‘How do you fix a broken heart?’ Some Natives skeptical of Biden’s apology to boarding school survivors

How do you compensate for a human life? Much less, how do you compensate for nearly 1,000?

That’s the question Elvira Randall-Carlston, a member of the Navajo Nation, posed to a Journal reporter Friday while waiting to speak at a meeting of the New Mexico Department of Justice Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Task Force.

The meeting in Albuquerque was the first the task force has held since being quietly disbanded by the governor last year and reestablished in March.

At the same time, at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, President Joe Biden issued a formal apology for the brutal assimilatory practices of federally run boarding schools that operated for 150 years.

An investigation by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland of Laguna Pueblo found that 950 Native American children were killed while in federal boarding schools, and many more were physically, emotionally and sexually abused.

Public officials applauded Biden for his apology, the first ever offered on behalf of the federal government.

“The boarding school policy caused deep and lasting harm to our families and our children, and the ramifications continue to burden Indian Country even today,” said New Mexico Indian Affairs Secretary Josett Monette. “President Biden’s apology today is a recognition of these historical injustices, and we appreciate the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to a better future.”

New Mexico’s congressional delegation has also commended Biden for the historic apology.

“Today we’re finally moving forward into the light,” Biden said during his address.

For the Carlston family of the Navajo Nation, it’s impossible to see that light. Their 23-year-old son Zachariah Juwaun Shorty died four years ago with no explanation. During public comment, several people with missing and murdered loved ones said they have experienced generational trauma because of boarding schools, which is one factor out of many that complicates the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) crisis.

Vangie Randall-Shorty, the mother of Zachariah Juwaun Shorty, who was found dead of gunshot wounds in 2020 nearly a month after he was reported missing, cradled a portrait of her son throughout the duration of public comment.

Shorty’s sister, Kimberly Carlston, 24, spoke of holding her newborn baby in her arms while searching fields and canyons for her brother’s remains. With tragedy so tangible in her family, Carlston said, it’s hard for her to find Biden’s apology to the Native people meaningful or sincere.

“They use us for the campaign image — but when it’s over — then we’re faceless again,” Carlston said.

The family’s attorney, Darlene Gomez, who works pro bono for the Carlstons and others with missing and murdered relatives, agreed. An apology a little over a week ahead of the presidential election seemed, she said, a calculated political move.

“And Native American lives are not political moves,” Gomez added.

Gomez said she suspects that the apology is an attempt to secure Arizona, a swing state, for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election.

Despite her criticisms of Biden, Gomez praised Haaland for her investigation into the federal boarding schools, although, she said, there is still much work to be done.

New Mexico’s congressional delegation made statements both in support of Biden’s apology and criticized the federal government for what they see as an act long overdue.

“Acknowledging the injustices of the boarding school era is just the first step toward reconciliation,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., who is a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, in a statement Friday.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., applauded Biden and Haaland for their work to address the history of Native American boarding schools.

“Indigenous history is American history,” she said in a statement. “Today, the U.S. government took a necessary and long overdue step in acknowledging an often dark and painful past with our Indigenous nations.”

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., spoke of next steps.

“It is undeniable that these events have led to intergenerational trauma within our Native communities,” Leger Fernández said. “That is why I co-sponsored the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act, which is the next step to turn this apology into positive action.”

The act was introduced into Congress in July by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Ma., and aims to find and protect previously unmarked gravesites of children killed in boarding schools, identify and repatriate the remains of missing children, and discourage future separation of Native families by social services.

If the federal government is serious about healing the harm, Gomez said, she’d like to see more funding for mental health services for Native Americans, payouts for boarding school survivors and sweeping changes in American History curriculums.

“Money only goes so far,” Randall-Carlston said. “We can’t bring back the kids that have been murdered. How do you fix that? How do you fix a broken heart?”