Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day from all of us at the Native Lands Advocacy Project (NLAP)! To mark this significant holiday, we’d like to take a moment to recognize and honor what it means for Native peoples across the United States.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is dedicated to the original inhabitants of North America. It is a day where we honor Native American history and culture, acknowledge the hardships inflicted upon Native communities by settler colonialism, and celebrate the resilience imbued in these sovereign Nations and their people.
"[Indigenous Peoples' Day] is a time to reflect on all that we've been through as a people: How much we endured, how much we've persevered and how much we still have to continue to fight for - for ourselves, for generations before us and for generations that will come after us."
While many in the U.S. still recognize this holiday as Columbus Day, Native communities have long called for a public reckoning with the true legacy of Christopher Columbus—an individual known to Indigenous peoples not for intrepid exploration, but for his cruelty, enslavement, and devastation of the Taíno Peoples, as well as for ushering in an era of European conquest over Native peoples, lands, and ways of life. Nevertheless, the mythos surrounding Columbus and his “discovery” of the Americas is deeply embedded in the collective conscience of many U.S. citizens. NLAP stands with Indian Country in our belief that decentering historic figures like Christopher Columbus—and being honest and clear-sighted about their legacies—is a necessary step in our country’s long and sacred journey into deconstructing empire. By shifting the focus of this day from the conquest of this land to the resilience of its original stewards, we work toward the collective liberation of everyone who calls Turtle Island their home.
NLAP honors the resilience, ingenuity, and strength of all our relations in Indian Country, and we are proud to continue offering our services to bolster tribal sovereignty and self-determination.
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To reach out to us directly, you can contact us here or at info@nativeland.info
Author
Written by Mauryn Morfitt
Works Cited
Harmeet, K. (2023, October 9). How Indigenous Peoples’ Day came to be and why it matters now. CBS. https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/how-indigenous-peoples-day-came-to-be-and-why-it-matters-now/
