CITY OF FRESNO
Office of Councilmember Annalisa Perea
_________________________________________ ___________________________________________ JERRY P. DYER, Honorable Mayor ANNALISA PEREA, Councilmember District 1 _________________________________________ ___________________________________________ NELSON ESPARZA, Council President TYLER MAXWELL, Council Vice President
__________________________________________ ___________________________________________ MIKE KARBASSI, Councilmember District 2 MIGUEL ARIAS, Councilmember District 3
___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ BRANDON VANG, Councilmember District 5 NICK RICHARDSON, Councilmember District 6
WHEREAS, the State of California annually recognizes the fourth Friday of September as California Native American Day, a day dedicated to honoring the original peoples of these lands and celebrating the enduring cultures, histories, sovereignty, resilience, and contributions of California Native American peoples; and WHEREAS, long before the establishment of the State of California, Fresno County, or the City of Fresno, the lands and waters of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills were, and remain, the ancestral homelands of diverse Native peoples, including Yokuts, Mono/Nuum, and neighboring Tribal peoples whose communities, cultures, languages, ceremonies, and relationships with these lands continue today; and WHEREAS, the City of Fresno recognizes and honors the extraordinary diversity of California Native peoples, including federally acknowledged and non-federally acknowledged Tribal Nations, Tribes, Bands, and communities, recognizes that federal acknowledgment is a legal and political status that does not determine the cultural identity or continued presence of Native peoples and communities; and
WHEREAS, the history of California Native peoples reflects both extraordinary resilience and the profound impacts of colonization, violence, and governmental policies that disrupted Tribal communities and traditional ways of life, yet California Native peoples have endured and continue to sustain their cultures, languages, ceremonies, and sacred relationships with their ancestral homelands; and
WHEREAS, on this historic occasion, the City of Fresno is honored to welcome and recognize the Tribal communities represented at today’s gathering, including the Traditional Choinumni Tribe, the Wuksachi Tribe of Eshom Valley, the Chaushila Tribe of Yokuts, the Wukchumni Tribe, Big Sandy Rancheria, Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, the Tubatulabal Tribe, the Dunlap Band of Mono Indians, the Haslett Basin Band of Holkama Mono, and the Cold Springs Rancheria, representing both federally acknowledged and non-federally acknowledged Tribal communities; and
WHEREAS, this recognition extends beyond those gathered here today to the Tribal Nations, Tribes, Bands, Native communities, elders, culture bearers, youth, and descendants throughout our region and state, and honors the ancestors who came before us, the elders and culture bearers who carry their knowledge forward, and the generations who will continue this legacy.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Councilmember Annalisa Perea, and the Fresno City Councilmembers, proudly recognize and celebrate California Native American Day and honor the Native peoples whose ancestral homelands encompass Fresno, Fresno County, the Central Valley, and lands throughout California, and do hereby proclaim Thursday, September 17, 2026, to be:
“California Native American Day”
in the City of Fresno.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto set our hands and affixed the seal of the City of Fresno, California, on this 17th day of September 2026.