Joe Biden is expected to officially apologize Friday for the boarding school system, which forcibly removed Indigenous children from their parents and sought to assimilate them. “I would never have guessed in a million years that something like this would happen,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who is Indigenous. “It’s a big deal to me. I’m sure it will be a big deal to all of Indian Country.” Haaland launched an investigation into the boarding school system shortly after becoming secretary, which found that 18,000 children were taken from their parents over a 150 year period in an effort to take tribal lands. The investigation also uncovered over 1,000 deaths. The second phase of the investigation included gathering testimonies from survivors. The final report recommended an acknowledgement and apology for the policy. Haaland, whose grandparents were taken to boarding schools, took this suggestion to Biden. No president has ever formally apologized for the boarding school policy, nor any other part of the U.S. government’s devastation of Indigenous people. Haaland will accompany Biden to his first diplomatic visit to a tribal nation, where he will deliver the apology. “It will be one of the high points of my entire life,” Haaland said.
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