TOWN OF FAIRFAX PROCLAMATION
Declaring November 2022
NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
WHEREAS, Native American Awareness Week began in 1976 and in 1990, recognition was expanded by Congress and approved by President George Bush, by designating November as National American Indian Heritage Month; and WHEREAS, the United States and California have proclaimed November as Native American Heritage Month by recognizing the atrocities inflicted upon Native American tribes and tribal citizens and recognizing the significant historical and ongoing achievements and contributions of Native Americans tribes and tribal citizens; and WHEREAS, the Coast Miwok, since time immemorial, have lived in what is now presentday Marin County; and WHEREAS, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a sovereign nation and a federally recognized Indian tribe, is comprised of descendants of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo peoples, whose cultural and ancestral territories include Marin and Sonoma Counties; and
WHEREAS, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, the only federally recognized tribe whose ancestral lands include Marin County, has a government-to-government partnership with the National Park Service Point Reyes National Seashore and works in consultation with the Marin County Board of Supervisors, county staff, and the cities and towns in Marin County on issues of education, cultural resource protection, land management, environmental justice, and child welfare and social justice; and WHEREAS, there are 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States and 110 federally recognized tribes in California, all sovereign nations, with inherent powers of selfgovernance; and WHEREAS, Marin County joins in the sentiments stated by the National Congress of American Indians, that Native American Heritage Month is “a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people.” Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY PROCLAIMED by the Mayor and Town Council that the month of November Two Thousand Twenty-Two in the Town of Fairfax is Native American Heritage Month.
Signed this 16th day of November 2022,
Stephanie Hellman, Mayor of Fairfax
AGENDA ITEM #3