President Joe Biden formally apologized on Friday for the US government’s role in running abusive Native American boarding schools for more than 150 years, and he was cornered at the event over his support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
“This is one of the most important things I’ve had the chance to do in my entire career,” Biden said in his apology at an outdoor football and track field in the village of Laveen, Arizona, near Phoenix.
“This is a sin on our soul… I formally apologize.”
Several hundred people attended, many of whom were dressed in traditional tribal attire. They cheered when Biden apologized for the generational trauma caused to Native American communities by boarding schools across the country.
Biden faced a brief interruption when a pro-Palestine protester shouted: “How can you apologize for genocide while committing genocide in Palestine?”
The President responded, “Too many innocent people are being killed and it has to stop.”
US support for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon led to months of demonstrations across the United States following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Rights advocates have called for an arms embargo against Israel as thousands of civilians have been killed in the region, and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip struggle with hunger and disease.
Israel and Washington have denied genocide charges brought against Israel in the World Court regarding Gaza, and Washington has maintained its support for its ally.
Friday’s visit is Biden’s first visit to the Indian country while in office and is part of his effort to cement his legacy in his final months in the White House.
Arizona is also one of seven battleground states in the tightly contested November 5 US election, pitting Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris against Republican former President Donald Trump.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American to become a Cabinet secretary, launched an investigation to identify the troubling legacy of federal Native American boarding school policies.
An Interior Department investigative report released in July found that at least 973 children died in these schools. Haaland’s family members were among the children forced into boarding schools.
From 1819 to the 1970s, the United States implemented policies that established and supported hundreds of American Indian boarding schools throughout the Americas, their purpose being to culturally assimilate Native Americans by forcibly removing them from their families, communities, religions, and cultural beliefs. Had to do.
Like the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have in recent years reviewed past abuses towards indigenous communities, including children in schools.
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