American Indian College Fund Statement on President Biden’s Apology on Federal Boarding School Policy

Denver, Colo., Oct. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — President Biden issued a formal apology October 25 in Arizona for the U.S. government’s role in forcing more than 60,000 American Indian and Alaska Native children into Indian boarding schools for a 150-year period that resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,000 students. This federal policy stripped Native American children of their language and culture to force their assimilation into White society.

Speaking to the apology, Cheryl Crazy Bull, President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, said, “The experiences of Native people with boarding schools touches nearly every Native American alive today.

The federal government policy had a goal of total assimilation of Native people. This assimilation was to be achieved by separating children from families, banning the use of Native languages, and forcing children and young people to adopt Western practices, including insisting they give up their own spiritual ways to become Christians. During this period across several generations, many children were physically abused, sexually assaulted, malnourished, and mistreated. The Interior Department urged the U.S. government this summer to formally apologize for the enduring trauma inflicted on Native Americans. The trauma of those experiences reverberates across Indian Country today.

Yet this dark period in American history is largely unknown to non-Natives. I hope President Biden’s apology not only raises awareness of the true Native history in our country but is a step towards national reconciliation and healing.

We join Tribes, Native organizations, and our Native relatives and allies in the call for reparative actions. Today we call for a significant investment by the federal government and philanthropy in restorative and healing approaches and institutions to repair the harm done by the boarding school era. The Native people who we support, from our youngest children to our college students, deserve that investment. The tribal college and university movement that emerged over 50 years ago to support place-based, Native-led, and tribally controlled education deserves that investment.

We also thank Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe of New Mexico, whose grandparents and great-grandfather were taken from their homes and sent to boarding schools. Under her leadership, the boarding school investigation launched three years ago, and was the first time the U.S. government scrutinized the schools and listened to the stories of boarding school survivors and their descendants. Secretary Haaland’s leadership was vital to the formal apology American Indian and Alaska Native people received today.”

About the American Indian College Fund — The American Indian College Fund has been the nation’s largest charity supporting Native higher education for 35 years. The College Fund believes “Education is the answer” and provided $20,579 million in scholarships and other direct student support for access to a higher education that is steeped in Native culture and values to American Indian students in 2023-24. Since its founding in 1989 the College Fund has provided more than $349 million in scholarships, programs, community, and tribal college support. The College Fund also supports a variety of programs at the nation’s 34 accredited tribal colleges and universities, which are located on or near Indian reservations, ensuring students have the tools to graduate and succeed in their careers. The College Fund consistently receives top ratings from independent charity evaluators. It earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, a Gold Seal of Transparency from Guidestar, and the “Best in America Seal of Excellence” from the Independent Charities of America. The College Fund was also named as one of the nation’s top 100 charities to the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance. For more information about the American Indian College Fund, please visit www.collegefund.org.

Journalists—The American Indian College Fund does not use the acronym AICF. On second reference, please use the College Fund.

Attachments

• Cheryl Crazy Bull
• Native American Boarding School

CONTACT: Dina Horwedel
American Indian College Fund
303-430-5350
dhorwedel@collegefund.org

Colleen Billiot
American Indian College Fund
720-214-2569
cbilliot@collegefund.org