US President Joe Biden formally apologized to Native Americans on Friday for the “sin” of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a “taint.” in American History” on his first presidential visit to India. Country.
“It is a sin on our soul,” Biden said, his voice filled with anger and emotion. “Frankly, there is no excuse that this apology has taken 50 years to make.”
It was a moment of both contrition and frustration as the president sought to acknowledge one of the “most horrible chapters” in national history. Biden addressed the abuses and deaths of Native children that resulted from federal government policies, noting that “while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing” and that great nations “must know the good, the bad, the truth.” of who we are.” .”
“I formally apologize as president of the United States of America for what we did,” Biden said. The government’s removal of children from its Native American community for boarding schools “will always be a significant mark of shame, a stain on American history. For too long, all of this happened virtually without public attention, without writing about it in our history books, without teaching it in our schools.”
Democrats hope Biden’s visit to Gila River Indian Community lands outside metro Phoenix will also boost Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout effort in a key battleground state. The moment gave Biden a greater opportunity to highlight his and Harris’ support for tribal nations, a group that has historically favored Democrats, in a state he won by just 10,000 votes in 2020.
The race between Harris and former President Donald Trump is expected to be equally close, and both campaigns are doing everything they can to improve turnout among their hardcore supporters.
“The race is now about turnout,” said Mike O’Neil, a nonpartisan pollster based in Arizona. “The trend lines have been remarkably stable. The question is which candidate will be able to attract their voters in a race that seems destined to be decided by narrow margins.”
Harris and other Democrats have used Biden sparingly on the campaign trail since his re-election campaign ended in July.
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But analysts say Biden could help Harris’ appeal among Native American voters, a group that has lagged behind others in turnout rates.
In 2020, there was a surge in voter turnout on some Arizona tribal lands as Biden defeated Trump and became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1996.
Biden, whose presidency is coming to an end, had promised tribal leaders nearly two years ago that he would visit Indian Country.
For decades, federal boarding schools were used to assimilate children into white society, according to the White House. Not everyone considered the apology sufficient.
“An apology is a good start, but it is not a true reckoning, nor is it a sufficient remedy for the long history of colonial violence,” said Chase Iron Eyes, director of the Lakota People’s Law Project and the Sacred Defense Fund. .
At least 973 Native American children died in the US government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period ending in 1969, according to an Interior Department investigation that called for an apology from the US government.
At least 18,000 children, some as young as 4, were separated from their parents and forced to attend schools that attempted to assimilate them.
“President Biden deserves credit for finally paying attention to this issue and other issues affecting the community,” said Ramona Charette Klein, 77, a boarding school survivor and enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. “I think that will reflect well on Vice President Harris and I hope this momentum continues.”
Canada has a similar history of subjugating indigenous peoples and forcing their children into boarding schools for assimilation. The federal government issued a formal apology in 2010.
Pope Francis issued a historic apology in 2022 for the Catholic Church’s cooperation with Canada’s “catastrophic” policy of indigenous residential schools, saying the forced assimilation of native peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, separated families and marginalized to generations.
Democrats have intensified their outreach to Native American communities.
Both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, met with tribal leaders in Arizona and Nevada this month. And Clinton, who has been serving as a surrogate for Harris, met last week in North Carolina with the chairman of the Lumbee tribe.
The Democratic National Committee recently launched a six-figure advertising campaign targeting Native American voters in Arizona, North Carolina, Montana and Alaska through digital, print and radio ads.
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is locked in a competitive race with Republican Kari Lake for Arizona’s vacant Senate seat, has visited all of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes.
Harris recently kicked off a campaign rally in Chandler, near where the Gila River Reservation is located, with a shout-out to the tribe’s leader. Walz is scheduled to go to the Navajo Nation in Arizona on Saturday.
The White House says Biden and Harris have built a substantial record with Native Americans over the past four years.
The president designated the sacred Avi Kwa Ame, a desert mountain in Nevada, and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, ancestral footprints of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, as national monuments and reestablished the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.
Additionally, the administration has directed nearly $46 billion in federal spending to tribal nations. The money has helped bring power to a reservation that never had power, expand high-speed Internet access, improve water sanitation, build roads and more.
Biden tapped former New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to serve as his Interior secretary, the first Native American to be appointed to a Cabinet position. Haaland is a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico.
She, in turn, ordered a comprehensive review in June 2021 of the problematic legacy of the federal government’s boarding school policies that led Biden to offer the formal apology.
Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University, said both the Harris and Trump campaigns (and their allies) have put notable effort into microtargeting in Arizona.
“They’re doing everything they can to see if they can get a few more votes here and there,” Reilly said. “The Indian community is one of those groups that Harris hopes will outperform and help make a difference.”
Bok reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, contributed to this report.