President Joe Biden is expected to deliver a historic apology on Friday for the federal government’s role in the Indian boarding school system. For more than 150 years, the U.S. forcibly removed Native American children from their homes and put them in boarding schools. Many of those schools were in Oklahoma. The apology is seen as a major step forward to usher in the next era of tribal relations. The White House said that next era cannot begin without fully acknowledging the harms of the past. “To hear the president of the United States express sorrow on behalf of the nation is very meaningful,” Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. The White House released a statement ahead of the expected apology. “(The) president acknowledges that we as a people who love our country must remember and teach our full history, even when it is painful. And we must learn from that history so that it is never repeated,” the White House said. Many children sent to boarding schools were physically, emotionally and sexually abused. More than 950 died. “It did so much injury to tribes and tribal citizens across the country. Damage that is still with us today,” Hoskin said. The leader of the Cherokee Nation said the apology is the first step in healing, and he is hopeful it will lead to new policies to help tribal nations. “You can’t begin to have that if the United States doesn’t say simply, ‘We were wrong. We are sorry.’ That is a powerful thing to say and a powerful thing to hear from the president,” Hoskin said. The presidential apology comes less than two weeks before Election Day. While Hoskin credits the Biden-Harris administration for spearheading the effort to mend tribal relations, he said this isn’t a partisan issue. “Whoever occupies the White House or is in Congress or these federal agencies, that they hear us and build on this apology. This isn’t a partisan issue. It is an American issue,” Hoskin said. The president will be in Arizona when he makes the apology. The White House also says the president has issued three executive orders aimed at helping tribal citizens. Top Headlines Motorcyclist taken to hospital after crash in southwest Oklahoma City Pirates take over Massachusetts house in 13-year-old’s amazing Halloween display Possible suspension of several teaching certificates on Oklahoma Board of Education’s agenda Oklahoma being impacted by deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s burger Boy arrested, accused of shooting a 15-year-old girl near a Norman elementary school
President Joe Biden is expected to deliver a historic apology on Friday for the federal government’s role in the Indian boarding school system.
For more than 150 years, the U.S. forcibly removed Native American children from their homes and put them in boarding schools. Many of those schools were in Oklahoma.
The apology is seen as a major step forward to usher in the next era of tribal relations. The White House said that next era cannot begin without fully acknowledging the harms of the past.
“To hear the president of the United States express sorrow on behalf of the nation is very meaningful,” Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said.
The White House released a statement ahead of the expected apology.
“(The) president acknowledges that we as a people who love our country must remember and teach our full history, even when it is painful. And we must learn from that history so that it is never repeated,” the White House said.
Many children sent to boarding schools were physically, emotionally and sexually abused. More than 950 died.
“It did so much injury to tribes and tribal citizens across the country. Damage that is still with us today,” Hoskin said.
The leader of the Cherokee Nation said the apology is the first step in healing, and he is hopeful it will lead to new policies to help tribal nations.
“You can’t begin to have that if the United States doesn’t say simply, ‘We were wrong. We are sorry.’ That is a powerful thing to say and a powerful thing to hear from the president,” Hoskin said.
The presidential apology comes less than two weeks before Election Day.
While Hoskin credits the Biden-Harris administration for spearheading the effort to mend tribal relations, he said this isn’t a partisan issue.
“Whoever occupies the White House or is in Congress or these federal agencies, that they hear us and build on this apology. This isn’t a partisan issue. It is an American issue,” Hoskin said.
The president will be in Arizona when he makes the apology. The White House also says the president has issued three executive orders aimed at helping tribal citizens.
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