Hochul apologizes for NY's role in 'atrocities' at Native American school
Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday formally apologized for New York’s role in operating an upstate boarding school in which Native American children from tribes across the state were forced to assimilate into American society while being subjected to physical and psychological abuse.
For over 100 years, more than 2,500 students were forced to attend the former Thomas Indian School on Seneca Nation land, where they were stripped of their names, language, appearance and cultural practices.
Families were coerced into giving up their children or were forcibly separated as state and federal authorities took them.
“Today, on behalf of the State of New York, I apologize to the Seneca Nation of Indians — and the survivors and descendants from all Nations — who attended the Thomas Indian School,” Hochul said, while acknowledging that the “horrors of the past” cannot be changed.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/05/20/kathy-hochul-apology-thomas-indian-school-abuse/