According to NDN Collective, President Biden’s apologies are a “good start,” but more needs to be done for Indigenous people

RAPID CITY, SD (KOTA) – President Joe Biden traveled to Gila Crossing Community School in Arizona on Friday to deliver his historic apology to indigenous peoples on behalf of the U.S. government. The apology refers to the government’s role in running hundreds of Indian boarding schools over a period of 150 years, which deprived local children of their language and culture.

At the local level, the NDN collective hosted a media conference with local leaders and residential school survivors to discuss what this apology means to them. Survivor Daryl No Heart spoke about how residential schools took him away from his family and said that apology wasn’t enough.

“When I told my story, I heard all these excuses and nothing has changed in my life because ‘Where is my mother?’ She’s not here. I lost them when I was young because they wanted to civilize us and be like them. I’m sorry, it’s not enough,” No Heart said.

Other members of the panel said that while the apology was a step in the right direction, it did not negate the 150-year-old culture that was deprived of generations of indigenous people. They called on Biden to honor his apology and invest in the culture and language curriculum.

“We heard the president talk about how history is not taught in our school systems. That is not the case in this state and our community. This cultural genocide, this genocide of our people, it still affects us and our children today. Another action concerns resources. “Funding to revitalize our language and lifestyle so we can be who we are by nature,” said NDN board member Valeriah Big Eagle.

“Both Secretary of State (Deb) Haaland and the President of the United States said two things today. “That the United States government, despite all it has done to exterminate our people and destroy our languages, has failed because of the spirit of our people,” said Nick Tilsen, CEO of NDN.

In addition to funding, NDN Collective also called on Biden to revoke any Medal of Honor awarded to U.S. soldiers at Wounded Knee.

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