From the First Stewards to Our Shared Future
October 12, 2025
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the original stewards of this land: the many Indigenous nations whose deep relationship with the earth has sustained life here for thousands of years. We acknowledge that we live on lands long cared for, named, and nourished by them—lands whose stories continue to shape us today. Despite immense loss and displacement through colonization, Indigenous peoples continue to protect the land, preserve their cultures, and advocate for justice and sovereignty. Their histories are not separate from the American story. They are its beginning, its grounding, and its foundation.
To consider what it means to be an American is to confront the complexity of this shared story. For generations, a single, simplified version dominated. This telling of history celebrated pilgrims “discovering” a new continent, subduing the land and its inhabitants, and building a democracy promising liberty and justice for all. But history told only through triumph leaves out truth. And without truth, the promise of freedom cannot stand.
Over time, voices once silenced have broadened and deepened the American story—Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans, immigrants and refugees, women and laborers, LGBTQ+ individuals and people with disabilities, and everyone else who expanded the definition of freedom through struggle and persistence. Their stories challenge us to understand that being an American is not about sameness or supremacy. Being an American is about our shared capacity to confront injustice, repair harm, and imagine something better together.
When we listen to these stories, we also learn that being American is not a static identity. It is continuously shaped by the narratives that surround us. We learn from Indigenous practices that heal forests and rivers, from immigrants whose creativity fuels innovation, and from neighbors who show up for one another in times of crisis. The soul of this country lives not only in its founding documents, but in the moments of joy, creativity, and care that bind us to one another.
So what does it mean to be an American? It means refusing to settle for a story that excludes. It means expanding our understanding of who “we, the people” truly are. And it means gathering the fragments of our past, proud and painful alike, to weave a living tapestry that holds every story, every struggle, and every triumph in its threads.
Only then can we move forward, together, toward the America we have yet to become. Imagine an America brave enough to face its full story, humble enough to learn from it, and courageous enough to include every voice in crafting the next chapter. In this tapestry, each of us is both thread and weaver, bound together by the stories we honor, the justice we pursue, and the hope we carry for generations to come.