In a speech at Gila Crossing Community School in Laveen Village, Ariz., on Friday, President Joe Biden formally apologized to American Indians on behalf of the U.S. government in what the White House called a “historic visit to Indian country.”
“All told, hundreds and hundreds of Federal Indian Boarding Schools across the country. Tens of thousands of Native children entered the system. Nearly 1,000 documented Native child deaths, though the real number is likely to be much, much higher; lost generations, culture and language; lost trust,” Biden said. “It’s horribly, horribly wrong. It’s a sin on our soul.”
After observing a moment of silence, Biden said, “I formally apologize as president of the United States of America, for what we did. I formally apologize, and it’s long overdue.”
Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make. The Federal Indian Boarding School policy and the pain it has caused will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot on American history,” Biden added. “For too long, this all happened with virtually no public attention, not written about in our history books—.”
Then an anti-Israel heckler cut in.
“Yeah, what about the people in Gaza?” the protester said, per a White House transcript of the event. “What about the people in Palestine, huh?”
When some audience members booed, Biden said, “Let her talk. Let her talk.”
The anti-Israel heckler referred to an “empty promise for our people” and said, “How can you apologize for a genocide while committing a genocide in Palestine? Free Palestine! Free Palestine!”
“Get out of here!” an audience member said, per the transcript. (It wasn’t clear if that was the protester talking to the president or another attendee talking to the protester. “He said it was OK that she was interrupting him, as audience members dressed her down,” per the pool report.)
“Free Palestine!” an attendee said.
“No, no. Let—let her go. There’s a lot of innocent people being killed,” Biden said, per the transcript. “There’s a lot of innocent people being killed, and it has to stop.”
