[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 5, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 87777-87779]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25808]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 214 / Tuesday, November 5, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 87777]]


                Proclamation 10853 of October 31, 2024

                
National Native American Heritage Month, 2024

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                During National Native American Heritage Month, we 
                honor the history, rich cultures, and vast 
                contributions of Native peoples. We celebrate the 
                hundreds of Tribal Nations that are ushering in a new 
                era in our Nation-to-Nation relationships. And we 
                recommit to respecting Tribal sovereignty and self-
                determination and working in partnership with Tribal 
                Nations to bring new prosperity and security to Native 
                peoples.

                Indigenous peoples' history in the United States is 
                defined by strength, survival, and a deep commitment to 
                and pride in their heritage, right to self-governance, 
                and ways of life. Native peoples have built and 
                sustained powerful Tribal Nations, and the knowledge 
                they developed still benefits us today. However, our 
                Nation's failed policies of the past subjected 
                generations of Native peoples to cruelty, violence, and 
                intimidation. The forced removal of Native peoples from 
                their homes and ancestral homelands; attempts to 
                assimilate entire generations; and stripping of 
                Indigenous peoples of their identities, cultures, and 
                traditions are some of the darkest chapters of our 
                Nation's history. The trauma and turmoil fundamentally 
                altered their communities. As the first President to 
                visit Indian Country in 10 years, I delivered a 
                national apology for the unspeakable harms caused to 
                Native peoples at Federal Indian Boarding Schools.

                Indigenous peoples have persisted and survived--a 
                testament to their resilience and resolve. Today, 
                Native communities are leading the way forward and 
                continuing to strengthen the fabric of the United 
                States. They have long served in the United States 
                military and currently serve in the highest levels of 
                government--including the Secretary of the Interior, 
                Deb Haaland, America's first Native American Cabinet 
                secretary. In every field and sector, Native peoples 
                are pushing for progress and contributing to our shared 
                prosperity.

                Since I came into office, the Federal Government has 
                made record investments in Tribal Nations. Federal 
                contracts with Native American-owned companies 
                increased by over $8 billion from 2020 to 2023. My 
                American Rescue Plan made the largest direct Federal 
                investment in Tribal Nations ever, helping vaccinate 
                Tribal communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and 
                keeping the economy going. My Bipartisan Infrastructure 
                Law made the single biggest investment in Tribal roads, 
                bridges, water, high-speed internet, electricity, 
                irrigation, environmental cleanup, and so much more. My 
                Inflation Reduction Act made the biggest investment in 
                fighting climate change ever--including funding to help 
                Tribal communities lead in the just transition to clean 
                energy and ease the impact of droughts, wildfires, and 
                rising sea levels, which threaten Native lives and 
                precious homelands.

                My Administration is also working to ensure that Native 
                communities are safe and secure and have the resources 
                they need to thrive. I signed an Executive Order that 
                improves the Federal response to the epidemic of 
                missing and murdered Indigenous peoples. When we 
                reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act in 2022, we 
                included historic provisions to reaffirm Tribal 
                sovereignty and expand Tribal jurisdiction in cases 
                where outside perpetrators harm members of their 
                Nation. And for the first time ever,

[[Page 87778]]

                my Administration also secured advance funding for the 
                Indian Health Service so hospitals can plan ahead, 
                order supplies, and hire doctors. We have provided 
                historic funding to Tribal communities to help fight 
                the behavioral health crisis and taken significant 
                steps to improve maternal health for Native American 
                women, who are twice as likely to die from pregnancy-
                related complications as white women.

                I have always believed that we must know the good, the 
                bad, and the truth of who we are as a Nation--we must 
                acknowledge our history so that we can begin to 
                remember and heal. That is why I became the first 
                President to issue a formal apology for the Federal 
                Indian Boarding School era, one of the most horrific 
                chapters in our Nation's history. For 150 years, the 
                Federal Government mandated the removal of Native 
                children from their families and Tribes--and as a 
                result, generations of Native children had their 
                childhoods stolen and whole Tribal cultures were 
                erased. I am proud to formally end the silence 
                surrounding this shameful era and I remain proud that 
                my Administration defended the Indian Child Welfare Act 
                in court, ensuring that our Nation respects Tribal 
                sovereignty and protects Native children by helping 
                Native families stay together and grow up with their 
                languages and cultures. And we are working to support 
                Native American families and communities as they heal 
                from the Federal Indian Boarding School era through the 
                Department of the Interior's Road to Healing initiative 
                and by supporting Native language preservation and 
                public safety initiatives.

                My Administration has also worked with Tribal Nations 
                to preserve, protect, and steward important ancestral 
                Tribal lands and waters. Through more than 200 co-
                stewardship and co-management agreements signed under 
                my leadership, we are working side by side with Tribes 
                to make decisions about how to manage the lands that 
                are most precious to them. And to date, I have 
                protected and conserved more than 45 million acres of 
                our Nation's lands and waters. That includes the 
                Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, vast 
                offshore waters off California's coast and the first 
                sanctuary to be proposed by Indigenous communities. I 
                have also established, expanded, and restored 11 
                national monuments, many containing sites considered 
                sacred to Tribal Nations--from Bears Ears National 
                Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, 
                and Avi Kwa Ame National Monument to Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah 
                Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon 
                National Monument, Berryessa Snow Mountain National 
                Monument, and others.

                During National Native American Heritage Month, we 
                honor the heritage and contributions of Native peoples, 
                and we work tirelessly to build a future grounded in 
                dignity, respect, and partnership. We remain committed 
                to working with Native communities to write a new and 
                better chapter in American history for Tribal Nations--
                one that honors the solemn promise the United States 
                made to Tribal Nations, fulfills our Federal trust and 
                treaty obligations, and works together to rebuild 
                Tribal economies and institutions.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2024 
                as National Native American Heritage Month. I urge all 
                Americans, as well as their elected representatives at 
                the Federal, State, and local levels, to observe this 
                month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and 
                activities. Also, I urge all Americans to celebrate 
                November 29, 2024, as Native American Heritage Day.

[[Page 87779]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of 
                the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                ninth.
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                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2024-25808
Filed 11-4-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P