Indigenous Peoples’ Day: October 13, 2025

October 13, 2025, marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a date that celebrates  Indigenous sovereignty, resilience, and dignity. The day allows for a vital moment for solidarity, not only in the U.S. but across the globe.

The day asks us to pause and recognize the  legacy of  land disputes and cultural destruction. It calls us to listen to Indigenous voices, hold up their leadership, and acknowledge their indispensable role in building just and sustainable futures – in the U.S. and all around the globe.

The History and Meaning of Indigenous Peoples’ Day

The idea for Indigenous Peoples’ Day  first surfaced in the 1970s and gained traction through decades of advocacy. By 2021, the U.S. issued a proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the federal level. Today, dozens of states and hundreds of cities have followed suit. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an invitation to educate ourselves, to reflect, and to act. Observances often include cultural celebrations, Indigenous-led lectures, art exhibits, land acknowledgments, and public calls to action. Globally, similar movements echo the same principles: recognition, reckoning, and reclaiming identity.

And in each of these gestures lies a reminder of why Not For Sale exists: our mission is to  to help, to support, and to stand alongside communities so that cycles of exploitation and erasure can be broken for good.

Why This Day Matters to Not For Sale

The mission of Not For Sale, to fight human trafficking, modern slavery, and environmental destruction , cannot be separated from the struggles of Indigenous communities. Across the the globe in places where we work, such as the Amazon rainforest (the largest in the world), the Congo Basin rainforest (the second largest in the world) and other regions, Indigenous peoples face the direct consequences of extractive economies: illegal gold mining, land grabbing, narco-trafficking, deforestation, and ecocide. These forces displace communities, poison rivers, and strip away entire livelihoods, leaving people vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.

Defending Indigenous communities  essential to defending human dignity. As we have seen, when Indigenous peoples control their lands and governance systems, and empowered to grow in positive directions, they are able to safeguard not only planetary ecosystems but also the social ecosystems that protect them and their communities against human trafficking.

Not For Sale’s work is built on this understanding. We are not outsiders arriving to “rescue” but partners standing shoulder to shoulder with communities. Indigenous Peoples’ Day reinforces that anti-trafficking and anti-ecocide work must be inseparable from supporting Indigenous leadership and autonomy.

How to Take Action on Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is not just about reflection, it’s about action. Here are a few tangible ways you can honor the day while supporting the fight against exploitation and standing in solidarity with Indigenous communities:

Support Indigenous-Led Projects in the Amazon
Donate directly to organizations like Not For Sale that directly partner with communities in the Amazon and Congo Basin to resist illegal mining, trafficking,deforestation, and ecocide. Your contribution sustains real programs on the ground, from alternative livelihood initiatives to education and child protection.

Shift Your Consumption Choices
Exploitation and environmental destruction often begin with demand. Choose products certified as fair trade, deforestation-free, or Indigenous-made. Every purchase carries weight. By choosing brands that give back, you help build alternatives to exploitation. A powerful example is REBBL, a beverage company co-founded by Not For Sale, which sources ingredients ethically and channels profits into anti-trafficking and community development projects with Indigenous communities. Buying REBBL is one way to literally drink in solidarity.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is more than a symbolic holiday. It is a call to commit to solidarity – help save Indigenous communities but also the planet we all depend on for survival. For Not For Sale, it is also a reminder that our fight against trafficking and ecocide  directly aligns with the struggles of Indigenous communities. Because true justice cannot be achieved until sovereignty, dignity, and freedom are secured for all.