We’ve added additional staff and brought together a committed, passionate team with a wide breadth of knowledge about the tribe’s heritage and history. Our language team will serve our speakers and learners well, utilizing new and emerging technologies, along with face-to-face and immersive classroom settings. The home of the language department will be the new Durbin Feeling Language Center, which will be housed on the grounds of the former Cherokee Casino-Tahlequah. That space has recently been used as a staging and distribution center for our emergency food program during the early phases of the COVID-19 crisis. We will use funding from Cherokee Nation Businesses dividends to renovate and repurpose the facility into a world-class language center. The concept of the new building was part of the Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act introduced last fall. This legislative act marked the largest single infusion of dollars in history — $16 million — into Cherokee language preservation. The act and the future center are named after master Cherokee linguist and Cherokee National Treasure Durbin Feeling. Among our language experts, he is called the modern-day Sequoyah and remains the single-largest contributor to the contemporary Cherokee language in both spoken and written forms. Sadly, we know that Cherokee Nation loses about 100 fluent Cherokee speakers per year, and the current global pandemic has been even more taxing and dangerous for our elder speakers. That is why it is so urgent that we execute these new strategies correctly, because we absolutely must preserve the heartbeat of our culture, the Cherokee language. I look forward to a day when every Cherokee across the globe has at least some understanding of our language, and the number of fluent speakers grows year by year. This bright future will keep our strongest connection to the heart of who we are as a people.Cherokee Nation creates new language department to focus on preserving language, generating more proficient speakers https://t.co/UA3X4FMHke @CherokeeNation pic.twitter.com/J5ViXwPpeS
— Anadisgoi (@Anadisgoi) July 28, 2020
Chuck Hoskin Jr. is the 18th elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the largest Indian tribe in the United States. He is only the second elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from Vinita, the first being Thomas Buffington, who served from 1899-1903. Prior to being elected Principal Chief, Hoskin served as the tribe’s Secretary of State. He also formerly served as a member of the Council of the Cherokee Nation, representing District 11 for six years.