US President Joe Biden has apologized to indigenous peoples in the US for the mistreatment of thousands of their children at boarding schools. “As President of the United States of America, I deeply apologize for what we have done,” Biden said on Friday during a visit to an indigenous reservation in the US state of Arizona.
Tens of thousands of indigenous children were taken from their parents and sent to state boarding schools for re-education between the early 19th century and the 1970s. Many of the children there suffered from physical, mental and sexual violence.
The goal of the state institutions was to erase and assimilate the culture, language and identity of the children. At least 973 children died in the facilities, according to a government report.
Many schools were Catholic
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous minister in the United States, commissioned the study in 2021 to examine the policy’s impact on residential schools. From 1819 to 1969, at least 18,000 indigenous children were sent to state boarding schools, where they were tortured and stripped of their cultural identity. Many schools were run by Catholics, Kathpress reported.
Sexual abuse is said to have occurred in the facilities since the late 1800s. According to the Washington Post, most of the crimes were committed in the 1950s and 1960s. At least 122 priests and religious are accused.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
