019: Biden will apologize for Native American boarding school history<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Thursday, October 24, 2024<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\">By Shondiin Silversmith, <a href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\">Arizona Mirror<\/a> <\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n <p>For the first time in history, a sitting U.S. president is set to apologize to Indigenous communities for the role the federal government played in the atrocities Indigenous children faced in the federal Native American Boarding School system.<\/p><p>The apology, which Biden will deliver Friday when he speaks at the Gila River Crossing School on the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix, comes three years after Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched the first-ever investigation into Native American Boarding Schools.\u00a0<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/media_document\/doi_federal_indian_boarding_school_initiative_investigative_report_vii_final_508_compliant.pdf\">The final boarding school report<\/a> provided eight recommendations from the Department of Indian Affairs for the federal government that would support a path to healing for tribal communities.\u00a0<\/p><p>At the top of that list was a call for the United States to acknowledge and apologize for its role in the federal Indian boarding school policies that have harmed \u2014 and continue to harm \u2014 Indigenous peoples across the country.<\/p><p>\u201cThe president is taking that to heart, and he plans on making an apology to Indian Country for the boarding school era,\u201d Haaland said in an Oct. 23 interview with the Arizona Mirror.<\/p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/subscribe\">        <div class=\"subscribeShortcodeContainer\">            <div class=\"subscribeTextContainer\">                <i><\/i>                <p>GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.<\/p>            <\/div>            <div class=\"subscribeButtonContainer\">                SUBSCRIBE            <\/div>        <\/div>        <\/a>      \r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">From White House Fact Sheet: &quot;The President also believes that to usher in the next era of the Federal-Tribal relationships we need to fully acknowledge the harms of the past. That is why he is issuing a historic Presidential apology for the Federal Indian Boarding School era.&quot;<\/p>&mdash; indianz.com (@indianz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/indianz\/status\/1849541831991885935?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 24, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n\r\n  <p>Haaland said she has been pinching herself since she got the news that Biden planned on issuing an apology because of the work put in by so many people to shed light on Native American boarding schools and the lasting impacts it has had on Indigenous communities.<\/p><p>\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly meaningful,\u201d Haaland said, because, as part of the boarding school initiative, their department organized the Road to Healing tour, where they visited several Indigenous communities to hear stories about boarding schools.<\/p><p>\u201cThey were all heart-wrenching,\u201d Haaland said of stories that were shared by victims and their families. \u201cWe sat through so many testimonies from survivors and descendants, and I have a deep understanding of what so many people went through and what our community suffered from.\u201d<\/p><p>The Department of the Interior investigated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doi.gov\/pressreleases\/department-interior-releases-investigative-report-outlines-next-steps-federal-indian\">the federal Indian boarding school system<\/a> across the United States, identifying more than 400 schools and over 70 burial sites.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\" content_cards_card content_cards_domain_indianz-com\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content_cards_image\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_image_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/10\/02\/efforts-continue-to-account-for-genocidal-indian-boarding-school-era\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/07\/debhaaland-4.jpg\" alt=\"Efforts continue to account for genocidal Indian boarding school era\">\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_title\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_title_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/10\/02\/efforts-continue-to-account-for-genocidal-indian-boarding-school-era\/\">\n\t\t\tEfforts continue to account for genocidal Indian boarding school era\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_description\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_description_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/10\/02\/efforts-continue-to-account-for-genocidal-indian-boarding-school-era\/\">\n\t\t\t<p>Secretary Deb Haaland visited one of the most infamous Indian boarding school sites amid ongoing efforts to hold the U.S. accountable for a genocidal era in history.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_site_name\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/favicon.ico\" alt=\"Indianz.Com\" class=\"content_cards_favicon\"\/>\t\tIndianz.Com\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n<p>Arizona was <a href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/2022\/05\/11\/historic-report-on-federal-indian-boarding-schools-finds-47-in-arizona-400-nationwide\/\">home to 47 of those schools<\/a>, which were attended by Indigenous <a href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/2022\/09\/14\/the-night-the-greyhounds-came\/\">children who were taken away from their families<\/a> and attempted to assimilate them through education \u2014 and, often, physical punishment.<\/p><p>The legacy of <a href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/2023\/09\/30\/new-report-finds-another-115-indigenous-boarding-schools-most-run-by-missionaries\/\">the federal Indian boarding school system<\/a> is not new to Indigenous people. For centuries, Indigenous people across the country have experienced the loss of their culture, traditions, language and land.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cThis is an incredibly suppressed history that so many people didn\u2019t know about and now it\u2019s seeing the light of day,\u201d Haaland said. \u201cI have to believe that people will heal from what we\u2019ve been able to do, and certainly hearing from President Biden, who has been the best president for Indian Country in my lifetime, say that he\u2019s sorry, it\u2019s beyond words.\u201d<\/p><p>Biden plans to visit Indian Country for the first time on October 25, where he will issue that apology alongside Haaland at the Gila River Crossing School.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cSome of our elders who are boarding school survivors have been waiting all of their lives for this moment,\u201d Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be incredibly powerful and redemptive when the president issues this apology on Indian land,\u201d he added. \u201cIf only for a moment on Friday, this will rise to the top and the most powerful person in the world, our president, is shining a light on this dark history that\u2019s been hidden.