President Biden's apology for boarding schools surprises local tribes
The boarding schools punished children for practicing native customs.
LOWER SIOUX INDIAN RESERVATION, Minn. (KEYC) - From 1869 to the 1960s, thousands of Native American children across the U.S. were taken from their parents and sent to government-run boarding schools.
On Friday, President Biden formally apologized for the practice - and it took local indigenous tribes by shock.
“It’s unexpected, but at the same time it is appreciated because it’s something of the United States history that seemed to have been buried,” said Robert “Deuce” Larsen.
Larsen is president of the Lower Sioux Indian Community, located outside Morton, or Cansayapi (pronounced Chan-shah-yah-pee).
He says his grandmother was a survivor of the schools.
“One day her and I were sitting there, I said ‘what was boarding school like?’” he recalled. “And she sat there for a minute but then she looked at me and she said, ‘I can’t tell you. That’s my pain to have, and I don’t want to share that with you.”
Eventually Larsen learned what children went through at the schools. abiding by any of their native customs would earn severe punishment... ranging from beatings to starvation to death.
“They all worked off of the same premise, that was started by Colonel Pratt,” said Larsen. “You gotta kill the Indian and save the man.”
Today, the Lower Sioux is a thriving community for those wishing to practice Dakota traditions. Notably, they are home to a recreation center, where modern customs and old traditions are intermingled.
“I like to do basketball, sometimes I bring my PlayStation and mess around with my friends, sometimes do pottery,” said Jace Desjarlais.
While Biden’s apology is good news, Larsen says it is just a start - and that the federal government needs to take action for progress to truly be made.
“Apologies are great, but they’re similar to land acknowledgement,” said Larsen. “Without action, what do they mean? So hopefully, this is just the start of more conversations to be able to help us heal.”
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