Axios an article about Indigenous Peoples Day, Axios highlights how many Native advocates, including Gabe Galanda, “see it as a symbolic gesture that still falls short of the progress needed.” Gabe explained how the exclusion of Tribal citizens from America’s most fundamental promises of freedom, results in endemic rates of Indigenous disenrollment, displacement, violence, and trafficking.
What they're saying: Gabriel Galanda, a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes and an Indigenous rights attorney in Seattle, says Indigenous Peoples Day is a symbolic gesture.
"It gives Americans a brief opportunity to reflect on our existence, but it doesn't address the legal and civil rights issues plaguing our communities."
Galanda criticized the observance of Indigenous Peoples Day, along with related proclamations and land acknowledgments, recognizing Indigenous peoples as the original inhabitants of American land but failing to address the deeper systemic issues Native people face.
His concern centers on the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act, which granted Native Americans citizenship through federal statute. It's not a constitutional guarantee — yet many of the same challenges persist today.
Galanda said he's "fought against disenrollment and housing evictions within Indigenous communities" for 12 years.
"The process of disenrollment—essentially de-citizenship—has stripped over 10,000 Native people of their tribal status, cutting them off from their homelands and safety nets," he said.
"Without recourse or protections, many of those evicted end up displaced and vulnerable to violence or trafficking."
State of play: Galanda said neither major political party has fully addressed the core issues. While acknowledging Indigenous communities' structural challenges, he remains driven by the belief that change is possible — though difficult.
Beyond his 2021 proclamation, Biden has taken further steps to support Native communities through policies focused on tribal sovereignty, federal funding reform and infrastructure investment.
Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign spokesperson Jaidan Idarraga told Axios on Saturday Harris has "the largest ever national Tribal organizing program, with Tribal organizers in each of our key states who are communicating the stakes of this election directly with Tribal communities."
The Trump campaign did not specify how it would serve Native Americans.
The bottom line: Galanda says that until Indigenous people are given civil rights protections like other Americans, conversations, proclamations and holiday observances will remain insufficient.
"My hope, despite my cynicism, is that these dynamics can turn the other way... but every day I see more citizens [with] less hope given the forces at play."
Gabe Galanda is an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman. He has been named to Best Lawyers in America in the fields of Native American Law and Gaming Law from 2007 to 2024, and dubbed a Super Lawyer by his peers from 2013 to 2024.
