Washington had 15 boarding schools where Indigenous children were stripped of their cultures, histories and religions and forbidden from speaking their languages.
OLYMPIA, Wash. — President Joe Biden made history on Friday as the first president to ever issue a formal apology for the oppressive and abusive systems upheld by the federal government’s Indigenous boarding schools.
For 150 years the U.S. removed Indigenous children from their homes and sent them away to the schools, where they were stripped of their cultures, histories and religions and beaten for speaking their languages.
“We should be ashamed,” Biden said to a crowd of Indigenous people gathered at the Gila River Indian Community outside of Phoenix, including tribal leaders, survivors and their families. Biden called the government-mandated system that began in 1819 “one of the most horrific chapters in American history,” while acknowledging the decades of abuse inflicted upon children and widespread devastation left behind.
At least 973 Native …