National Native American heritage month

Happy National Native American Heritage Month! I am proud to identify as a Hopi woman, and am excited for what's to come next. I would first like to acknowledge that we are on stolen from Native Americans and built by enslaved African Americans. 

You may ask what is National Native American Heritage Month? This month we celebrate and amplify the culture, heritage and experiences of Indigenous peoples. The continent’s original inhabitants were a diverse group of people, each with unique customs, faith practices, and languages. It is important to know and give respect to the native people who first cared for this land. Some native tribes that are here in Nebraska that I would like to acknowledge are the Santee Sioux Nation, Ponca tribe of Nebraska, Omaha tribe of Nebraska, and Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. 

What is the best way to refer to an indigenous person? The term Indian, when used to refer to a Native American individual, may be offensive to them. I highly encourage you all to ask before assuming what someone may want to be called. According to healthline.com, the term Native American “emphasizes that hundreds of individual tribes inhabited the land now known as the United States of America before anyone else.” 

Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Native American, was a director of an arts and science museum in Rochester, New York. Parker persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set a date for the “First Americans Day”. In 1915, the Congress of the American Indian Association made a plan concerning the American Indian Day, and on Sept. 28, 1915, it was declared as an appeal that the second Saturdays of each May be American Indian Day. American Indian Day was then adapted by individual states, with New York being the first to declare American Indian Day. According to nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov, a joint resolution approved in 1990 designated November as Native American Heritage Month.  

I encourage everyone this month and in general to educate yourselves on the land that we can call home.

By: Ashira Campbell