Interior Secretary Deb Haaland applauds Biden apology for Indigenous boarding schools
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(WASHINGTON) — For more than a century, from the early 1800s to the 1960s, Indigenous children were taken from their tribes — sometimes forcibly from their homes — to attend government assimilation boarding schools. On Friday afternoon, President Joe Biden will issue a formal apology from the U.S. government to impacted communities.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold a Cabinet position, says her grandparents and mother were among those shipped off to these schools: “I understand that history,” she told host Brad Mielke on Friday’s episode of “Start Here,” ABC News’ flagship daily news podcast.
“The children got to these boarding schools. They were stripped of their clothing. Their hair was cut. They were forbidden to speak their native languages and were beat if they did,” said Haaland.
Haaland went on a reservation listening tour to hear from tribal elders and descendants of people who attended these schools as part of a federal investigation into the government’s boarding school programs and the reported physical and emotional abuse as well as death that took place.
She also investigated those who never made it home, and found that hundreds of children had been buried at unmarked sites far away from their homes.
As part of her investigation, Haaland put together a list of recommendations, the first of which is to issue a formal acknowledgment and apology from the U.S. government.
President Biden told White House reporters Thursday that he’s going to Arizona “to do something that should have been done a long time ago.”
“To make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years,” he said. “That’s why I’m going. That’s why I’m heading west.”
Haaland told “Start Here” that an apology is the first step in working toward a remedy to the trauma and pain.
“Quite frankly, Native American history is American history, so it’s important for the survivors and the descendants, I believe, to feel that they are seen.”
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — A former officer who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the death of Tyre Nichols became emotional during his testimony Tuesday in the federal trial of three ex-Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Nichols.
“I wish I would’ve stopped the punches. It hurts to watch. It hurts inside so much,” said Desmond Mills Jr., who cried during his testimony, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom. “It felt bad every time the picture is on the screen to know I’m a part of that. I made his child fatherless. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know ‘sorry’ won’t bring him back, but I pray his child has everything he needs growing up.”
Mills struggled to speak after watching body camera video in court of Nichols being struck, according to WATN. Mills admitted to using his baton to hit Nichols three times.
“I was angry because I just [pepper] sprayed myself in the face,” Mills said, according to WATN. “I didn’t give him a chance to give me his hands.”
Justin Smith, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mills and Emmitt Martin III, the two other officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.
Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.
Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records.
When Mills was asked by the prosecution what threat Nichols posed during the officers’ encounter with Nichols as shown in the court through body camera footage, the ex-officer answered, “None,” according to WATN.
Mills claimed that he wanted to leave the Memphis Police Department (MPD) by the time Bean joined the SCORPION unit, the MPD’s former crime suppression unit, which has since been disbanded, because he didn’t like the structure of the team, his former colleagues were inexperienced and the culture of the team was “go, go, go,” according to WATN.
“I just pulled the spray out and I sprayed Mr. Nichols,” Mills, who claimed Smith and Bean were already punching Nichols when he arrived on scene, said, according to WATN. “I failed to assess and analyze … just started spraying.”
Mills could be heard on body camera footage played in the court threatening to pepper-spray Nichols as the Memphis resident called out for his mother, according to WATN.
“I thought it would help and get handcuffs on him,” Mills said, according to WATN.
Mills said Martin and Haley were hostile toward citizens and he didn’t like what he saw, according to WATN. The ex-officer claimed their aggressive approaches resulted in them filing several response to resistance forms, which officers are required to fill out to explain their use of force while on the job.
Mills claimed Haley would come to work “amped up” from his pre-workouts, according to WATN. He said he talked to Haley about his inconsistent use of his body camera video, to which Haley allegedly told him, “F— that sh–.”
Mills said that Haley kicked a handcuffed suspect in the face the day before the Nichols’ encounter and didn’t report it, according to WATN.
“I was going to go along and hide it with the rest of the team,” said Mills, who also didn’t report Haley’s use of force, according to WATN.
The response to resistance form lists Mills as using chemical spray, but not Haley kicking the suspect, according to WATN.
