The members of RDA Consulting, SPC observed Native American Heritage Day last Friday, November 29 as we do each year. When I shared that with a colleague, they wondered about the difference between Native American Heritage Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

This difference is simply and beautifully defined by Weyodi OldBear, a writer and self-described voting citizen of the Comanche Nation: “Native American Heritage Day celebrates ancestors. Indigenous Peoples Day celebrates the 571+ distinct Native Peoples who exist today in the Modern US.”

While Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a counter-celebration adopted by many states and localities in response to Columbus Day, Native American Heritage Day was formalized by President Barack Obama in June 2009. House Joint Resolution 40 (Pub. L. 111-33) designates the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving Day of each year as “Native American Heritage Day.”

It is fitting that Native American Heritage Day follows Thanksgiving given the popular history of Thanksgiving as a day of thanks to the Native Americans who taught European religious pilgrims to survive in the unfamiliar lands they came to occupy.

This holiday offers today’s Americans the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the diverse traditions and stories of Native American communities, participating in the work to uplift their histories and contributions into the future.

RDA Consulting observes both days, and makes an annual $500 contribution to support a staff-nominated service or advocacy organization that addresses issues or serves Indigenous Peoples. Once again, RDA Consulting made a contribution to Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people.

Acknowledging that our headquarters occupies land that is the home territory of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people, we are humbled to participate in restoring Native Peoples to their ancestral land.

With good wishes,
Amalia