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- By Native News Online Staff
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday issued a proclamation declaring November 2025 as Native American Heritage Month.
California is home to 109 federally recognized tribes — the most of any state in the contiguous United States. These tribes are spread across the state, from urban centers to rural mountain and desert regions.
The proclamation comes ahead of Newsom’s trip to the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Brazil, which is expected to include the largest Indigenous participation in the event’s history. The conference will highlight the role of Indigenous peoples as “guardians of biodiversity.”
PROCLAMATION
This Native American Heritage Month, California celebrates the first people of this land and those Native American peoples from across the nation who now call California home. As Californians navigate federal policies impacting our communities, families, and core values, we shine a light on the first people of this nation — often relocated to this state by force through similar federal policies throughout history — who have nonetheless found ways to persist, resist, and thrive.
First, they came to California to assist with the nation’s successive war efforts, as Native peoples have served in every United States conflict since colonial times. Then, they came at the urging of a federal government bent on assimilation and eliminating trust obligations throughout the nation by promising a better life for Native families relocating to cities like Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego. And often, they came as children through federal programs that removed Native American children from their families — far from everything they knew, and in locations they could not easily escape.
Many of these new Californians struggled to find home and community in a place so far from the lands and practices of their ancestors; but some found new ways to access culture, community, and a sense of belonging through advocacy, gatherings, and public service. Today, California boasts the largest population of Native Americans, with diverse families, traditions, and cultures making up the dynamic Urban Indian communities across the state.
Native peoples from across the United States continue to show up — in defense of these lands, as champions of the most vulnerable and in honor of their ancestors’ dreams. In January of this year, tribal firefighters crossed state lines to join the fight against the fires that ravaged Los Angeles County while Urban Indian communities pooled resources to provide relief for impacted families. And this summer, Native American youth joined together to paddle the free-flowing Klamath River for the first time in a century, celebrating the culmination of decades of collaborative advocacy and the beginning of healing in the region.
California is better for having embraced Native Americans from across the nation and over generations. As a result, we are now home to a Native American renaissance with storytellers like Dallas Goldtooth, Tommy Orange, Ursula Pike, Sterlin Harjo, and Jana Schmieding embracing their histories, advancing their causes, and reclaiming their narratives on a global stage.
As we celebrate the strength, survivance and leadership of Native peoples stemming from a true commitment to past and future generations, I call on all Californians to embrace these values as we collectively face the challenges of our time.
NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim November 2025 as “Native American Heritage Month.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 5th day of November 2025.
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California
ATTEST:
SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State
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