Mills claimed Smith, who’s also on trial, told the unit that they needed to check on Martin’s mental state after he returned to work after being hit by a car on the job, according to WATN.
In court testimony last week, Martin, who was the first to spot Nichols, claimed that he was hit by a car in November 2022 and returned to work Jan. 3, 2023, according to WATN. Martin said he was scared, angry, eager to show he could still do the job and wanted revenge for being struck by a vehicle.
“I wanted some kind of revenge. I was seeing red,” Martin said, according to WATN
Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over on Jan. 7, 2023, for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him.
Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes later after tracking him down. After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition.
Nichols, 29, died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2023. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.
The prosecution told ABC News earlier this month that they will not have any statements until after the trial. The defense attorneys did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.
The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.
“It was ugly,” Mills said when asked by the prosecution why he didn’t tell his supervisor the truth about the Nichols encounter, according to WATN. “So, we didn’t tell lieutenant.”
ABC News’ Deena Zaru and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A type of baby powder distributed in 35 states and sold online through Amazon is being recalled due to potential contamination with asbestos.
The Dynarex Corporation said Monday that its earlier recall of Dynacare Baby Powder, initiated in September, had expanded from 12 states to 35, according to a company announcement on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.
The company said the recalled Dynacare Baby Powder products were sold on or after Jan. 18, 2024, in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin and online through Amazon.com.
The recalled products include both 4-ounce and 14-ounce sizes, according to Monday’s announcement.
Dynarex has instructed customers to immediately discontinue use of recalled Dynacare Baby Powder products and return them for a full refund. There have been no illnesses or adverse events reported to date in connection with the recall, according to Dynarex.
Questions about refunds and returns can be directed to Dynarex Corporation at 888-396-2739 or 845-365-8200 during business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, or by email at recall@dynarex.com.
The company first announced the recall on Sept. 19 following “routine sampling” by the FDA, “which revealed that the finished products contained asbestos,” a known carcinogen, the company stated at that time.
“Upon further investigation, we have identified additional lots of products that may contain asbestos due to using the same bulk talc material,” Dynarex stated on Monday. “The company has ceased the distribution of the product as an investigation is proceeding to determine what caused the contamination of the talc.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, asbestos “is a mineral fiber that occurs in rock and soil” that “has been used in a variety of building construction materials for insulation and as a fire retardant” and “in a wide range of manufactured goods.”
“Exposure to asbestos increases your risk of developing lung disease,” the EPA states. “That risk is made worse by smoking. In general, the greater the exposure to asbestos, the greater the chance of developing harmful health effects. Disease symptoms may take many years to develop following exposure.”
As Dynarex noted Monday, asbestos “is often found near talc, an ingredient in many cosmetic products.”
“If talc mining sites are not carefully chosen or if proper steps are not taken to adequately purify the talc ore, it may contain asbestos,” the company said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will travel on Sunday to Florida areas ravaged by the back-to-back hurricanes, and announce federal funding for projects to strengthen the electrical grid, according to the White House.
Biden will be touring St. Petersburg, one of the hardest hit Florida cities from Hurricane Milton last week, and reveal $612 million for six Department of Energy projects in the southeast.
Two of the projects are focused in Florida and provide a combined $94M in federal funds, according to the White House.
Gainesville Regional Utilities will use the funding to help mitigate the effects of increasingly extreme weather in north central Florida, “through storm hardening, as well as faster restoration through deployment of self-healing devices and tools that will enable more efficient and precise dispatching of field teams during outages,” the White House said in a statement.
Switched Source, a private utility technology developer, will work with Florida Power and Light to deploy Phase-EQ, which “optimizes power flow in distribution circuits, will unlock over 200 MW of system capacity, and improve reliability on circuits serving communities that are most susceptible to prolonged outages,” according to the White House.
“These investments are part of the president’s commitment to making long-term investments that protect, enhance, and upgrade our nation’s electric grid, especially in the face of extreme weather events,” the White House said in a statement.
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. At least 16 people were killed in the storm and over a million remain without power.
Biden has spoken to numerous state and local officials, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who he said was “very cooperative.” When asked if he would meet with DeSantis on Sunday, Biden said yes so long as the governor was available.
