LIVE: Biden Delivers Remarks at Gila River Indian Community in Arizona

History of the United States is a shining example of representation at the highest levels of our government. That brings a sense of hope, a sense of pride, and guidance. Not only is Secretary Haaland the first Native American of the interior, but she is the first Native cabinet member. And as I've said, representation matters. Because we are breaking barriers, we are setting a path for future generations, for our people to succeed. And it's so much easier to be able to have that guidance to ensure that we are standing up for our people, our voices are being heard, and our communities are being represented. So it is with pride that I introduce you to the Secretary of the Interior, Secretary Deb Haaland. Thank you. I love you too. Thank you. Wow. That was awesome. Thank you, Susanna, so much. There's no question that your voice is out there and representation truly does matter. Good morning, relatives and friends. It's such an honor to be here today to join all of you on this important day. Governor Lewis, thank you so much for your amazing and wonderful hospitality. I'm so happy to be back at the Gila River Indian Community. Today, we welcome President Joe Biden to the ancestral homelands of the Pima and Maricopa peoples. Every day, but particularly today, I think of the ancestors. We are here because they persevered. Their stories, our stories, are everywhere in the air we breathe and the land we walk on. We tell those stories because Native American history is American history. President Biden has been a champion for Indian country, committed to doing what is right for our people. It is the honor of my lifetime to serve a president and an administration that truly sees indigenous people and has worked tirelessly to address the issues in Indian country that have long been underfunded and outright ignored. From infrastructure to education to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous peoples, Joe Biden has directed historic resources into the hands of tribal leaders who know best how to strengthen their communities. For much of this country, boarding schools are places where affluent families send their children for an exclusive education. For indigenous peoples, they served as places of trauma and terror for more than 100 years. Tens of thousands of indigenous 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. These federal Indian boarding schools have impacted every indigenous person I know. Some are survivors, some are descendants, but we all carry the trauma that these policies and these places inflicted. This is the first time in history that a United States cabinet secretary has shared the traumas of our past and I acknowledge that this trauma was perpetrated by the agency that I now lead. For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books, but now our administration's work will ensure that no one will ever forget. Over the past three years, Interior's federal Indian boarding school initiative has shed light on this horrific era of our nation's history, a federal agenda to assimilate and eradicate Native peoples. My maternal grandparents were only eight years old when they were stolen from their communities and forced to live in a Catholic boarding school until the age of 13. My great-grandfather was also taken, sent by train thousands of miles away from our small village of Mesita. Many children like them never went back home and I mourn their passing alongside you. Others like my grandparents did return home and I stand on their shoulders today. As part of the boarding school initiative, we published an investigative report that found loud and unequivocal truth that the federal government took deliberate and strategic actions through boarding school policies to isolate children from their families and steal from them the languages, cultures, and traditions that are foundational to Native people. But as we stand here together, my friends and relatives, we know that the federal government failed. It failed to annihilate our languages, our traditions, our life ways. It failed to destroy us because we persevered. The investigative report calls on the federal government and Congress to take concerted actions to continue the work of healing from our shared past and already we're putting some of those recommendations into action. Through our interagency effort alongside the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, we are investing in the preservation of Native languages. We are developing a 10-year national plan guided by tribal leaders and Native language teachers which will be released soon. The painful loss of our indigenous languages has been a consistent topic as we have met with survivors across our nation from Hawaii to Michigan to right here in Arizona. We are also continuing to ensure that our stories are told so that future generations will understand the impacts and intergenerational trauma caused by the boarding school policies. Assistant Secretary Brian Newland and I spent more than a year on what we called the road to healing. 12 visits to indigenous communities including Gila River that allowed survivors and descendants to share their boarding school experiences and the aftermath those schools left behind. In collaboration with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation, we are creating an oral collection of first-person narratives from boarding school survivors. We are finalizing agreements between the Department, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and the Library of Congress to explore how those oral histories can best become part of upcoming and far-reaching educational resources such as online traveling and long-term exhibitions that will share the history and legacy of the federal Indian boarding school system with the world. So many of you have been crucial to this process that includes the Interior Department staff, many of them indigenous and here today who worked through their own trauma to support this initiative and I am incredibly grateful to my staff for everything they have done from the time this administration started. Today's event would not have happened without each and every one of you, without those who have spoken up, who have shared their pain and who have been vocal in the face of injustice. Together