Friend --
This National Native American Heritage Month, I hope you'll join me in honoring the nearly 600 federally recognized Tribal communities in the United States. Each nation brings its own unique cultures and traditions that add important chapters to the history of America.
It's also important to pause and recognize our country's history of racial injustice, broken promises, and violence toward Tribal communities. It's crucial our government lives up to the promises it's made in the past and honors its trust and treaty obligations with Tribal communities.
Over the last several years, I’ve worked with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to identify the failures of the federal government in meetings those obligations – and to lay out a strategy for addressing them. And this past month, I joined Representative Marilyn Strickland and Brenda Mallory, the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, for a visit to Tribal communities in Washington. We met with Tribal leaders to call for federal investments in their communities and conservation efforts in support of their treaty rights.
Native American people have shown us the importance of protecting our natural resources -- including salmon and shellfish habitats, land, and waters. In Washington, our tribes play a key part in driving our local economy, and throughout history, countless Indigenous Americans have made the sacrifice of serving our nation in the military.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have committed to fulfilling the federal government’s trust responsibilities with tribes. I'm committed to partnering with our local Tribal communities -- and colleagues like Rep. Strickland -- to make sure we make progress.
Happy National Native American Heritage Month to all who celebrate!
It's an honor to serve you,
Derek
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PO Box 1381
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