Staff Reports
President Biden has decided to add some historical spice to his culinary experiments by designating the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School as a new national monument. Located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, this site has the dubious distinction of being home to the federal government’s first off-reservation boarding school, established in 1879. While many might appreciate the effort to recognize a chapter of American history that deserves to be remembered, it’s fair to wonder why this is suddenly a top priority in the Biden Administration’s agenda.
The White House is spinning this monument as a way to memorialize the federal government’s attempt at, let’s call it “forced assimilation.” This campaign, which lasted nearly 200 years, aimed to strip Native American children of their familial ties, languages, and cultural practices. The Biden Administration touts this as an effort to ensure that such a painful history is never forgotten. However, one could argue that it seems like the administration is merely playing the role of historical curator while sidestepping the more pressing issues facing American families today.
In a true show of timing, this announcement coincided with the final White House Tribal Nations Summit of Biden’s term, where the president laid his cards on the table with an official apology to the Native American community for the horrors of the boarding school system. It appears that memory lane is being paved here, while current policy decisions remain muddled and questionable.
The upcoming monument will span 24.5 acres, a rather quaint space when one considers the vastness of issues facing the U.S. Army’s Carlisle Barracks, of which this new monument will be a small part. The responsibility for preserving the history and integrity of this site will fall to the National Park Service, which is no stranger to managing diverse and often politically charged narratives. While National Park Service Director Chuck Sams waxes poetic about the monument being a “giant step” toward recognizing Tribal sovereignty, many might be inclined to roll their eyes, contending that monuments don’t solve problems.
Biden declares former Indian boarding school a new national monument https://t.co/lcB9dkpkNh
— Just the News (@JustTheNews) December 9, 2024
Behind all this ceremonial grandeur, there’s an underlying irony in the Biden Administration’s fixation on the past. It raises questions about whether these symbolic gestures will have any real impact on the contemporary challenges faced by Native American communities. The administration’s push for recognition feels more like a distraction from ongoing issues regarding education, healthcare, and economic opportunities for these same communities, leaving many skeptical whether the monument is anything more than a band-aid on a much larger wound.
In the end, the establishment of the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument serves as a reminder of a dark chapter in American history. However, a monument alone will not help mend the rifts that remain in the fabric of American society. As this project unfolds, it will be interesting to see whether it sparks meaningful dialogue or serves merely as a historical footnote in the Biden Administration’s ongoing narrative of addressing past injustices.
