‘Long overdue’: Indigenous people in Minnesota react as Biden apologizes for federal boarding school policy
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Indigenous people from Minnesota watched as President Joe Biden apologized for the traumas endured by tens of thousands of children at boarding schools. While some felt the apology was a good first step, others felt it did not go far enough.
Biden spoke in front of a small gathering on the lands of the Gila River Indian Community just south of Phoenix, Ariz.
Biden began his speech by saying the apology for the nation’s role in subjecting children to abuse at boarding schools is one of the most consequential things he’s ever had the opportunity to do as president.
“I have a solemn responsibility to be the first president to formally apologize to the Native peoples, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Native Alaskans,” said Biden.
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“It’s long, long, long overdue. Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make. Federal Indian boarding school policy, the pain it has caused, will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot on American history,” said Biden.
Biden praised the work of Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland, who has served in Biden’s cabinet for the past four years, for leading an investigation which documented the experiences of survivors and their families. Biden took a moment to praise the work of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a Minneapolis nonprofit, for its work in creating paths for survivors and their families to heal.
Many Indigenous people from around the state watched the event from home or from work.
Bill Carter watched online from his workplace. Carter is a drug and alcohol counselor at the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis and a citizen of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Carter’s aunt Doris Blank is a boarding school survivor. She was taken from her parents to the boarding school in Pipestone at age 12. A story written about Blank just before her 100th birthday last year recalled how Blank and another girl ran from the school. The two girls traveled 400 miles to return home to northern Minnesota.
Carter spent the first part of the day reflecting on his family’s experience.
“My grandfather and grandmother, both of [whom] were based in Grand Portage, made that long trip diagonally across the state down to Pipestone. I don’t think they really had a lot of command of the English language, but they made the trip anyway, because they were desperate to retrieve their children,” said Carter.
“And when they were refused entry, they just set up camp, and they refused to leave until they could join them and were actually given jobs. And they worked within the Pipestone setting.”
Carter said during much of the speech — which he said he thought was a step in the right direction—he reflected on his family’s resilience.
George McCauley, citizen of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, watched the event from home alongside his wife.
McCauley said he felt the apology should have been covered live by more media outlets — feeling as though there just wasn’t enough coverage of the event itself.
He said he was touched by the initial acknowledgement, but said he felt very disappointed by the president’s remarks. McCauley said he felt Biden should have said more about the abuses survivors experienced. McCauley says he believes the apology speech was not the appropriate moment for the president to revisit his administration’s accomplishments in federal Indian law and policy.
“Our relatives were abused. Our relatives were killed,” said McCauley. “Everything that people... I have heard, have witnessed, have felt, and [to] say, ‘We apologize, we apologize.’ That doesn’t sit well with me.”
“We can all apologize for anything, anytime. They’re just words,” said McCauley.
Biden’s visit to Gila River was the first diplomatic trip he’s made to a tribal nation during his presidency. Four years ago, when Biden won his bid for the presidency, he won the state of Arizona— the first democrat to do that since 1996.
McCauley said he is very appreciative of the work done by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and all those working with survivors. McCauley said what he believes is necessary is a healing center for survivors — some of whom have yet to process their experiences.
Deanna Beaulieu watched the apology at home inside her kitchen alongside her 18-year-old daughter.
Beaulieu works with the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office as a victim advocate. She’s also a child and grandchild of boarding school survivors. Beaulieu said she felt the president’s speech was a good first step.
“I’ve never heard a government official that isn’t a Native person acknowledge what happened to us or what they did to us,” said Beaulieu.
Beaulieu said she appreciated the apology but feels as though the president’s words need to be backed up by action.
She says that includes economic measures, including the return of land, to help make up for the many decades of abuse.
“It’s shameful ... and it was done through policy.”
Beaulieu said it will take years of thoughtful public policy to undo the generational harm of boarding school policies. She said she looks to her own family for strength.
“My grandmother and her mother and my mother and now my daughter ... we’ve endured. The suffering that we’ve endured can be healed. Doing that healing work — if we heal ourselves, we heal others,” said Beaulieu.
Vanessa Goodthunder watched the speech from her home. She’s a citizen of the Lower Sioux Indian Community near Morton. Goodthunder is the director of C̣aƞṡayapi Waḳaƞyeża Owayawa Oṭi, the Dakota early childhood language school at Lower Sioux.
“Ihuƞ, I am happy to hear there is at least an acknowledgement with the official apology and hopeful for action for efforts to continue to revitalize, protect, and maintain our native languages and cultures,” wrote Goodthunder.
“Now is the time for accountability on the part of the federal government to take those action steps in partnering and supporting these sovereign rights that they tried to eradicate. Waƞnna iyehantu, it’s time.”