PHOENIX—Today, Rep. Stanton joins President Joe Biden, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Tribal leaders from across Arizona and the country as the President offers an apology for the Federal Indian Boarding School era. He issued the following statement ahead of the President’s remarks:
“America’s painful history of Native boarding schools—with more than 50 once operating across Arizona—tell the story of the removal of more than 100,000 Native children away from their families. More than a thousand children never returned home, and those that did lost their cultural heritage, languages, stories, and traditions. The trauma of these institutions is still felt today
President Biden’s formal apology, and the leadership shown by Secretary Haaland on the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, is a long-overdue, important step forward in acknowledging the United States’ darker history and generations of harm done. I’m proud to be here on Gila River Indian Community land for this historic occasion, to support survivors who call our community home and to help provide a path to healing and justice for all Native communities.”
Stanton is a cosponsor of H.R.7227, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2024, legislation to investigate, document, and report on the histories of Indian boarding schools, Indian boarding school policies, and long-term impacts on Native communities. The legislation is led by Rep. Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin and one of the first two Native women elected to Congress, and Rep. Tom Cole, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and longest-serving Native American in the U.S. House of Representatives.