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\" content_cards_card content_cards_domain_azmirror-com\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content_cards_image\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_image_link\" href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/2022\/09\/14\/the-night-the-greyhounds-came\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/07\/boarding-school-greyhounds-hcn-2048x1422-1.jpe\" alt=\"The night the Greyhounds came\">\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_title\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_title_link\" href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/2022\/09\/14\/the-night-the-greyhounds-came\/\">\n\t\t\tThe night the Greyhounds came\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_description\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_description_link\" href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/2022\/09\/14\/the-night-the-greyhounds-came\/\">\n\t\t\t<p>They told Willie Grayeyes (Din\u00e9) to sleep in his clothes \u2014 to not even take off his black shoes. At any moment, the Tuba City Boarding School staff members said, the 7-year-old would be called upon.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_site_name\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/cropped-AZM-square-logo-copy-32x32.png\" alt=\"Arizona Mirror\" class=\"content_cards_favicon\"\/>\t\tArizona Mirror\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>Haaland said Biden, being the first sitting president willing to apologize, helps Indian Country feel seen because the \u201chorrible history\u201d of Native American Boarding Schools and assimilation policies aimed at pushing Indigenous people out of their communities has been ignored \u201cfor so long.\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cIt was an outright assault and genocide that our communities went through for centuries, and we\u2019re still here,\u201d Haaland said. \u201cNone of anything that the federal government or anyone did throughout those centuries managed to eradicate us.\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cWe have persevered,\u201d she added. \u201cI feel so proud the sitting president is acknowledging that. It\u2019s amazing, and I am deeply appreciative.\u201d<\/p><p>Learning that the president is willing to issue an apology, Indivisible Tohono Co-founder April Ignacio said that it is a historic event because they finally acknowledge the government\u2019s role in a national policy of forced assimilation against the first peoples of this land.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cNever in my life did I think we would be here,\u201d Ignacio said. \u201cThis apology is long overdue, and the impact the Boarding School era had on our loss of culture and language must be tied to immediate action through reparations.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<div class=\" content_cards_card content_cards_domain_indianz-com\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content_cards_image\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_image_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/z\/fibs\/2023\/01\/20\/photos-road-to-healing-in-arizona\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/07\/the-road-to-healing-gila-crossing-community-school-laveen-village-az-1202023_52645566655_o-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"PHOTOS: Road to Healing in Arizona\">\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_title\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_title_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/z\/fibs\/2023\/01\/20\/photos-road-to-healing-in-arizona\/\">\n\t\t\tPHOTOS: Road to Healing in Arizona\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_description\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_description_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/z\/fibs\/2023\/01\/20\/photos-road-to-healing-in-arizona\/\">\n\t\t\t<p>The Department of the Interior takes the Road to Healing to the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_site_name\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/favicon.ico\" alt=\"Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Archive\" class=\"content_cards_favicon\"\/>\t\tFederal Indian Boarding School Initiative Archive\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n<p>In 2023, Ignacio said, Indivisible Tohono organized a caravan of 18 Tohono O\u2019odham elders who were boarding school survivors and attendees to testify during the Road to Healing Tour organized by the Department of Interior.<\/p><p>Ignacio said she has five generations of boarding school survivors and attendees in her family. She shared her story during the Road to Healing tour.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cAs a co-founder of Indivisible Tohono, I thank President Biden for his willingness to address the historical and ongoing impact of Indian Boarding School policies,\u201d Ignacio said. \u201cThis apology is consistent with President Biden\u2019s promise to honor sovereignty, and this historical acknowledgment will be a part of his legacy.\u201d<\/p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\/donate\/?oa_referrer=midstorybox\">        <div class=\"donateContainer\">            <div class=\"donateTextContainer\">                <p>YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.<\/p>            <\/div>            <div class=\"donateButtonContainer\">                SUPPORT            <\/div>        <\/div>        <\/a>        <style> figure, .tipContainer, .socContainer, .subscribeShortcodeContainer, .donateContainer {display:none !important;} .youtubeContainer { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin-bottom:12px; } .youtubeContainer iframe, .video-container object, .video-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100% !important; height: 100%; margin: 12px 0px !important; } .newsroomSidebar {width:35%;max-width:35%;padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;float:right;margin-left:50px;} .snrsInfoboxSubContainer {padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;} .halfwidth {float:right;width:50%;max-width:50%;} .indent2Container {margin-left: 1em;margin-bottom:1em; border-left: solid 1px black;padding-left: 2em;} @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {.newsroomSidebar {max-width:95%;width:95%;margin-left:4%} .halfwidth {float:none;width:100%;max-width:100%;} }<\/style> <HR>\r\n<p><strong>\r\nThis story originally appeared on <a href=https:\/\/azmirror.com\/2024\/10\/24\/we-have-persevered-biden-will-apologize-for-native-american-boarding-school-history\/>Arizona Mirror on October 24, 2024<\/a>. It is published under a Creative Commons license (<a href=https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/>CC BY-ND 4.0<\/a>).<\/strong>\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><EM><a href=\"https:\/\/azmirror.com\">Arizona Mirror<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: <a href=\"mailto:info@azmirror.com\">info@azmirror.com<\/a>. Follow Arizona Mirror on <a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/azmirror\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ArizonaMirror\">X<\/a>.<\/em><\/p><HR>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time in history, a sitting U.S. president is set to apologize for the federal government&#8217;s role in abuse and mistreatment at Indian boarding schools.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,13,1,14],"tags":[1457,5070,42,5111,418,88,118,66,53,150],"class_list":["post-42403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-law","category-national","category-politics","tag-apologies","tag-april-ignacio","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-mirror","tag-boarding-schools","tag-deb-haaland","tag-doi","tag-gila-river","tag-joe-biden","tag-stephen-roe-lewis","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/24\/pershlieami.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-b1V","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42403"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42415,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42403\/revisions\/42415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}