President Joe Biden made history on Friday as the first president to ever issue a formal apology for the oppressive and abusive systems upheld by the federal government's Indigenous boarding schools. For 150 years the U.S. removed Indigenous children from their homes and sent them away to the schools, where they were stripped of their cultures, histories and religions and beaten for speaking their languages. “We should be ashamed,” Biden said to a crowd of Indigenous people gathered at the Gila River Indian Community outside of Phoenix, including tribal leaders, survivors and their families. Washington state had 15 of these boarding schools, which was among the most in the western United States. "It's significant because it's long overdue," said Misty Kalama, teacher at the Wa He Lut Indian School on the Nisqually Indian Reservation. READ MORE: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/president-biden-apology-for-indigenous-boarding-schools-long-overdue-nisqually-member-says/281-5bd2415c-9091-47b6-b950-0680865abee0