President Joe Biden cracked theres nothing wrong with me as he butchered his introduction to a Native American community he was visiting to issue a historic apology.
The 81-year-old president on Friday visited the Gila River Indian Community and said I formally apologize for the federal governments program of forcing Native Americans children into boarding schools.
Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the community, snugged up against Phoenix - a trip being made 11 days before Election Day in a swing state.
Gov, thank you for that introduction. And to the Gila Indian River Community - the Gila, the Gila - nothing wrong with me, he said to laughs. The Gila River Indian Community, for welcoming me today.
He was welcomed by most members of the community, except one very loud pro-Palestine protester. who interrupted him after he delivered the official apology.
Theres a lot of innocent people being killed. Theres a lot of innocent people being killed and it has to stop, the president said, allowing her to air out her grievances for a few seconds.
President Joe Bidne speaks at the Gila River Crossing School on Friday outside of Phoenix, Arizona. He issued a historic apology regarding the federal governments policy of removing Native children and forcing them into boarding schools
The president started his remarks by recalling his early friendship with the late Hawaiian Sen. Daniel Inouye.
The first thing he taught me, not a joke, was - "Joe, it was not Indian, its Indian nations," he was serious, Biden said.
The president remarked that its been 10 years since a president visited Indian country.
I say this with all sincerity, this to me is one of the most consequential things Ive ever had the opportunity to do in my whole career as president of the United States, Biden told a crowd, that numbered in the hundreds.
He also remarked how Dr. Jill Biden had visited Indian Country 10 times during their nearly four years in office.
She joked, he said, Joe make sure you come home.
He then turned more serious, talking about how Native American children were ripped away from their families in a government-sanctioned program for more than 150 years.
I formally apologize. As president of the United States of America for what we did. I formally apologize, he said. Its long overdue.
A woman (left) interrupted President Joe Biden yelling free Palestine while another demonstrator held up a sign saying there are still babies in mass graves. Your apology means nothing
An emotional Interior Secretary Deb Haaland spoke about what the apology meant to Indian Country on board Air Force One Thursday en route to Phoenix - revealing that her own family had been impacted.
For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children, as young as four years old, were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions. This includes my own family, Haaland said.
The program took place from the early 1800s up until the 1970s - forcing apart Native American families.
For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books, but now our administrations work will ensure that no one will ever forget, she continued.
Haaland said that at one point it would have seen far-fetched that the federal government would acknowledge and apologize for the trauma and intergenerational impacts that these boarding schools - these places of horror - caused.
She called Bidens apology historic.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre used the upcoming speech to make a political point about teaching the nations history honestly - even its darker chapters.
Conservatives have gone after critical race theory being taught in schools, pushing that students should not be taught about things like slavery so explicitly.