President Biden issued a formal apology yesterday for the United States’ boarding school system that separated Native American children from their families and placed them in schools where they were forced to assimilate. Recent reports from the U.S. Department of Interior indicate thousands of children were killed or abused at these schools. An earlier report in 2022 identified 15 such schools in Washington state.
“Among our nation’s darkest stains is the boarding school system that the U.S. government used to erase Tribal language and culture under the harmful pretext of assimilation,” Inslee said. “I applaud President Biden for taking this important step towards healing. We can’t change our past, but we can take accountability for the generational trauma and loss this system wrought. Much work remains and Washington state will do its part to uplift the efforts of those who are carrying forward Tribal languages, cultures and knowledge to current and future generations.”
The most recent operating budget signed by Inslee includes a legislative directive to the Office of the Attorney General to study the impacts of boarding schools in Washington state through a truth and reconciliation model. This includes creation of an advisory committee that will prepare a report with recommendations due in 2025.
Similar to launching the nation’s first alert system and cold case unit for missing and murdered Indigenous people, Washington is one the first states to address and study the impacts of the federal Indian boarding schools.