In Arizona, Biden Makes Apology for Indian Boarding Schools

‘I’m heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago,’ he told members of the press.

President Joe Biden after stepping off Air Force One upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Oct. 3. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden became the first president to formally apologize to America’s Indian nations for the more than 150 years of forcing tribal children to attend federal Indian boarding schools.

“I have a solid responsibility to be the first president to formally apologize to the native peoples, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Native Alaskans for the federal Indian boarding schools,” he said to members of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona on Oct. 25. “It’s long, long, long overdue.