Indian Affairs head hails Biden's apology for boarding schools

25 de Octubre de 2024 a las 00:00 ·

Genoa Indian School students in Genoa, Nebraska.
Genoa Indian School students in Genoa, Nebraska. (Photo courtesy Genoa Historical Museum and Genoa U.S. Indian School Foundation)

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The director of Nebraska’s Commission on Indian Affairs is hailing President Joe Biden’s apology for Indian boarding schools that took Native American children from their families.

Speaking at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona Friday, Biden apologized for 150 years of efforts to force Native American children to assimilate. Those efforts, which continued until the 1970s, involved taking children from their homes and putting them in distant boarding schools where they were not allowed to speak their native languages and often physically abused. Biden called those practices quote “horrific” and said they produced trauma and shame that have continued through generations.

Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of Nebraska’s Commission on Indian Affairs, hailed Biden’s apology.

“It’s a solemn day. It's a historic day, and I'm pretty thrilled about this, and it gives me hope, and that's important for all of our people, for all native people and all Americans, to own this truth, and now we can be better and do better,” gaishkibos said.

Gaiasakibos’s own mother and aunts were sent to the Indian Industrial School in Genoa, Nebraska where thousands of native children from all over the country attended from 1884-1934. She said up to 86 children may be buried there, and hopes Friday’s apology might lead to more state resources for an effort to search for their graves, which have so far not been found.