New report on Native American boarding schools reveals the US government said it would force Indigenous people to 'resort to agricultural labor or starve'

• A new report reveals the US government said it was "indispensably necessary" to "control" Indigenous populations.
• The report investigated the conditions of Native American boarding schools that existed in the US in the 19th and 20th centuries.

A new report on Native American boarding schools revealed that the US government was willing to force Indigenous people "to agricultural labor or starve."

The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a report released in May 2022 under the leadership of the Department of the Interior, investigated the conditions that led to the creation of and the conditions inside Native American boarding schools. The US operated or supported 408 Native American boarding schools across 37 states and territories from 1819 to 1969. Roughly half of the boarding schools were also run by churches.

The report reveals that, at the time, the federal government said it was "indispensably necessary that [Indigenous people] be placed in positions where they can be controlled, and finally compelled, by stern necessity, to resort to agricultural labor or starve," adding that "[i]f it be admitted that education affords the true solution to the Indian problem, then it must be admitted that the boarding school is the very key to the situation."

The schools were created as an attempt at cultural genocide of Indigenous populations while simultaneously taking their land. The report also stated that the boarding schools ensured the "securing" of US borders from "bloodshed, and keeping peace among the Indians themselves."