Indianz.Com > News > Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation keeps our language alive
Durbin Feeling Language Center starts a new chapter in Cherokee language revitalization
Monday, November 21, 2022
Cherokee Nation
Cherokee language is core to our culture and our identity as a distinct people. Since European contact, the Cherokee people have been tested by wars, disease, broken treaties, forced removal, the suppression of our government, and the taking of our children away from their families to boarding schools where they could be severely punished just for speaking Cherokee.
We are a strong people, but our life ways and language have been eroded by these pressures over time. We stand today as largest tribe in the country with more than 440,000 citizens, yet we have been reduced to around 2,000 fluent Cherokee speakers, most of them older than 70. Now the passage of time and the fragility of human life is our greatest test.
A few days ago, Cherokee speakers from across the country gathered among more than 2,000 attendees for the grand opening of the Durbin Feeling Language Center. This historic, 52,000-square-foot facility in Tahlequah will help ensure that the chain of language that links us to our Cherokee ancestors will never be broken.
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.
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