On 26 October 2024 US President Joe Biden formally apologised for the US policy that forcibly separated generations of Native Americans from their families and sent them to boarding schools for the purpose of forced assimilation into white society.

“I formally apologise” said Joe Biden, “as President of the United States of America for what we did. I formally apologise. I have a solemn responsibility to be the first President to apologise to Native peoples, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Native Alaskans … Frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make…the Federal Indian Boarding School policy, the pain it has caused, will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot on American history."

For more information on what was called the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, see https://www.doi.gov/priorities/strengthening-indian-country/federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative