Hochul Apologizes for ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ at Thomas Indian School

“Today, on behalf of the State of New York, I Governor Kathy Hochul, apologize to the Seneca Nation of Indians and survivors and descendants from all nations who attended the Thomas Indian School.”

Governor Kathy Hochul there, during her visit to the Seneca Nation’s Cattaraugus territory, to formally apologize for the state’s operation of the Thomas Indian School which went on for decades until 1957. The boarding residential school was part of the United States policy of forced assimilation for Native youth, to strip them of their culture and identities, to “kill the Indian, save the man.” Thousands died across the country and in Canada, and many Native students were subjected to physical and mental abuse at the hands of government and religious officials.

Seneca Nation President J.C. Seneca, who’s father went to the school, says the apology is a step forward in healing for his own people, and relations with the State of New York.

“For the governor to come and apologize on behalf of the state for what happened here, I think it offers the opportunity for us to continue that process of healing, and I think it also shows that this governor has compassion and cares about our people,” Seneca said.

Around 200 Seneca Nation citizens turned out for the event, with many either having been survivors of the school or having a family connection. One of those, Leslie McComber Sr., says his great-grandfather once owned the land where the Thomas Indian School sat. He says when New York State took over operation of the school from a Christian minister in 1875, the state brought about dark change.

“They wanted cultural change, they wanted assimilation,” McComber said. “The message of the old narrative was to kill the Indian and save the man, and believe it or not, a lot of that has happened. Even amongst ourselves, it’s hard. We find that hard for ourselves, some of us to get along.”

McComber says his family fought to get the land back, hoping to put an end to abuse of Seneca children.

“My great aunt told me her father was sorry he couldn’t get this property back because they made him the watchman in his final days, and he heard the wailing of their children that he couldn’t really stop,” McComber said.

By the time the state closed the school in 1957, McComber felt the damage was already done.

“They succeeded to a point, but not to a point of a type of extinction,” McComber said. “We did lose our way of life. We lost our way of life so everybody else could enjoy theirs.”

Younger Senecas, like Gaehnew Printup, understands the impact Thomas had on multiple generations, and how new generations play a role in healing.

“We look at Thomas Indian School, and the effects that it had is that it separated our families,” Printup said. “It separated our children from their mothers, and so in our traditional way, that was the core of our families, the clans looked to their mothers, their clan mothers, and their aunties and their grandmas for support. So, as that changed, we also changed, and now we’re coming back around, and we’re healing, and we’re reuniting our families.”

Last year, then-President Joe Biden apologized on behalf of the federal government for its operation of hundreds of other Native boarding schools. In his speech, Biden shied away from using terms related to genocide. However, in her apology, Hochul didn’t.

“It became a place of nightmares, a place some would call a torture chamber, a site of sanctioned ethnic cleansing,” Hochul said.

That language is important according to President Seneca.

“The words that she spoke today really reached deep into that,” Seneca said. “She spoke words that are powerful and strong that we recognize, and for her to say that means a lot.”

Hochul also met privately with survivors and their family members before the event. In her approved state budget, Hochul is ensuring the history and impacts of boarding schools like Thomas are included in K-12 curriculum.

Story by Ryan Zunner/New York Public News Network

Image: The Thomas Indian School located near Irving at the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in Erie County, New York. . (Credit: Iroquois Genealogy Society)