The Governor Gavin Newsom declared this November Native American Heritage Month, seeking California to honor and exalt the enduring perseverance, diverse cultures and excellence of all the people who first called this state and nation home.
In his statement, the Governor of California recognized the tenacity of Native communities in the face of adversity throughout the state's history, while reflecting on the progress made in healing, growth and a shared future.
“Over the past four years, the leadership and advocacy of Indigenous Peoples working in partnership with the state have forged progress to address long-standing injustices and create a California that embraces the histories, values, and strengths of all peoples. people," he said in his letter.
In it, he also acknowledged the enduring trauma of atrocities inflicted on California's indigenous peoples throughout history, for which, he said, the state has taken significant steps to tell the truth about the past and begin to heal deep wounds. .
"We have taken the historic step of apologizing for this genocidal violence and mistreatment, established a Truth and Healing Council to continue the journey of reconciliation with our past, and worked with tribal nations to reassess the systems and symbols of oppression and restore the names and ancestral practices to important cultural sites throughout California," he said.
Through political, legislative and budgetary actions, he specified that work has been done to empower native communities to lead culturally informed care systems, work began to address the crisis of the Disappeared and Murdered Indigenous Peoples, and was raised to the first California Secretary of Tribal Affairs to head a newly established Governor's Office of Tribal Affairs.
“The unwavering strength and leadership of Native Peoples is at the heart of these milestones: a cross-cutting line that has sustained tribal communities amid existential threats of the past and perseveres through the tragic loss of irreplaceable leaders, bearers of culture, the elderly and relatives during the pandemic.
During Native American Heritage Month, he called for honoring the resilience of these remarkable Californians and taking pride in the strides made to support truth, visibility and justice for Native peoples.
According to IWGIA, a global human rights organization dedicated to promoting, protecting, and defending the rights of indigenous peoples in the US, through 2021, the number of indigenous people in the United States is estimated to be between 2.5 and 6 million, of about 20 percent of whom live in American Indian or Alaska Native areas.
The indigenous peoples of the United States are more commonly referred to as native groups. The state with the largest native population is California; the place with the largest native population is New York City.
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