Readout of the White House Screening of Sugarcane

On December 17, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration held a screening of the documentary film Sugarcane at The White House. Sugarcane, the award-winning debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is a groundbreaking investigation into an Indian residential school, shedding light on years of forced separation, assimilation and abuse that Indigenous children experienced at the hands of the government and religious organizations. This urgent and timely film brings the hidden and foundational story of cultural genocide to audiences worldwide while celebrating the resilience of Native people as they work to overcome cycles of intergenerational trauma.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken historic actions to support Indian Country through executive actions, historic investments, and strengthening government-to-government relationships. The Biden-Harris Administration also believes that to usher in the next era of Federal-Tribal relationships, we need to fully acknowledge the harms of the past. That is why President Biden issued a historic Presidential apology for the Federal Indian Boarding School era. For over 150 years, the federal government ran boarding schools that forcibly removed generations of Native children from their homes to boarding schools often far away.

Attendees heard directly from Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who gave remarks on the Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and the importance of remembering the dark eras of our nation’s past. Attendees also heard remarks from the documentary directors, Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, as well as from Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota Peggy Flanagan, who moderated a Q&A panel with the directors.

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