In short:
Joe Biden has formally apologised for the US’s role in running abusive Native American boarding schools for more than a century.
Mr Biden was heckled at the event in Arizona over his support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
What’s next?
Arizona is one of the seven battleground states in US election to be held on November 5, local time.
Mr Biden faced a brief interruption when a pro-Palestinian protester shouted: “How can you apologise for a genocide while committing a genocide in Palestine?”
Given Australia’s own apology over stolen generations, this event was reported very poorly by the ABC. This historic apology is not newsworthy because some heckler wanted to play whataboutism. It is newsworthy in its own right. Here is a far better article about the presidents apology and some next steps to address the restoration of language and culture as well as the repatriation of remains of children lost to their families:
https://apnews.com/article/indigenous-boarding-schools-biden-apology-reaction-666f5d55496a36bd0dc40a357714273e
It’s also disheartening to see that none of the comments in the thread so far are discussing the alienation and displacement of indigenous children, instead turning this moment into yet another thread about the Gaza conflict, with a dash of US election/politics thrown into the mix. Not to take anything away from the US election and the events in Gaza, but there are plenty of posts and threads discussing those matters already. Seeing this very important moment reduced into the setting for more of the same talking points feels very much like people aren’t pausing to reflect on those past wrongs. And I find that really sad.