From my apartment door, I see a blue sky hovering over the tin roof of the neighboring house. I see the blended tops of coconut trees standing so close, their palms so intertwined, that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the next begins. I see lined telephone poles and a busy road down to my right, the bus stop and grocery store across the street, and wild chickens running around below. They almost always seem to be in a hurry, but I never know where they’re going.

Long before the arrival of the settlers, the land which we call Turtle Island was bountiful of rich foods, clean water, and a vast amount of biodiversity. Cornfields wrapped around the coastline for miles, schools of fish swam so thick, and trees were so healthy they produced many nuts and fruits. Our ancestors celebrated thanksgiving about 13 times a year. In the Northeast, the first thanksgiving is the Strawberry Thanksgiving as it is the first berry of the season.

With Native American Heritage Month well underway and Thanksgiving/National Day of Mourning occurring tomorrow, it is an excellent time to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ brilliance, honor and acknowledge truth in history, recognize whose land we are on, and work towards true allyship. We call upon our Cultural Survival community to learn from Indigenous Peoples and their true account of this federal holiday, confront settler mythologies of this country's history, understand how American colonialism and imperialism continue to impact Indigenous communities today, and to ta

I am a Na Ñuu Savi (Person of the Place of Rain, Mixtec) born in Santa Maria, California, United States, to Nivi Ñuu Savi (People of the Place of Rain) who migrated there to work as farmers in the California agricultural economy. Ñuu Savi (the Place of Rain) is in Oaxaca, Puebla, and Guerrero, Mexico, where many pueblos are known by names that describe our history.

In the Northeastern Coastal Algoquin language, our word for dugout canoe is “mishoon.” Our coastal Tribes have utilized the waterways as ancient highways for thousands of years traveling in mishoon which are considered carbon neutral water vessels. As the original population of the American northeastern region, we have faced European assimilation.

For 50 years, Cultural Survival has partnered with Indigenous communities to advance Indigenous Peoples' rights and cultures worldwide. We envision a future that respects and honors Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights and dynamic cultures, deeply and richly interwoven in lands, languages, spiritual traditions, and artistic expression and rooted in self-determination and self-governance.

By Wakinyan LaPointe (Sicangu Lakota) and Thorne LaPointe (Sicangu Lakota)
 

In the United States, 21 states now celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, or a holiday of a similar name, on the second Monday of October, as an official holiday or via proclamation. In 2021, Biden issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day, however he did not replace Columbus Day. 
 

Image courtesy of MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda

It's time to recognize that celebrating the life of Christopher Columbus also celebrates the erasure of Indigenous existence. While there is a growing movement around the country to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, more work remains to be done.

By Phoebe Farris (Powhatan-Pamunkey)

How we remember someone is both a reflection of the person remembered and our own personal connection to them. Often our memories are in conflict with public perceptions or based on our own biases. But, they are real to the person remembering a friend, a loved one, a relative, a colleague, or a mentor. They are private remembrances. And for a public figure like Sacheen Littlefeather (1946-2022), they are even more complex.
 

By Katya Yegorov-Crate