Schatz wants bill to investigate historical injustices of federal Indian Boarding School policies

US Sen. Brian Schatz released a statement today, building on President Joe Biden’s formal apology for the federal government’s former Indian Boarding School policies, which he delivered in a speech on Friday.

At the Gila River Crossing School in the Gila River Indian Community of Arizona state today, Biden said the federal government forced Native American children into boarding schools, where they were abused and deprived of their cultural identity, for more than a century.

Schatz, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said Indian Boarding School policies and practices stole hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children from their homes in an effort to destroy Native languages, cultures, and identities. He wants a bill that would investigate, document and acknowledge historical injustices of American boarding school policies.

His full statement is as follows:

“For more than a century, the federal government’s Indian Boarding School policies and practices stole hundreds of thousands of Native children from their homes in an effort to destroy Native languages, cultures, and identities. It’s an unconscionable chapter in our nation’s history, with a lasting legacy that continues to affect communities today. President Biden’s formal apology is a significant step toward confronting the dark history of these policies. Now Congress must act – the federal government also has a solemn responsibility to chart a path toward healing. Earlier this year, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs advanced legislation to establish a federal commission to investigate, document, and acknowledge the historical injustices of the federal boarding school policies. Equally as important, the bill would provide crucial supports for survivors and their descendants. Passing this bill is a moral imperative, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to move quickly so we can begin to deliver the justice, closure, and support Native communities deserve.”

Senate Bill 1723, called the “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act,” would establish a commission to investigate, document, and report on the impacts and ongoing effects of past boarding institution policies. The commission would also make recommendations for federal reparations.

The bill includes federal policies under which American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children were forcibly removed from their family homes and placed in boarding schools.

Further, the commission would develop recommendations on ways to protect unmarked graves and accompanying land protections; support repatriation and identify the tribal nations from which children were taken; and discontinue the removal of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children from their families and tribal communities by state social service departments, foster care agencies, and adoption agencies.

For more information about Indian Boarding Schools, visit boardingschoolhealing.org.