Illustration By Carla Labto / Staff
By Zeke Watson
A Perspective
Thanksgiving tends to be the highlight of November. It is a time for families to come together to give thanks for the many blessings accrued throughout the year. Thanks for the time they can spend with those who choose to gather with them on that day, along with those who cannot. For deep-frying turkeys, stuffing faces, watching the Dallas Cowboys stink it up and taking the customary afternoon nap after eating plates of Thanksgiving food.
Thanksgiving should not be the focus of November. That honor belongs to Native American and Indigenous people, providing a platform for them to celebrate the traditions of their culture and the rich history of the myriad tribes that survive today.
Our overly-romanticized myth of Thanksgiving represents the struggles Native American communities face sharing their own narratives. Native Americans have had to continually fight for their stake within a country that since its inception tried to extinguish Native voices.
Native American Heritage Month is a time for reflection on the blood, tears and sacrifices Native and Indigenous people suffered during the conquest of the Americas and the formation of the United States. Native American Heritage Month is a time to acknowledge our nation’s colonialism and ethnic cleansing of Native and Indigenous nations.
Acknowledgment allows non-Native individuals to better understand the Native and Indigenous plight. It is the necessary foundation required to properly advocate for strong policy that can promote healing for future generations of Native and Indigenous communities.
Native issues include rampant opioid addiction, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and a rise in suicide. These issues go largely unnoticed by American society said David Salomon, assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous studies.
“There are a lot of challenges out there,” he said. “There’s the issue of visibility, with many Native people not being recognized. Cultures are not being recognized or respected by the dominant society.”
At least 1,543 non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native people died by opioid-related overdoses in 2022, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention — the highest of any racial or ethnic group nationwide. To help with prevention the CDC appropriated $18 million in tribal overdose funding during the 2023 fiscal year. More is needed.
Another organization helping with the Native and Indigenous opioid crisis is San Diego County’s Indian Health Services. It developed a video series on how to combat the opioid epidemic within those communities.
Indian Health Services has strategies to reduce the effects of opioid-related crises by expanding access to prevention, treatment and recovery services as well as opioid overdose reversal medications. It offers new approaches to acute and chronic pain management, reducing the impact of prenatal substance exposure and developing better metrics regarding pain management and overdose use disorders.
Missing Murdered Indigenous Women awareness has improved thanks to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, whose main office is located on the ancestral lands of the Tsétsêhéstâhese and So’taeo’o (Cheyenne) People. Its website highlights the fact that the murder rate of Native women is more than 10 times the national average. Murders and disappearances stem from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and sex trafficking.
New federal laws strive to better protect Native and Indigenous women. Savanna’s Act, a groundbreaking bill aims to improve data collection. It directs the Department of Justice to develop law enforcement protocols. The Not Invisible Act combats violent crimes against Indians through advisory committees composed of tribal leaders, law enforcement, federal partners, providers and survivors.
November is an opportunity to raise awareness of the 574 federally recognized Native cultures still thriving in America. (There are almost certainly more.) Acknowledgement and appreciation for these traditions generates respect and fights stereotypes, uneducated assumptions, and negative portrayals in movies and television.
San Diego County has 17 Native reservations and a deep history with Native and Indigenous communities. Local Kumeyaay have existed on these lands for at least 10,000 years, well before Spanish and European exploration. They roamed territory all over present-day San Diego County, Imperial County and Baja California. Before first contact of outsiders there were as many as 60,000 Kumeyaay. Today, the population is less than 5,000.
Much of their culture is likely lost, though many vital traditions—including bird songs—survived.
Residents of our county must attempt to understand the history of the Native communities.
Salomon said attending events is a great way to show support.
“Go to the reservations whenever we’re having events,” he said. “There are events that take place throughout the year (such as) cultural workshops, arts and crafts, and the Barona Museum.”
We can also support Native and Indigenous causes by engaging with media created by Native and Indigenous artists. Putting in the effort to take those small steps shows Native and Indigenous communities that they are seen and appreciated and that their history will not be forgotten.
