US Navy apologizes to Angoon Tlingit for 1882 bombardment

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The U.S. Navy apologized to the Angoon community Saturday for bombing the Tlingit community 142 years ago.

According to Angoon officials, the bombardment of Angoon on October 26, 1882, killed seven children and destroyed all but one of the village’s canoes, which were vital for hunting and fishing. The apology was made by members of the U.S. Navy, including Rear Admiral Mark Sucato, during a traditional ku.éex’, a traditional Tlingit ceremony. Events commemorating the bombing began at 10 a.m. Saturday in the high school gymnasium.

“The Navy recognizes the pain and suffering caused to the Tlingit people, and we recognize that these wrongful acts have resulted in loss of life, loss of resources, loss of culture, and have created and caused intergenerational trauma among these clans,” he said. Rear Admiral. . Sukato. “The Navy takes the significance of this action very, very seriously and knows that an apology is long overdue. But if the Secretary of the Navy were here today, he would say, it’s never too late to do the right thing.”

The ceremony included traditional song and dance, and following the apology, a variety of members of the Tlingit community spoke and accepted the apology.

“The U.S. Navy, the U.S. government, by offering and issuing this apology, is putting our nation on the path to healing from generations of pain,” one leader said in a livestream of the event. “Look at the generational trauma our people suffered after the attacks, you opened the door for us to do just that. Admiral Sukato, you and the entire US Navy, we cannot thank you and your team enough.”