WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden created the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument in Pennsylvania on Monday to underscore the oppression Indigenous people faced there and across the broader Native American boarding school system, as well as the lasting impacts of the abuse that occurred at these schools.
The proclamation came as Biden — who hosted his fourth and final White House Tribal Nations Summit on Monday — announced several efforts his administration is taking to support tribal communities.
The administration continues to acknowledge and apologize for the federal government’s role in the Native American boarding school system, which had devastating repercussions for Indigenous communities across the United States. Children at these institutions were subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse throughout the 19th and mid-20th centuries.
At least 973 Native children died while attending the boarding schools, according to an investigative report from the Department of the Interior.
“Making the Carlisle Indian School a national monument, we make clear what great nations do: We don’t erase history — we acknowledge it, we learn from it and we remember so we never repeat it again,” Biden said at the summit at the Department of the Interior. “We remember so we can heal. That’s the purpose of memory.”
Carlisle was the first off-reservation federal boarding school for Native children, and took in thousands of children from more than 140 tribes who were stolen from their families.
Carlisle school officials “forced children to cut their hair, prohibited them from speaking their Native languages, and subjected them to harsh labor,” per a White House fact sheet.
Native communities, businesses, hospitals
Vice President Kamala Harris, who spoke at the summit earlier in the day, said “for far too long, the federal government has underinvested in Native communities, underinvested in Native entrepreneurs and small businesses, and underinvested in Native hospitals, schools and infrastructure.”
Harris said that because of these underinvestments, the administration has “made it a central priority — and it will remain a central priority — to address these historic inequities and to create opportunity in every Native community.”
She pointed to the administration’s efforts in helping Native entrepreneurs gain access to capital and investing over $1 billion in Native community banks.
“We know that one of the biggest hurdles to Native entrepreneurs is having access to capital — it’s one of the biggest challenges,” she said, adding that “it’s not for lack of a good idea, for serious work ethic, for a plan that actually would benefit the community and meet a demand, but it’s access to capital.”
Loss of Native languages
Meanwhile, the administration announced a host of additional actions Monday to support tribal communities, such as debuting a decade-long revitalization plan to address the government’s role in the loss of Native languages throughout the country.
“It’s a vision that works with tribes to support teachers, schools, communities, organizations, in order to save Native language from disappearing,” Biden said.
“This matters. It’s part of our heritage. It’s part of who we are as a nation. It’s how we got to be who we are.”
Last updated 5:38 p.m., Dec. 9, 2024
