US President Joe Biden today made a rare and historic apology for the atrocities committed for more than a century in the boarding schools where tens of thousands of American Indian children, taken from their families by the state, were housed and abused with the aim of forced assimilation, reported France Press.
„I officially apologize as president of the United States for what we have done,”, Biden said on the Gila River Indian Reservation in the state of Arizona, after observing a moment of silence in memory of the victims of this policy. He called these atrocities a “stain on American history”, according to the Associated Press.
„This is a sin to our souls,”, Biden said in a voice filled with anger and emotion. “Honestly, there is no excuse that this apology has taken 50 years,”, he added.
Biden talked about the abuse and death of Native children that resulted from the federal government's policies, noting that the shameful story remains unknown and must be told. The president detailed how his policies sought to support Native Americans with jobs and new infrastructure.
Democrats hope that Biden's visit to the lands of the Gila River Indian Settlement on the outskirts of the metropolis of Phoenix in the state of Arizona will also give a boost to the efforts of Vice President Kamala Harris to increase voter turnout in the key state where the contest is being fought. battle, AP noted.
Biden, whose term is ending, had promised tribal leaders nearly two years ago that he would make a visit to Native American lands
Speaking to reporters yesterday before leaving for Arizona, the president said an apology for the US government's role in abusing and neglecting indigenous children was “something that should have been done a long time ago” . According to the White House, for decades federal boarding schools have been used to assimilate children into white society.
The visit will give Biden an opportunity to highlight his and Harris' support for indigenous peoples, 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 just as contested, and both campaigns are doing everything they can to improve turnout among their core supporters, AP notes.