"Quite frankly, there's no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make."
Biden spoke of the abuses and deaths of native children that resulted from the federal government's policies, as he noted that the shameful history remained unknown and needed to be told.
The Federal Indian Boarding School Era is one of the darkest chapters of American history. The trauma experienced in those institutions haunts our conscience to this very day.— President Biden (@POTUS) Today, I'm in Arizona to issue a long overdue presidential apology for this era – and speak to how my…October 25, 2024
Biden, whose presidency is winding down, had promised tribal leaders nearly two years ago that he would make a visit to Indian Country.
The president told reporters on Thursday before departing for Arizona that an apology for the US government's role in the abuse and neglect of Native children was "something that should have been done a long time ago".
For decades, federal boarding schools were used to assimilate children into white society, according to the White House.
At least 973 Native American children died in the US government's abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period that ended in 1969, according to an Interior Department investigation that called for a US government apology.
At least 18,000 children, some as young as four, were taken from their parents and forced to attend schools that sought to assimilate them.
"President Biden deserves credit for finally putting attention on the issue and other issues impacting the community," said Ramona Charette Klein, 77, a boarding school survivor and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.
