The Lebanon City Council has proclaimed November to be Native American Heritage Month. Also called National American Indian Heritage Month, following a federal declaration in 1990 by then-President George H. W. Bush, this month is a celebration to honor the Indigenous people of the land on which we live.
The City of Lebanon is situated upon ancestral and unceded lands of the Abenaki people, known as the Alnôbak in their own language. The land, known as Koas (place of the Pines), sits with the greater ancestral territory of the Abenaki and Wabanaki homeland, called Ndakinna. This occupation is the case with many lands in what is currently the United States of America.
Mistreatment and lack of federal recognition of Indigenous peoples have resulted in poverty, lack of access to health care, and discrimination. The proclamation of Native American Heritage Month is not meant to dismiss or diminish the suffering Indigenous peoples have faced, but instead to celebrate these communities and their cultures and to recognize their presence, their intrinsic human value, and the contributions they have made to our local and global communities.