President Joe Biden became the first president to publicly apologize to Native Americans for the federal government’s Indian Boarding School system and policies, which tore away Indigenous youth from their families for 150 years. The Western New York Indigenous community – which like many – were effected by boarding schools, reacted to the move.
“The federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened, until today," said President Biden. "I formally apologize as President of the United States of America for what we did. I formally apologize!”
The president said that during an appearance on the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, Friday. A setting packed with many survivors and descendants of those who were forced to attend boarding schools. It’s been a long buildup to that moment.
Stories of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are common among survivors. Hair was cut, Native language was banned, and manual labor and military-like drills were instilled among students. Indigenous children died of disease, lack of medical care, and malnutrition. Billions of dollars in inflation-adjusted federal money poured into over 400 of these schools nationwide for 150 years. Some ran by the U.S. Army, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Christian religious organizations, and even state governments into the 1960s.
"There's no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make," the president said. "Federal Indian boarding school policy, and the pain it has caused will always be a significant mark of shame. A blot on American history."
President Biden’s apology comes on the heels of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland’s three year report on the Indian Boarding School system. Haaland herself is an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo. That report and the president’s apology, doesn’t sit well with Mohawk activist and talk show host John Kane.
“What’s painfully obvious is the absence of the word genocide," said Kane. "On the Canadian side they at least called in cultural genocide, which I think is a bit of a sham pick. If you looked at the definition of genocide, it’s all about intent, the intent to make a people no longer exist. 'Kill the Indian, Save the Man' wasn’t a metaphor. You don’t need a graveyard for metaphors, you need a graveyard for dead children.”
Western New York was home to three different boarding schools. The Tonawanda Mission School, Seneca Mission School, and the Thomas Indian School. The legacy of the Thomas School is one that hits home for many Seneca people, including Nation Councilor and presidential candidate J.C. Seneca. He helped with Haaland’s report by gathering 17 pages of testimony and information on the Thomas Indian School, where his father once attended.
“Stories of children playing in their yard and a van or a vehicle stops, and people get out and they come and they grab the children and take them," Seneca said of the accounts he's heard. "And the parents won't see them again. They were unable to find them and talk with them, because they were held basically captive and prisoner in these schools.”
Seneca believes President Biden’s apology is a start to a healing process, but said more needs to be done in terms of investigation.
“I think anytime the leader of the country, like Joe Biden the president, steps forward and apologizes for those wrong doings, I think it’s a big step," he said. "The other thing is to also be involved again, as I had been in the past, with the federal government and Department of Interior to advocate and to push for continued investigation.”
While the Thomas Indian School did receive some federal funding, the school was operated in Cattaraugus by New York State for over 50 years. No governor has acknowledged or apologized for the state’s role in boarding schools, and WBFO’s request for comment from Governor Kathy Hochul’s office was not returned.
Kane said the state is missing an opportunity to be part of the healing process.
“New York State has an obligation too, beyond words like reconciliation," said Kane. "I think there’s an obligation to right a wrong.”
Kane said the history between state government and Haudenosaunee tribes has never been great, and issues still persist today. Whether that’s the freezing of Seneca Nation bank accounts, land disputes, or taxation battles. Something J.C. Seneca knows firsthand being involved in nation government, and seeking its highest office.
“The state inflicts trauma in Native communities here within New York, especially here at Seneca Nation. The actions that they do, I don’t know if they care or think about it, but their actions speak louder than words," the presidential candidate said. "Those types of situations they have done are traumatizing, and continue to cycle within our communities.”
Part of the Interior report recommends federal action on several fronts to remedy damage done to Native communities. That includes investment in physical and mental health programs and research, redress of Native education, funding traditional language programs, repatriation of remains, and a national monument. Biden’s apology in Arizona was also part of that plan, which Kane believes is politically-timed.
“I think it was a cheap political stunt. Of all places to go, you happen to go to a swing state to appeal to what some people are claiming is a population that may or may not affect the outcome of a race in Arizona," said Kane. "I find an apology less than two weeks before the election, again a bit of a political stunt.”
