GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY – President Joe Biden on Friday apologized to Native Americans for the U.S. government’s role in creating and operating Indian boarding schools that for 150 years aimed to assimilate Native children by removing them from their families and erasing their language and culture.

As he spoke, a large crowd of tribal leaders and community members applauded him. Survivors of the schools wept as they listened to words they never saw coming.

“The federal government has never officially apologized for what happened. “I formally apologize,” Biden said, while people responded, “Thanks Joe!” while shouting

“It happened,” the President continued. “Darkness can hide many things. It doesn’t delete anything. Some injustices are disgusting and terrible. They cannot be buried. We must know good, bad and right. We do not erase history. We are making history. “We learn from history and remember so that we can heal as a nation.”

During his first visit to Indian Country as president, Biden called government-run Indian boarding schools “one of the most horrific parts of American history that most Americans don’t know about.” He called the US government’s effort “horribly wrong” and “a sin on our souls.”

Jim LaBelle, who is Iñupiaq and spent 10 years at Wrangell Institute, an Indian boarding school in Alaska, said he drove from Anchorage with his wife and daughter to hear Biden speak. LaBelle said she was “overwhelmed” by the apology and called the president’s words “meaningful and powerful.”

As a child, Ramona Klein, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, North Dakota, was forced to attend the Fort Totten Indian boarding school 100 miles from her home. “It’s been 70 years since I went to boarding school, and I’m proud that I lived to see it,” Klein said, his voice hoarse.

Biden also touted his record of helping Native American tribes, aiming to solidify his legacy and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign in a tight race for the presidency less than two weeks before Election Day.

Biden, who said he came to Arizona to “right a wrong,” praised First Lady Jill Biden’s repeated visits to Indian Country and talked about traditions passed down by Native Americans for generations.

Biden said “respect for tribal sovereignty has been shattered” by boarding schools.

From 1819 to 1969, the U.S. government operated or paid to churches and religious groups more than 400 federal Indian boarding schools in 37 states. Biden’s remarks were the first time a U.S. president has apologized for the trauma, abuse and other mistreatment experienced by tens of thousands of Indigenous children forced to attend schools.

Children were taken from their homes, named and given Anglicized names or identified by their numbers. Their long hair was cut and they were beaten if they spoke tribal languages.

Biden spoke at an athletic field at Gila Crossing Community School, a K-8 school for 500 Native students on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Laveen Village, Arizona, near Phoenix. The school, built in 2019, teaches Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh culture, as well as local languages. The outside of the schoolhouse is adorned with the kind of tribal language that less than a century ago boarding school students would have been punished for using.

Hundreds of dignitaries, tribal officials, boarding school survivors and their guests arrived at the field with bleachers and a stage under a cloudless sky overlooking the Estrella Mountains. Children from the school and community marched in the parade singing in their native languages. Women young and old wore traditional Native American ribbon skirts, while men wore beaded necklaces and bolo ties. Some of the survivors were already crying as they walked in to take their seats.

Carletta Tilousi, who belongs to the Havasupai and Hopi tribes, said that while listening to Biden’s speech, she thought about her relatives who “experienced the pain instilled in them by the federal government” in boarding schools in India.

“It brought all that pain back to me,” he said. “We need to start healing. An apology is the first step.”

The Washington Post first reported Thursday that Biden planned to apologize to Native Americans during his visit to Arizona for the legacy of abuse at government-run Indian boarding schools.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Mary Kim Titla, a member of the San Carlos Apache tribe in Arizona, as she waited for Biden to begin his remarks. Titla said his mother, Charlotte, was a survivor of the Phoenix Indian Boarding School. “Many of us who are here to witness this feel the spirit of our ancestors.”

Wearing a traditional beaded cloak necklace made by the sister of another residential school survivor, Titla wiped away tears as she talked about children dying in residential schools in India.

“I can’t even imagine how traumatic it is to take your babies to distant places and never come home again,” said Titla, who has three children and six grandchildren.

Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland broke down in tears as he said he was thinking of his ancestors.

“I’m like a lot of people here who are still processing this,” he said. “I feel so many emotions. At the top of the list is gratitude. If you think about the journey this country has been on over 250 years, almost all of the federal government’s policies towards the Indian people have been about receiving, and this day is about healing.”

“I am grateful that we have a president who recognizes the humanity of all Americans, including Indians,” Newland said.

Professor Thom Reilly said given the closeness to the Nov. 5 election, Biden’s visit and apology could help boost support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and potentially increase turnout among Native American voters in a state where their votes could be decisive. Arizona State University School of Public Affairs.

“This could change and motivate young Native Americans who haven’t voted before or those who are hesitant given that they might have some concerns,” he said. “This could persuade a group of people to go to the polls. And I think that’s what’s important in this late game; motivating the base and figuring out how to get individuals to go to the polls.”

Democrats outperform Republicans among Native Americans; That makes engagement among tribal communities particularly important for Harris’ campaign, which has won the Native American vote in states like North Carolina and Arizona.

While Native American voters across the country could play a role in the outcome of a close presidential race, their votes are particularly influential in Arizona because they make up more than 5% of the population in a state where recent races have been decided by incredibly small votes. “Margins,” Reilly said.

“Our attorney race was decided by 288 votes. Biden won by about 10,000 votes in 2020, Reilly said. “So it seems like what the campaigns are doing is targeting these pockets everywhere. “It’s all about participation at this point.”

Friday’s incident follows a Department of the Interior report that found at least 973 Native American children had died in schools from disease and malnutrition. Many other children were subjected to physical abuse, sexual assault and maltreatment. The Department of the Interior this summer called on the U.S. government to formally apologize for the lasting trauma suffered by Native Americans.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo tribe whose grandparents and great-grandfather were taken from their homes and sent to boarding schools, launched the investigation three years ago; This was the first time the US government looked closely at the incident. schools. As part of the investigation, she and Newland traveled the country for a year, listening to stories of emotional, physical and sexual abuse told by survivors and their descendants.

“In much of this country, boarding schools are places where wealthy families send their children for a private education. They serve as sites of trauma and terror for Native people,” Haaland said Friday. “For 100 years, children as young as 4 were taken from their families and communities and forced to attend boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions. These federal Indian boarding schools are for every Native person I know.” It affected people.

At least 80 of the schools were operated by the Catholic church or its affiliates. In a yearlong investigation published in May, The Post found evidence of widespread abuse of Native American children in their care at 22 of those schools. At least 122 priests, sisters, and brothers were later accused of sexually assaulting more than 1,000 children; Most of the abuses occurred in the 1950s and 1960s.

Weeks after The Post’s report, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops apologized for inflicting a “history of trauma” on Native Americans.

In 2022, Pope Francis apologized for the church’s role in operating residential schools in Canada similar to those in the United States. He has not made a similar apology for abuse at Catholic-run Indian boarding schools in the United States.

Sam Torres, executive vice president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, said Biden’s apology was “a very historic moment for Indian Country.” While most Native Americans are well-versed in the effects and horrors of the Indian boarding school era, Torres said “it’s really empowering to be recognized by the president of the United States.”

“Hearing the federal government and Christian denominations working together to implement the Indian residential school policy understand the pain, suffering, and lasting impacts was a commitment to spreading the truth,” said Torres.