we have persevered. It means everything to be with you today and with our courageous president who recognizes the impact these policies have had on each of us. Today is a day for remembering but it's also a day to celebrate our perseverance. In spite of everything that has happened we are still here. We are here healing our souls and carrying the strength of those who came before us. We are still here in prayer and ceremony and we are still here doing our best to speak our languages even if our parents were afraid to teach us because that's how we honor those who sacrificed so that we could all be here today. Indigenous peoples have always been here and today we commit to our shared future. Thank you Mr. President for bringing us together. Thank you all so much. Thank you. Please welcome President Joe Biden accompanied by Governor Stephen Lewis. I am Stephen Rowe Lewis, Governor of the Gila River Indian Community. Tribal leaders and distinguished guests, it is with honor that I welcome President Joe Biden to the Gila River Indian Community. My earlier words describe the many contributions that President Biden has made to our tribal nations with investments, saving lives, changing communities. I know I speak for everyone when I say that we've never had a president and vice president who have done more for Indian country and we can never forget the incredible of the first lady. We are here today to acknowledge the past and to take the first difficult but necessary steps to begin the healing because today is as much about our future as it is our past. All of us present today are joined in spirit by those who did not survive the unmanageable. We offer our prayers to those who did not survive and we offer our heart, our ibida, to those who did as we admire their strength. It's not surprising that President Biden, a person of unparalleled compassion, impeccable character, and profound empathy would be standing with us today on Autumn Juven on Indian country. Each of us understand the solemn nature, the solemn nature of this day, of this moment, of this historical time and place that we are all a part of. Today's words will be carried forward by all of us here, Mr. President, into future generations. This is a day built on respect and honor. We all know today Indian country is a much is much stronger because of the words and actions and the heart, the ibida, the heart of President Biden. On behalf of the Gila River Indian community, I introduce to you President Joe Biden. I'm Joe Biden. I'm Joe Biden's husband. Thank you for the introduction and to the Gila River Indian community for welcoming me today. I say this with all sincerity. This to me is one of the most consequential things I've ever had an opportunity to do in my whole career as President of the United States. It's an honor, a genuine honor to be in this special place on this special day. Thank you to Senator Mark Kelly, a great friend who also was married to an incredible woman who was my friend. Please have a seat, by the way. Congressman Greg Stanton. I saw Greg when I came in. He's over there somewhere. Greg, thank you. And I'm putting these glasses on because I'm having trouble seeing and all the elected leaders and the tribal community leaders for being here today. You know, I can't tell you what a special thanks I have for Deb Haaland, my interior secretary. I was determined. I was determined. I made a commitment when I became president and have an administration that looked like America, except you're America. And there's never has been, never has been a Native American indigenous person who was in the cabinet or in the secretary's job or any consequential job in the presidential administration. She's the first, but clearly not the last Native American cabinet secretary ever. And her historic and dedicated leadership to strengthen the relationship between the tribal nations and the federal government is unlike anything ever happened before. That's why we're here today. You know, when I got to the Senate, I was only 29 years old. I had to wait 17 days to be eligible. And I had, after I got elected, while I was waiting, my wife and daughter were killed and my two boys were badly injured. And the guy that came to my assistance was a guy named Danny Inouye. And the first thing he taught me, not a joke, was, Joe, it is not Indians, it's Indian nations. Indian, no, I mean, he was serious, deadly earnest about it. It's been 10 years since a sitting president came and visited Indian country. That's simply much too long. That's why I'm here today, not only to fulfill my promise to be president, first president to visit Indian country, but more importantly, to right a wrong, to chart a new path toward a better future for us all. I'm also here today because, as I said, my wife, Jill, has been here 10 times in Indian country, literally. First lady sends her love and said, Joe, make sure you come home. Because every time she goes, she spent a lot of time, excuse me for saying this, the Navajo Nation. I'm worried. Every time she goes, I'm worried she's not coming home. I watched that beautiful performance just now and it moved me deeply. It's a reminder of everything Native people enjoy and employ, sacred traditions, culture, passed down over thousands and thousands of years, long before there was a United States and Native communities flourished on this lands. They practiced democratic government before we ever heard of it, developed advanced agriculture, contributed science, art, and culture. But eventually, the United States was established and began expanding, entering and treating the sovereign tribal nations. But as time moved on, respect for tribal sovereignty evaporated, was shattered, pushing Native people off their homelands, denying their humanity and their rights, targeting children to cut their connection to their ancestors and their inheritance and their heritage. At first, in the 1800s, the government was voluntary, asking tribes to sell their children, to send their children away to vocational schools. But then the federal government mandated, mandated the removal of children from their families and tribes, launching what's called the federal Indian boarding school era. Over 150 years span, 150 years, from the early 1800s to 1970, one of the most horrific chapters in American history. It should be a shame, a chapter