November is Native American Heritage Month--but it Seems like More of an Affront than Honor
- Nov 23, 2020
- 2 min read
November is Native American Heritage month, but it seems like more of an affront than honor. Like making Black History Month the shortest month of the year, choosing to celebrate Natives during the same month that contains one of the most harmful settler-colonial myths is insulting. What started as a day to honor Native peoples in the early 1900’s grew into a full-blown month in the 1990’s. But there are no perks or fanfare. Even worse, in 2019 the President decided to proclaim November, “National American Heritage And Founders Month,” essentially glorifying our genocide in a month intended to honor us. This proclamation negates any attempt at celebrating Indigenous Peoples as not that much of an effort was made, judging by the website the government has set up for this occasion. It’s not great that it calls Indigenous Peoples ‘first Americans’ as this term implies that they are part of the building of the nation state when they were in fact genocided in order to do so. It’s also problematic as that the site is through the National Parks Service, with whom Indigenous people share a dark history.
To put things in perspective, November is the one month of the year that is dedicated to honoring Native Peoples, yet we are so far from acknowledging that this November CNN had the audacity to refer to us as "something else” in a survey despite Indigenous voters and electoral efforts being crucial to swing the election.
While the settler-colonial holiday of Thanksgiving is problematic every year, this year it is especially crucial that we re-think Thanksgiving. Some jokes have been made about how this Thanksgiving, occurring during a pandemic year, bears similarity to the original in its disease spreading nature. But far from funny, this year has been deadly for many native communities hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19. And the bringing of disease to Native people is hardly a thing of the past. In Minnesota for instance, despite other restrictions and regulations, pipeline construction has been given the go-ahead and thousands of workers are going to be brought in near reservations.
Despite all the horribleness of having to deal with combatting the settler-colonial lies, Indigenous Peoples, such as Great Plains Action Society, are working to uplift the truth. Truthsgiving events include not just celebration, but mutual aid and frontline support. According to the website, “Truthsgiving is about doing the Truth...to create a new Truth, a Truth that shapes a better future.” The same should be true for Native American Heritage Month but Indigenous Peoples are still fighting to be recognized legitimately in a month that is being whitewashed by Thanksgiving, National American Heritage And Founders Month and shallow acknowledgement by a white supremacist government.
This post makes an important point about how Native American Heritage Month is often overshadowed by long-standing myths and superficial acknowledgments instead of real education and respect for Indigenous histories and struggles. It’s a reminder that honoring a people needs more than just symbolic gestures — it requires genuine listening, learning, and acting in solidarity with Native communities. Recognizing these truths can help us rethink how we mark November in a way that uplifts Indigenous voices rather than repeating colonial narratives. And just like getting proper support for complex topics through Mathematics Assignment Help can deepen understanding rather than glossing over problems, we should seek deeper engagement with history and justice beyond surface-level observances.
This article raises important concerns about how Native American Heritage Month is recognized and whether it truly honors Indigenous communities. It highlights the contradiction of celebrating Native history during a month dominated by Thanksgiving myths and political narratives that overlook historical injustices. The call to rethink traditions and amplify Indigenous voices is powerful, especially given ongoing social and health disparities. Meaningful recognition requires truth, education, and action—not symbolic gestures. Just as students seek proper guidance through Programming assignment help at StudyUnicorn, society must seek accurate understanding and respectful acknowledgment of Indigenous history and present realities.
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Reading this piece on how November is framed as Native American Heritage Month, yet often feels more like an affront than an honor, really stayed with me because it speaks to how recognition without understanding can deepen hurt instead of healing it. As a master’s student, I spend a lot of time reading histories and perspectives like this, and I still remember how tense I felt during my own exams and online classes, trying to balance deadlines while also wanting to engage thoughtfully with complex social issues. In my free time, I have a deep interest in research and writing whether blog writing, article writing, or academic writing because it helps me sit with stories that are uncomfortable but necessary.…