Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) provides a land acknowledgment for "America United: An Inauguration Welcome Event Celebrating America’s Changemakers" on January 16, 2021.

As the first guest for the event, Haaland acknowledged Washington, D.C., as the homelands of the Nacotchtank, or Anacostan, people. She also paid tribute to the tribal nations that have served as stewards of America's land and resources for centuries.

"We acknowledge the legacy of this land's original inhabitants and find inspiration from the lands and the waters," said Haaland, who has been nominated to serve as Secretary of the Interior in Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's administration.

"We recognize that our country was built on Indigenous land and we pay tribute to the Indigenous nations who have stewarded these lands these waters and animals for centuries and who have made great sacrifices in the building of our country," said Haaland, who is a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna, an Indian nation with homelands in New Mexico.

Following the land acknowledgment, Haaland introduced Claudette White, a council member from the Quechan Tribe, an Indian nation with homelands in Arizona and California. The Hurav Singers provided a welcome song for the event.

"On behalf of my tribal nation, I would like to congratulate President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect [Kamala] Harris for their historic win," White said from the Fort Yuma Reservation.

"I would also like to thank both of them for their commitment to upholding the U.S. trust responsibility to tribal nations and our sacred lands with the promise to restore lands and protect the natural cultural resources within them," White said.

Biden and Harris will be sworn into office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2021.

Video Source: PIC 2021, Inc.