that most Americans don't know about. The vast majority don't even know about it. I was at my hotel today. I told the people, the hotel staff, they're leaving. I said, where are you going? I told them. They said, what are you doing? I told them. They said, they're Natives here. They said, I never knew that. I never knew that. Think of how many people don't know. As president, I believe it's important that we do know. There were generations of Native children stolen, taken away to places they didn't know, with people they'd never met, who spoke a language they had never heard. Native communities silenced. The children's laughter and play were gone. Children would arrive at schools with clothes taken off, their hair that they were told was sacred was chopped off, their names literally erased, replaced by a number or an English name. One survivor later recounted her days when taken away. She said, quote, my mother standing on that sidewalk as we loaded into a green bus. I can see the image of my mom burned into my mind and my heart where she was crying. Another survivor described what it was like at the boarding school. I quote, when I would talk my tribal language, I would get hit. I lost my tongue. They beat me every day. Children abused, emotionally, physically, and sexually abused, forced into hard labor. Some put up for adoption without the consent of their birth parents. Some left for dead in unmarked graves. And for those who did return home, their wounded body and spirit, trauma and shame passed down through generations. The policy continued even after the Civil Rights Act, which got me involved in politics as a young man, even after the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. It continued. 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. It's horribly, horribly wrong. It's a sin on our soul. I'd like to ask, with your permission, for a moment of silence. Remember those lost and the generations living with that trauma. After 150 years, the United States government eventually stopped the program. But the federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened until today. I formally apologize as President of the United States of America for what we did. I formally apologize. It's long overdue at a tribal school in Arizona, a community full of tradition and culture, and joined by survivors and descendants to do just that. Apologize, apologize, apologize. Rewrite the history book correctly. I have a solemn responsibility to be the first president to formally apologize to the Native peoples, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Native Alaskans, and federal Indian boarding schools. It's long, long, long overdue. Quite frankly, there's no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make. Federal Indian boarding school policy, the pain it has caused, will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot on American history. For too long, this all happened with virtually no public attention, not written about in our history books, not taught in our schools. Let her talk. Let her talk. Let her go. There's a lot of innocent people being killed. There's a lot of innocent people being killed, and it has to stop. For those who went through this period, it was too painful to speak of. For our nation, it was too shameful to acknowledge. But just because history is silent, it doesn't mean it didn't take place. It did take place. While darkness can hide much, it erases nothing. It erases nothing. Some injustices are heinous, horrific, and grievous. They can't be buried, no matter how hard people try. As I've said throughout my presidency, we must know the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. That's what great nations do. We're a great nation. We're the greatest of nations. We do not erase history. We make history. We learn from history. And we remember, so we can heal as a nation. It takes remembering. This formal apology is a culmination of decades of work by so many courageous people, many of whom are here today, survivors and descendants, allies and advocates, like the nation's Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. All of you part of that, stand up. Stand up. As my grandfather would say, you're doing God's work. Another courageous leader who spent decades shining a light on this dark chapter, and leaders like Secretary Howland, whose grandparents were children at one of those boarding schools. U.S. Interior Department, the same department that long ago oversaw federal Indian boarding schools. That's what the extensive work on the breaking ground has happened with her. It's appropriate that she is bringing an end to what that very agency did. Groundbreaking report, documenting what happened. Well, to all of you across Indian country, the truth, truth must be told. The truth must be heard all across America. But this official policy is only one step forward and forward from the shadows of failed policies in the past. That's why I've committed to working with indigenous communities across the country to write a new and better chapter in our history, to honor the solemn promise the United States made to tribal nations to fulfill our federal trust and treaty obligations. It's long, long, long overdue. And I say this with all sincerity. From day one, my administration, Jill and I, Kamala, Secretary Howland, our entire administration have worked to include indigenous voices in all we do. Along with Secretary Howland, I've appointed Native Americans to lead across the federal government. I signed a groundbreaking executive order to give tribes more autonomy to make their own decisions, requiring federal agencies to streamline grant appropriations and applications, to co-manage federal programs, to eliminate heavy-handed reporting requirements. It's about representing your autonomy. And I might add, it's a hell of a lot more efficient when you do it too. Folks, I'm proud to have reestablished the White House Council on Native American Affairs, relaunched the White House Tribal Nation Summit, and taken historic steps to improve tribal consultation. But the historic laws I've signed are making some of the most significant investments in Native communities ever, ever in American history. It's part of my Invest in America agenda, and it's helping all Americans from every state and every tribe. And that's good for all