ONEIDA (NBC 26) — The Oneida Nation said it was "encouraged" by President Joe Biden's apology for a decades-old boarding school system that forcibly separated Native American children from their parents.
Speaking in Laveen Village, Ariz. on Friday, Biden called the system a “blot on American history."
“It's a sin on our soul,” Biden said. “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make.”
Biden had promised tribal leaders nearly two years ago that he would visit Indian Country. Months from the end of his presidency, this was his first visit.
For decades, federal boarding schools were used to assimilate children into white society, according to the White House.
“I formally apologize as president of United States of America for what we did,” Biden said. “The Federal Indian boarding school policy — the pain is has caused will only be a significant mark of shame, a blot on our record history. For too long, this all happened with virtually no public attention, not written about in our history books, not taught in our schools.”
At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period that ended in 1969, according to an Interior Department investigation that called for a U.S. government apology.
In a response Friday afternoon, the Oneida Nation released the following statement:
The Oneida Nation is encouraged by President Biden's acknowledgment and apology for the destructive, painful, and lasting effects of residential boarding schools on Native American communities. These institutions were designed to assimilate Indigenous children and they inflicted deep cultural, emotional, and psychological harm. Many children never came home and many lost their lives, their spirits, and their families at the hands of boarding schools. Generational trauma stemming from this history continues to affect Indigenous communities today.
“We are hopeful that meaningful and better relations can be cultivated between the Indigenous nations and the United States government following the apology from President Biden," Oneida Chairman Tehassi Hill said in a statement. "It is imperative that United States recognizes this painful history and its ongoing repercussions. Healing requires not only acknowledgment but also a commitment to support Native American communities in reclaiming their heritage and fostering resilience.”
The released added that, in 2019, Oneida Nation Councilman Kirby Metoxen helped secure the return of Oneida students who died at the Carlisle Boarding School in Pennsylvania. This allowed for the students' proper reburial on the Oneida Reservation, the release said.
"Descendants of those students were able to bring their ancestors home for proper burial," the statement said.
"True healing requires tangible actions and continued dialogue between the U.S. government and Native nations," the statement added. "We will continue to encourage the federal government to work with Native communities to ensure that our cultural traditions and languages are preserved, that survivors and their families receive the support they need, and that our treaties and sovereignty are respected.”
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
