US President Joe Biden officially apologized to Native Americans on Friday, October 25. For 150 years in the United States, children of indigenous peoples were taken from their families and placed in boarding schools, run by government and religious institutions, for the purpose of so-called “assimilation.” In these places, physical, psychological, sexual, cultural and religious violence have traumatized the first peoples of the United States for generations.
By Elsa Olaizola
It was on a Native American reservation in Arizona, that of Gila River, that Joe Biden presented a historic apology. The words are strong, he spoke of “ a sin that stains our soul “, ” from one of the most horrific chapters in American history » and added “ the pain caused will always be a significant mark of shame, a stain on American history. » Apologies which come a few days before the presidential election of November 5. Arizona being a key state where the Native American community is very numerous.
“ I formally apologize, as President of the United States, for what we have done “, declared Joe Biden. But what crime is he talking about?
From 1819 to 1969, at least 18,624 native American children – fragmentary figures since they focus on federal boarding schools – were placed in boarding schools, often torn from their parents. In these places, physical and sexual abuse, annihilation of culture and even death. Joe Biden recalls it in his speech, certain native American children, torn from their parents at the age of 4, were “ forced into forced labor, some adopted without the consent of their biological parents, others left for dead and buried in unmarked graves. »
Graves of children have been found in nearly 65 schools, and at least 973 Native American children died in these boarding schools – figures that are undoubtedly underestimated. This data emerges from a two-part government report, published in 2022 And 2024under the leadership of Interior Minister Deb Haaland, the country’s first native American minister.
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“ Their names were literally erased, replaced by a number »
Still according to the government report, the federal residential school system deployed “ military and identity alteration methods ” For ” assimilate » Native Americans.
When they arrived at school, the children were undressed, their hair, which they were told was sacred, was cut. Their names were literally erased, replaced by an English number or name “, insists Joe Biden. Interior Minister Deb Haaland herself testifies to the trauma that these boarding schools put on her family.
The abuses committed by the various American governments are to be seen within a broader policy of violations against native American peoples and a policy known as “assimilation”.
The words of the founder of the infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a boarding school opened in 1879 in Pennsylvania, shed light on the ideology behind the establishment of these boarding schools. “ A great general said that the only good Indian is the one who is dead […] In a sense, I agree with this sentiment, but only on this point: […] Kill the Indian to save the man », estimated Richard H. Pratt.
A “ war against children »
The objective for the boarding schools was thus defined: to crush and erase the culture, identity, family and community ties of Native Americans. Speaking one’s language and practicing one’s religion was punished, among other things, through physical abuse, as indicated in the government report.
Ben Sherman, of the Oglala Sioux Nation, a former aeronautical engineer who was sent to a boarding school as a child in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, speaks of a “ war against children “. He states: “ Don’t try to tell me it wasn’t genocide. They [le gouvernement] attacked our language, our culture, our family ties, our lands. They succeeded on almost every level », relates an article from New York Times. Also, the establishment of boarding schools was part of a broader policy, that of the appropriation by the United States of the lands of indigenous peoples, as noted in the government report.
Transgenerational trauma
Although federal boarding schools put an end to these practices at the end of the 1960s, the consequences are still tangible among Native American populations. So-called residential school survivors still suffer serious health problems.
According to The Indigenous Foundationa Native American advocacy organization for residential school survivors, mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, lack of cultural identity, and the development of negative stereotypes (for example, that Native Americans are alcoholics or lazy) persist and these Traumatic experiences are passed down from generation to generation “.
And new generations, who did not experience residential schools, are more likely to have problems at school. Still according to The Indigenous Foundation, Native American students are twice as likely to drop out of high school as other students, 1.5 times more likely to die by homicide or suicide, and 1.4 times more likely to be returned.
“ Retaining our right as a people to be Indian »
Madonna Thunder Hawk, born in South Dakota on the Yankton Sioux reservation, is a figure of Native American activism. In the 1970s, she became involved with the American Indian movement and participated in the occupation of Mount Rushmore or Alcatraz Island, among others, actions aimed at demanding compliance by the American government with treaties. passed with the native American nations. More recently, she participated in actions against the construction of an oil pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline. Having experienced the horror of Native American boarding schools herself, she founded Survival School, a school whose objective is to offer lessons in line with the cultures of Native American peoples. A long commitment which is the subject of a documentary.
Native American activism is alive and multiple, and the question of memory is essential for it. Testimonies of living conditions, abuse and humiliation within boarding schools are legion, chilling testimonies put forward by Native American organizations and associations. One of the objectives of these organizations is to make this history known and recognized.
Minister Deb Haaland herself denounces: “ For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books. » The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, which actively advocates on this subject, offers advocacy tools accessible to Native Americans so that it can be implemented HR 7227, an Act to Establish a Truth and Reparations Commission on Residential Schools.
If the apologies of the President of the United States have been described as historic, on the ground, Native Americans continue to demand accountability.