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Today, on Indigenous Peoples' Day, we recognize the Native peoples whose stewardship of this land and contributions to our shared history continue to shape our nation. While 2026 has been filled with celebrations of America's 250th anniversary, remember that the American story did not begin in 1776

Long before the founding of the United States, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy united sovereign nations under a system of governance that balanced self-government with cooperation and collective decision-making.

Colonial leaders, including Benjamin Franklin, observed and learned from the Haudenosaunee. In 1744, an Onondaga leader named Canassatego encouraged the colonies to unite, demonstrating that while a single arrow can be broken easily, a bundle of arrows bound together is strong.

The eagle on the Great Seal of the United States still holds a bundle of 13 arrows, a lasting symbol of that idea: that people can come together in common purpose without losing their individual identities.

Of course, Indigenous history is also a story of profound loss and injustice. European settlement brought displacement, broken treaties, forced removal, and brutal efforts to erase Indigenous cultures, spiritual practices, political authority, and ways of life.

Indigenous Peoples' Day calls on us to acknowledge that painful history while honoring the resilience of the Indigenous nations and communities that have endured and continue to thrive.

More than 250 years later, it's important that we remember and acknowledge the Haudenosaunee example that unity does not require uniformity, even as we reckon with the harsh reality of what European settlement meant for the Haudenosaunee,...