President Joe Biden at an event in Arizona apologizing for the U.S.’ treatment of Native Americans at federal boarding schools.
WASHINGTON — The Japanese American Citizens League issued the following statement on Oct. 25:
“On Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, President Biden spoke at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona and offered an apology for the U.S. government’s past practice of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families and transferring them to government-operated boarding schools.
“As early as 1819 and lasting until the late 1960s, the United States government established and operated boarding schools to ‘civilize’ Indigenous children — what we now recognize as a euphemism for an attempt at the systematic and deliberate destruction of the culture and society of Indigenous communities in the United States.
“These institutions are a lasting stain on American history and serve as only one of many examples of the mistreatment and bigotry that Indigenous communities have faced at the hands of our government.
“The JACL recognizes that apologies from the U.S. government are a critical step in addressing discrimination and promoting the healing of generational trauma, which has been felt most poignantly by the Indigenous peoples of the United States.
“The JACL applauds this historic action by the Biden Administration and expresses our hope that this apology serves as just one step towards meaningful and long overdue restorative justice for the many Indigenous communities in the United States.”
Donna Cheung, civil rights chair of the Arizona Chapter of the JACL, commented, “From my perspective, a leader who acknowledges and rights a historical wrong reflects a strong, confident nation because such an admission reaffirms the moral centrality of the nation.
“The apology from a sitting U.S. president to First Nation communities is so significant because the U.S. was founded by displacing these communities. The existence of the U.S. is at a profound cost to Native Americans and that needs to be acknowledged also.”
During World War II, over 13,000 people of Japanese ancestry were unconstitutionally incarcerated at the Gila River War Relocation Center. In 1988 the U.S. government issued a formal apology to the over 120,000 people who were incarcerated because of their Japanese ancestry.
“To look to the future sometimes means acknowledging the sins of the past, which is why President Biden’s historic apology on Indian boarding schools is so important,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside). “Coming from a family of Japanese Americans who endured the incarceration camps of World War II, I know first-hand the power of the government acknowledging and striving to repair the legacy of devastating policy decisions.”