Americans. Helping Native communities get through the pandemic with vaccine shots in arms and checks in pockets. I'm proud this helped cut child poverty in Native communities by more than one third. I'm proud our economy, our economic plan has created 200,000 jobs for Native Americans, record low employment in Native communities. With the strong support from Secretary Howell and all of you, we're finally modernizing tribal infrastructure, for God's sake. Building new roads, new bridges, delivering clean water, affordable high-speed broadband in every Native community, and so much more. Folks, we're just getting started. We're making historic climate investments in clean energy, conservation, clean water, Native communities, including co-stewardship of our land and water. We just designated the first national marine sanctuary proposed by Indigenous communities, which is off the coast of California. We just got that done. And I've restored and designated multiple national monuments to honor tribal nations, including the ancestral footprint of the Grand Canyon, right here in Arizona, where I had the honor of visiting. It's breathtaking. It's breathtaking. I secured the first ever advanced funding for Indian health services, so tribal hospitals can plan ahead, order supplies, hire doctors, and know that the money will be there. We're also preserving ancestral tribal homelands, restoring salmon and other Native fish, recognizing the value of Indigenous knowledge and languages, especially those damaged in the boarding school era. In fact, my administration was proud to defend the Indian Child Welfare Act, an act that was passed in 1970 in no small part to remedy the harms of 150 years of taking Native children away from their families. But, as you all know, that act was challenged just a few years ago in the summer of 2023. Those who opposed us challenged. Challenges on the ground of the Native families should not have priority over everyone else in adopting Native children. Well, I took that all the way to the Supreme Court, and we won. We won. We also extended mental health programs through the Bureau of Indian Education to young people, as a tool of that cycle of generational trauma. As an educator, this is something Jill cares deeply about. My wife says she traveled across Native communities to increase access to health care, and so much more, including helping open the first Cancer Cure Center in Navajo Nation. More to do. A lot more to do. By the way, the infrastructure bill is over a trillion dollars. It's not a decade. I mean, this is not a quarter. This is going to be there for a decade. Much, much more to come, and you've got to get your fair share. By authorizing the Violence Against Women Act, an act that I took great pains in writing 30 years ago, we also reasserted tribal sovereignty, expanded tribal jurisdiction in cases where outside predators harm members of your nation. And, as we mark Native American History Month in November, this November, we recognize the contributions of Indigenous people to American history. You, you are the first Americans. I might add, you're among the most patriotic Americans. Well, that's a fact. The whole of America should know, all of America should know, Indigenous people volunteer to serve in the United States military five times more than any other single group. Five times. Five, five, five. Many haven't paid the ultimate sacrifice in every war since our founding. To all of you, thank you. Thank you for serving in so many ways as first responders, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, doctors, scientists, and so much more. Sharing your culture and your knowledge for the good of future generations. Believing in possibility, the possibility to usher in a new era, to a nation-to-nation relationship grounded in dignity and respect. It matters. My dad used to have an expression, Joey, everyone, everyone's entitled to be treated with dignity. Everyone. Everyone. He meant it. Well, let me close with this. It's about restoring your dignity. I know no apology can or will make up for what was lost during the darkness of the federal boarding school policy. But today, we're finally moving forward into the light. As President of the United States, I've had the honor to bestow our nation's most prestigious medals to distinguished people and organizations all across America. That includes Native Americans who survived the boarding school era. Early in my term, I bestowed the Medal of Freedom, our highest civilian honor, on a man, my grandfather, who was an Irishman and was not treated very well because he was an Irish Catholic in the coal mine era in Scranton. But he went on to be an All-American football player in Santa Clara. And every time they talked about All-Americans, he'd say, Joey, the greatest athlete in American history, Jim Sore. Oh, I'm serious. I knew a lot about Jim Sore. I'm sure some of you probably knew. As a child, Jim was taken from his home. He went on to become one of the greatest athletes ever, ever, ever in All-American history. And earlier this week, I bestowed two other revered medals, the National Medal of Arts, the National Medal of Humanity, to 39 extraordinary Americans and organizations, including Rosetta Roll, an Alaska Native. More than 80 years ago, she was a six-year-old when she was taken to a federal boarding school. She spent three years without her family, her family not known if she'd ever come home. Nine years old, she was one of those who did come home. Over the next seven decades, she became a leading anthropologist and advocate, building a new era of understanding. Her story of being taken from her home as a child, standing in the Oval Office, receiving one of the nation's most consequential medals, is a story of the truth, the power of healing. When Rosetta sees young people singing traditional songs, just like you heard today, she says, and I quote, we'll hear the voices of our ancestors. We are now hearing it through our children. For too long, this nation sought to silence the voices of generations of Native children. But now, their voices are being heard. That's the America we should be. That's the America we can all be proud of. That's who we are. For God's sake, let's make sure we reach out and embrace. You make us stronger. You are America. God bless you all. May God protect our troops.