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I want to thank President Joe Biden for his formal apology on Oct. 25, 2024, for the 150-year Indian boarding school policy, where the U.S. government took 18,000 Native American children from their homes in an attempt to erase their culture. The government created 417 institutions across 37 states. While Native Americans know this horrible history, it has largely been left out of history books.
Thus, this gap in our history does not erase the atrocities Native people faced. We cannot bring back children who perished in unmarked graves by the hands of the U.S. government. But at least an apology can start the momentum of people thinking about the injustices and begin moving toward healing. Awareness is where change begins, and some changes are starting. In June 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland created the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to investigate the federal Indian boarding school policies and children’s burial grounds.
President Biden’s apology made me ponder again: Why were Native people treated so badly and put in boarding schools and reservations, while white people took over their land? This question reminded me of my visit to Indian Island in Old Town during my college days. While approaching Indian Island, a deep sadness enveloped me. Why were Native Americans put on this small island? This is all wrong. Shouldn’t this be the other way around? White people should be living on this small island; the Native people should be living on the outside land that is rightfully theirs.
Melissa Buxton
Verona Island