November is recognized as National Native American Heritage Month to acknowledge and celebrate the culture, traditions and achievements of the nation’s first inhabitants and their descendants. 

As part of the nation’s bicentennial commemoration in 1976, President Gerald Ford proclaimed Oct. 10 to Oct. 16 Native American Awareness Week.

In 1990, Congress passed and President George H. W. Bush signed into law a joint resolution to change the designation to the entire month of November. 

Assemblymember James Ramos, who represents California’s 45th Assembly, joins “In Focus SoCal” host Tanya McRae to discuss critical issues facing Native American communities.

He authored several bills related to tribal matters signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this year to push California’s public university systems to progress in reviewing and returning Native American artifacts and remains to tribes.  

“There has to be leadership from the chancellor on down to the campuses to ensure that this remains the number one issue to bring back those remains to the rightful owners to California Indian people for proper re-burial,” Ramos said. 

A recent report from USC revealed that across 1,600 top-earning films from 2007 to 2022, less than one-quarter of 1% of all speaking roles went to Native American actors. 

The LA SKINS FEST is a Native American film festival that occurs yearly as part of the City of Los Angeles Celebration of Native American Heritage Month. 

Ian Skorodin is the founder of the festival and the Director of Strategy for the Native American Media Alliance. 

As a Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma member, he has dedicated much of his life to ensuring Indigenous creatives have more opportunities in the entertainment and film industries.

“We, as an organization, in a community that doesn’t have the same representation, diversity, equity and inclusion on a corporate level, we’re always competing for investments. And it’s always difficult because we are not only competing with other diverse communities, we’re competing with other people who claim to be Indigenous.”

For over 50 years, Cal State Long Beach has celebrated Indigenous culture and community through powwows. They have been a tradition among Native nations across North America for hundreds of years. 

Today, these events allow Indigenous communities to share their heritage with the urban generation.

Spectrum News’ Carmen Valencia spoke with a student and member of the Kiowa and Paiute tribes whose family was among the pioneers in creating the powwow community at the university in the 1950s.

McRae also talked with Laurena Bolden, Second Governing Council Member of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, about how she got involved with her tribe’s cultural and historical preservation as Culture Pillar Co-Lead. 

“As society grows, we know development comes through, and unfortunately, with development comes building and disrupting ancestral lands,” said Bolden.

Bolden also discussed issues that native youth face today and why keeping traditions alive through the generations is important.

“It is up to preserve that. By doing that, we preserve our ancestral lands by being great stewards of the lands, not just as a culture pillar, but as tribal people overall,” said Bolden.

Send us your thoughts to InFocusSoCal@charter.com and watch at 9 a.m. and noon Sunday.