Indigenous Peoples' Day

We recognize that October 10th is a day to honor and recognize the past, present, and futures of Native peoples through the United States. Although not all states recognize the second Tuesday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, including Washington State, we as a company and resident of several Indigenous territories, celebrate the cultures, contributions, and resilience of Native peoples. We acknowledge that as an organization, we benefit from Indigenous land, the traditional territory of Coast Salish people and specifically the Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, Snohomish, Stillaguamish and Suquamish tribes.

Since 2014, Seattle has acknowledged this day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day but there are still so many cities and states, including Washington State, that currently do not recognize it. We have had some great steps forward from the federal government recognizing the holiday last year, 2021. But while some states may have stopped recognizing the day as “Columbus Day”, they have not replaced it with anything else.

Verity will be closed operationally on October 10th, but we as an organization will be taking the time to learn more about our communities and how we can help take the right steps forward. We acknowledge there is still a lot of work to do in repairing harms caused by the financial system to Indigenous communities and others. We are committed to improving financial access for all. You can read more about what we do on Indigenous Peoples’ Day here LINK.

For those wanting to learn more, check out some upcoming events and local nonprofits:

• Seattle Public Schools resources for learning about Indigenous People
• United Indians of All Tribes Foundation
• Seattle 2022 Indigenous People Festival
• To this day many Indigenous women and children go missing and are never mentioned by mainstream media. Learn more about MMIW (Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women).