November marks Native American Heritage Month, a time that, too often, is diluted into a “Thanksgiving” celebration without real confrontation of our history.
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. This day mourns the genocide, land theft, and erasure that shaped settler colonialism and continues to shape the U.S. today. It challenges the whitewashed history that is repeated today, and it honors the resilience and resistance of Indigenous peoples who have never stopped asserting their sovereignty, protecting sacred land, and envisioning liberated futures.
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 communities, and the return to Indigenous stewardship. Decolonization is a material process of land back, cultural revival, and collective healing that redefines our relationships with each other, with ourselves, and with the earth.
The same capitalist and imperialist systems that dispossess Indigenous people fuel ecological collapse, mass incarceration, and gendered violence. Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people have long been at the frontlines of resistance, from organizing for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives to defending sacred land from extractive industries and the U.S. government. Their leadership teaches that liberation is ecological, spiritual, and communal all at once.
For those who are descendants of settlers, solidarity means supporting 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:
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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. semtribe.com
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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
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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
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Love the Everglades Movement – A grassroots Indigenous-led environmental organization focused on protecting the sacred Everglades ecosystem from corporate and governmental exploitation. lovetheeverglades.org
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Indigenous Women Rising – A Native-led reproductive justice collective providing abortion, midwifery, and health fund support rooted in bodily sovereignty. iwrising.org
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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
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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
“Inside Miccosukee Culture & History | Your South Florida”
“Protecting the Everglades with the Miccosukee Tribe | Your South Florida”
“Whose Land Are You On? What to Know About the Land Back Movement”
