Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Reclaiming Truth, Health, and Healing
For too long, the story of “Columbus discovering America” has been told as history. In truth, this story is a myth—one that erases the existence of thriving Indigenous nations who had cared for, governed, and loved these lands since time immemorial. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is not only about setting the record straight; it is about centering truth as a form of healing and health.
When governments and institutions continue to recognize “Columbus Day,” it reopens old wounds. It celebrates colonization—the source of epidemics, displacement, broken treaties, and the disruption of traditional food systems, kinship structures, and community governance. These harms are not confined to the past. They live on in the systems that shape where and how people live, learn, work, and heal.
Truth, Health, and the Indigenous Determinants of Health
Health does not begin in the exam room—it begins in community, culture, and connection. The Indigenous Determinants of Health remind us that wellness is shaped by relationships to land, language, governance, and identity. When these are strong, so are our bodies, spirits, and nations. When they are weakened by colonization, racism, or erasure, the effects ripple across generations.
The myth of Columbus isn’t just a historical inaccuracy—it reinforces a worldview where Indigenous peoples are invisible, our knowledge is dismissed, and our sovereignty is questioned. And invisibility is a public health crisis. Erasure fuels stigma, underfunding, and policy neglect. It distorts data, silences stories, and limits investment in Indigenous-led solutions.
Relational Healing and Collective Responsibility
Indigenous Peoples’ Day invites us to remember that healing is not only physical—it is relational. Health comes from restoring balance: between people and the land, between systems and sovereignty, between the past and the future. Across Tribal, IHS, and Urban Indian health systems, Indigenous leaders are reweaving this balance through language revitalization, food sovereignty programs, harm reduction rooted in traditional values, and culturally centered care models that reflect our worldviews.
As we lift up Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we can each take part in relational healing:
By telling the truth about history.
By supporting Tribal sovereignty in policy and practice.
By investing in Indigenous-led health initiatives that center culture as medicine.
By seeing health equity as a matter of justice, not charity.
A Call to Action
Every day that we choose truth over myth, and respect over revisionism, we move closer to collective healing. Honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day means committing to a future where Indigenous nations define, design, and deliver their own health and wellness systems—rooted in cultural strength, community relationships, and the sovereignty of self-determined care.
Because when we honor Indigenous truth, we don’t just rewrite history—we restore balance for the generations yet to come.