President Joe Biden said “There’s nothing wrong with me” as he slammed the statement from a Native American community he visited to issue a historic apology.
The 81-year-old president visited the Gila River Indian Community on Friday and said “I formally apologize” for the federal government’s program to force Native American children into boarding schools.
Biden became the first sitting US president to visit the community near Phoenix – a trip made in a swing state 11 days before Election Day.
‘Government, thank you for this introduction. And for the Gila Indian River Community – the Gila, the Gila – there is nothing wrong with me,” he said, laughing. “The Gila River Indian Community, for welcoming me today.”
He was welcomed by most community members, except for one very vocal pro-Palestinian protester. who interrupted him after he had delivered the official apology.
‘Many innocent people are being murdered. “A lot of innocent people are being killed and it has to stop,” the president said, before airing her grievances for a few seconds.
President Joe Bidne speaks Friday at Gila River Crossing School outside Phoenix, Arizona. He issued a historic apology regarding the federal government’s policy of removing indigenous children and forcing them into boarding schools
The president began his remarks by recalling his early friendship with the late Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye.
“The first thing he taught me, and not a joke, was, ‘Joe, it wasn’t Indian nations, it’s Indian nations,’ he meant it,” Biden said.
The President noted that it has been 10 years since a President visited Indian Country.
“I say this with all sincerity, for me this is one of the most consequential things that I have ever been able to do in my entire career as president of the United States,” Biden told a crowd of hundreds.
He also noted how Dr. Jill Biden had visited Indian Country ten times during their nearly four years as president.
She joked, he said, “Joe, make sure you come home.”
A woman (left) interrupted President Joe Biden and shouted “liberate Palestine,” while another protester held up a sign that read “there are still babies in mass graves.” Your apology means nothing.”
An emotional Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland spoke about what the apology meant for Indian Country aboard Air Force One Thursday en route to Phoenix — and revealed her own family was affected.
“For more than a century, tens of thousands of Native children, as young as four years old, were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions. This includes my own family,” Haaland said.
The program took place from the early 1800s through the 1970s, driving Native American families apart.
“For decades, this terrible chapter has been hidden from our history books, but now the work of our government will ensure that no one will ever forget it,” she continued.
Haaland said it would have been “far-fetched” at one point for the “federal government to acknowledge and apologize for the trauma and intergenerational impact that these boarding schools — these places of horror — caused.”
She called Biden’s apology “historic.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre used the upcoming speech to make a political point about honestly teaching the country’s history — even the dark chapters.
Conservatives have gone after the “critical race theory” taught in schools, insisting that students should not be taught so explicitly about issues like slavery.