November marks Native American Heritage Month, a time that, too often, is diluted into celebration without confrontation. For Indigenous communities, this month is not just about heritage; it’s about survival, sovereignty, and the ongoing struggle to dismantle the colonial systems that continue to harm Native peoples and the lands they belong to.

On what the United States calls “Thanksgiving,” Indigenous organizers have gathered for more than fifty years at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for the National Day of Mourning. It is not a rejection of gratitude, but a rejection of historical lies. This day mourns the genocide, land theft, and erasure that shaped settler colonialism and continues to shape U.S. policy today. It also honors the resilience and resistance of Indigenous peoples who have never stopped asserting their sovereignty, protecting sacred land, and envisioning liberated futures.

Native feminists and Two-Spirit organizers remind us that solidarity during Native American Heritage Month requires more than land acknowledgments or symbolic inclusion. It demands the active dismantling of oppressive settler structures, those that police land, bodies, and the natural world, and the return of land to Indigenous stewardship. Decolonization is not a metaphor; it’s a material process of land back, cultural revival, and collective healing that redefines our relationships with each other and with the earth.

The same capitalist and imperialist systems that dispossess Indigenous people also fuel ecological collapse, mass incarceration, and gendered violence. Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people have long been at the frontlines of resistance, from protecting water at Standing Rock to organizing for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, to defending sacred land from extractive industries. Their leadership teaches that liberation is ecological, spiritual, and communal all at once.

For those who are settlers, solidarity means following Indigenous leadership, redistributing wealth and resources, and refusing to participate in colonial myth-making. It means learning whose land you occupy, divesting from corporations that exploit Indigenous land, and supporting Native-led movements that are building a world beyond extraction and domination.

This November, we honor Indigenous heritage and resistance. Let this month move us toward truth-telling, reparations, and return. Dismantle the structures that uphold colonization. Return the land. Honor the sovereignty and brilliance of Indigenous communities not with words, but with action.

Support and Donate:

• The Seminole Tribe of Florida – One of the few Native nations that never signed a peace treaty with the U.S. Support cultural preservation, sovereignty, and education initiatives. seminoletribe.com

• Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida – Protectors of the Everglades and advocates for water rights and environmental stewardship. Learn about their ongoing resistance to pollution and land exploitation. miccosukee.com

• Moccasin Lake Environmental Education Center (Clearwater, FL) – Works with Indigenous educators to teach local histories and promote ecological protection through community-based programming. moccasinlake.org

• Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum (Big Cypress Reservation) – A Seminole-run museum preserving stories, artifacts, and histories of Native people in Florida. Consider visiting or donating. ahtahthiki.com

• Love the Everglades Movement – A grassroots Indigenous-led environmental organization focused on protecting the sacred Everglades ecosystem from corporate and governmental exploitation. lovetheeverglades.org

• Indigenous Women Rising – A Native-led reproductive justice collective providing abortion, midwifery, and health fund support rooted in bodily sovereignty. iwrising.org

• Native Youth Sexual Health Network – Works across Turtle Island to build youth-led movements for reproductive justice, Two-Spirit visibility, and sexual health through a decolonial lens. nativeyouthsexualhealth.com

• The Red Nation – A coalition of Native and non-Native organizers committed to Indigenous liberation and anti-capitalist struggle, connecting climate justice, feminism, and decolonization. therednation.org

Learn and Reflect:

The Miccosukee Tribe: The Everglades Are Part of Who We Are – A powerful short film centering Miccosukee voices on the ongoing struggle to protect the Everglades and the sacred duty of land defense.

“Inside Miccosukee Culture & History | Your South Florida” — Another episode tailored to Miccosukee voices, bringing forward tribal leadership reflections on tradition, land stewardship, and future generations. YouTube

“Protecting the Everglades with the Miccosukee Tribe | Your South Florida” — Focuses more explicitly on ecological sovereignty: how the Miccosukee are managing, defending, and stewarding land in the face of extraction and climate change. YouTube

“Whose Land Are You On? What to Know About the Land Back Movement” — While not specific to Florida, this video gives a clear overview of the “Land Back” movement, a concept that is highly relevant to Indigenous sovereignty and the return of land to Indigenous peoples. YouTube

“The Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Conservation Efforts” — A look at the Seminole Tribe of Florida and their efforts in land and water protection, showing how Indigenous sovereignty also plays out in conservation and rights over natural resources.

Native-Land.ca – Identify the ancestral territories beneath your feet in Florida (such as Calusa, Timucua, Apalachee, and Tocobaga lands).