Andrea Joy Campbell: “along with thirty of my colleagues today I am pleased to introduce a resolution to recount the many contributions…”

“along with thirty of my colleagues today I am pleased to introduce a resolution to recount the many contributions American Indians and Alaska Natives have made to this great Nation and to designate November, 2001, as ``National American Indian Heritage Month'' as Congress has done for nearly a decade. American Indians and Alaska Natives have left an indelible imprint on many aspects of our everyday life that most Americans often take for granted. The arts, education, science, the armed forces, medicine, industry, and government are a few of the areas that have been influenced by American Indian and Alaska Native people over the last 500 years. In the medical field, many of the healing remedies that we use today were obtained from practices already in use by Indian people and are still utilized today in conjunction with western medicine. Many of the basic principles of democracy in our Constitution can be traced to practices and customs already in use by American Indian tribal governments including the doctrines of freedom of speech and separation of powers. The respect of Native people for the preservation of natural resources, reverence for elders, and adherence to tradition, mirrors our own values which we developed in part, through the contact with American Indians and Alaska Natives.”