This is why the march is inviting everyone, not only American Indians, Iron Eyes said. "It's clear that Washington doesn't have our best interest in mind, and I'm speaking as an American, not just as an indigenous person. We are in complete trouble," he said.

Houska, director of Honor The Earth, a nonprofit group on the White Earth Indian Reservation, said there are clear requests on several issues facing native people. These include ending attacks on the Indian Child Welfare Act, reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, fully funding appropriations to Indian Health Services and passing Savanna's Act, which aims to gather data on missing and murdered indigenous people and is named after Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a slain North Dakota woman whose baby was cut from her womb.

"It's historic, and it's long overdue that we have these conversations nationally," Houska said. "We still don't see native people on television really anywhere except continuing to be in Western movies and as mascots. I'm very excited to see this step forward."

Taking part in the march are tribal nations and organizations from across the U.S., with indigenous people from Canada, Australia and Guatemala expected to attend. Iron Eyes is travelling from South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and Houska is heading out with a Line 3 opposition group from Duluth, Minn.