Biden Apologizes For Native American Schools

AMY GOOD: This is Democracy Now!democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

President Biden has formally apologized for government-run Native American residential schools, which separated Native American families and sought to eradicate indigenous culture. He is the first US president to do so. Biden issued the apology on Friday while visiting the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, where Democrats are fighting for Native support, a key voting bloc that could change the outcome of next week’s election. This was Biden’s first diplomatic visit to the tribal nation during his four-year tenure. He spoke for a few seconds before he was interrupted by an Indigenous protester.

THE SERVANT JOE BIDEN: The federal Indian residential school policy and the pain it caused will always be a huge symbol of shame, a gap in American history. For a long time all this happened, without public attention, not written in our history books –

ADDITIONAL: Yes, what about the people of Gaza?

THE SERVANT JOE BIDEN: – not taught in our schools.

ATTACKERS MAN: Hello, get out of here!

THE SERVANT JOE BIDEN: Let him speak. Let him speak.

ADDITIONAL: [inaudible] every promise for our people. How can you apologize for genocide while committing genocide in Palestine? Free Palestine! Free Palestine!

ATTACKERS MAN: Get out of here!

THE SERVANT JOE BIDEN: No, no, let him go. There are many innocent people being killed. Too many innocent people are being killed, and it has to stop.

AMY GOOD: The US government operated many boarding schools from 1819 to 1969 where children reported horrific physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. An investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs this year found that about a thousand Indigenous children died in these schools. Biden was joined on Friday by the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, the first secretary of the Native American Cabinet, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna whose grandfather was forced into residential schools.

MATTERS THE SECRETARY DEB HOLLAND: Tens of thousands of indigenous children as young as 4 were removed from their homes and communities and forced into residential schools run by the US government and religious institutions. These federal Indian schools have affected every Native person I know. Some are survivors. Some are grandchildren. But we all have the misfortune that these policies and these places have caused.

AMY GOOD: That’s Deb Haaland and President Biden, speaking at the Gila River Indian Center in Arizona.

For more, we go to Raleigh, North Carolina, where we are joined by Nick Tilsen, founder and founder. CEO of Natives led NDN Cooperation.

Nick, thanks so much for joining us again Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of this pardon, the first American president to do so, and what you want?

THE BUG My love: Really. I mean, I think this is one of the historic moments in the history of this country in its relationship with the Indian people. And to be clear, this moment was actually created and led by the leadership of Secretary Deb Haaland and her team there in the Department of the Interior. And what this means and what it means for Indian Country is that we hope this is the beginning of an era of reconciliation, reconciliation between the United States government and the Natives, the First Peoples of this country.

And even though this forgiveness is amazing, we have to accept the complexity of this moment. We must accept the complexity of this moment and rely on action, too, because it will not be an apology with empty words. And they’re making great strides in the Department of the Interior by investing in Native education and investing in research to find out and understand what happened, you know, with the Indian residential schools. But we need to go beyond that.

And so, some of the things that we’re calling for are a few things that President Biden can do before he leaves office based on this. One of those calls to action is to revoke the Medals of Honor awarded to the 7th Cavalry at the Wounded Wounds massacre in 1890. Revoking those Medals of Honor would be a way to ask for healing.

Another thing we call, you know, the longest serving Native American political prisoner in American history is a residential school survivor, and his name is Leonard Peltier. So, we’re asking President Biden to pardon Leonard Peltier.

We also want to see this administration, and future governments, invest in unprecedented levels of investment in indigenous languages, culture and education, because it is education that was used as a means of uniting our people. . And because of that, many Indian languages ​​were lost. So, we are now asking Biden to invest in unprecedented levels of education and native languages.

And, finally, what we want to see Congress do is we want to see Congress pass the US Truth and Healing Commission bill, because that bill will make sure that the truth and the healing work that is going on you can be supported for a long time. , until the future, because not one apology can fix this. Hopefully this is the beginning of a new era of reconciliation and healing between Native Americans and the United States government.

AMY GOOD: So, in the case of Leonard Peltier, there’s also another strange connection, because Leonard Peltier was a survivor of residential boarding schools, wasn’t that right, Nick?

THE BUG My love: Really. You know, he was in boarding schools, in—he was in Sisseton Wahpeton boarding school, and—

AMY GOOD: Is it North Dakota?

THE BUG My love: South Dakota. And so, he was in that boarding school, removed from his home. And what most people don’t realize is that Leonard Peltier and many other people who became leaders of the American Indian Movement were boarding school survivors. They came out of that time, and they refused. So, Leonard Peltier is part of that resistance. So, it’s pretty obvious to think about, that the longest-lived Native American political prisoner, imprisoned at age 80 in a maximum-security prison, is actually a survivor of boarding school. So, that’s why, you know, if we want to –

AMY GOOD: He is incarcerated in Florida. I remember asking President Clinton on Election Day 2000 if he would consider granting clemency for Leonard Peltier, which he said he was trying to do at the time. That happened almost a quarter of a century ago.

THE BUG My love: Yeah, it was almost – I mean, and here we are now, you know? And so, we continue to push. We would like to see, you know, clemency for Leonard Peltier. And I think one of the ways that this can happen is that Biden can give Leonard Peltier some sympathy by humanizing him and knowing that Leonard Peltier is a survivor of residential schools. And he apologized only for the effect of residential schools. And the freedom that Leonard Peltier was fighting for was to free himself from the things that happened because of the effect of residential schools in Native communities and Indian communities. And so, this is a serious opportunity. And it’s a way – it’s a way for President Biden to take action, you know, on a big issue that could affect all of Indian country.

AMY GOOD: Nick, before we go, I want to ask you about the Native American vote in this country. Sorry made in Arizona. He has a very close race in Montana between Tim Sheehy and Senator Tester. Part of the Native American vote, not just there but in this country?

THE BUG My love: Well, the Native American vote has the ability to push this vote to critical turning points. Thus, Native American votes do not matter and have the ability to affect these elections. What we want to see is we want to see more action. If the Democrats want the votes of the Indian people, we want them to stand with us, not only – not only on issues like amnesty regarding residential schools, but we also want them to stand with us in the unity that we called for. to stop the war in Palestine. And both of those things are true for us. And they don’t automatically get our votes. The Democrats are not getting the native vote. They must stand with us. And we stand in deep solidarity with the Palestinian people for freedom and justice and freedom and for – and we call for a ceasefire. And so, what we want are those who come forward to stand with the Indian people. And that’s how you get the Indian vote.

AMY GOOD: Finally, Nick Tilsen, what would you want from President Trump, if elected president, and President Harris?

THE BUG My love: Both, one, this amnesty was done on behalf of the — was done on behalf of the United States government. So, our expectation is that whoever is president, Harris or Trump, that they have, without a doubt, must fulfill the commitment that they have made for truth, healing and reconciliation.

Second, we want to see a ceasefire now. We want – as survivors of the American genocide, we want to stop the genocide of the Palestinian people. We want to work for a more peaceful society in the world. And we want to continue to fight for the Indian lands to return to the hands of the Natives.

And these are demands on both governments, because all this democracy is built on stolen indigenous lands. So, this is what we’re asking for at this time in history: you know, unprecedented levels of investment in Indigenous languages, the return of Indigenous lands to Indigenous hands, and a cessation of hostilities.

AMY GOOD: Nick Tilsen, we want to thank you very much for having us, the founder and CEO of Natives led NDN Kopano, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation. He’s speaking to us from the conference from Raleigh, North Carolina.

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