{"id":9821,"date":"2021-04-05T20:24:46","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T00:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=9821"},"modified":"2021-04-05T20:28:20","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T00:28:20","slug":"gaylord-news-american-rescue-plan-provides-20-million-for-native-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/04\/05\/gaylord-news-american-rescue-plan-provides-20-million-for-native-languages\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaylord News: American Rescue Plan provides $20 million for Native languages"},"content":{"rendered":"<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1501\" height=\"1003\" data-attachment-id=\"9826\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/04\/05\/gaylord-news-american-rescue-plan-provides-20-million-for-native-languages\/cheyennearapaho\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/06\/cheyennearapaho.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1501,1003\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;ILCE-7SM2&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1581331019&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;6400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.016666666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"cheyennearapaho\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;The Cheyenne and Arapaho Language Department staff: Left to right, back row: Carol Whiteskunk, Jazmine Johnson, Michael Elizondo, Brendan Haag and James Sleeper; Left to right, front row: Regina Youngbear, Rebecca Risenhoover, Shaynna Walker and Michelle Johnston. Photo courtesy Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/06\/cheyennearapaho-1024x684.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/06\/cheyennearapaho.jpg\" alt=\"cheyennearapaho\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9826\" \/><figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">The Cheyenne and Arapaho Language Department staff: Left to right, back row: Carol Whiteskunk, Jazmine Johnson, Michael Elizondo, Brendan Haag and James Sleeper; Left to right, front row: Regina Youngbear, Rebecca Risenhoover, Shaynna Walker and Michelle Johnston. Photo courtesy Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Tribal efforts to preserve languages get boost from COVID relief funds<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, April 5, 2021<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\"><\/div>By Nancy Marie Spears<div class=\"byline\"><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source\">Gaylord News<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source-links\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gaylordnews.net\/\">gaylordnews.net<\/a><\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nJustin Neely, director of language for the \r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.potawatomi.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Citizen Potawatomi Nation<\/a>\r\nin Oklahoma, grew up among elders who told him that if the Potawatomi language is lost, so are the Potawatomi people.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nNow, elders who speak those Native languages are dying from <a href=\/covid19\/>COVID-19<\/a> and its complications at much higher rates than white populations.<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nNeely compared the death of a tribal language speaker to a library burning down. He said there are seven unique tribes of Potawatomi in the United States. And among all Potawatomi, fewer than 10 first-language speakers were alive when the pandemic struck, and some might have died in the past year.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nA first-language speaker is someone who grew up speaking a tribal language. Second-language speakers learned a Native tongue as a second language.<p><\/p>\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Have you wanted to learn the Potawatomi language? Citizen Potawatomi Nation&#39;s Cultural Heritage Center&#39;s new website has some amazing online resources to get you started! Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YriB0Pi5vv\">https:\/\/t.co\/YriB0Pi5vv<\/a>!<\/p>&mdash; Citizen Potawatomi (@c_p_n) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/c_p_n\/status\/1376970229604089862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 30, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe \r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/house-bill\/1319\/text\">American Rescue Plan<\/a>, which allocates $31 billion to the tribes nationwide, set aside $20 million to help Native American nations preserve their languages. The funding is designed to help assure the survival of tribal cultures, spiritual identities and forms of traditional communication.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nNormally, the 574 federally-recognized tribes \u2013 along with colleges, museums and youth centers that teach Native languages \u2013 must compete with one another for federal funding that targets language preservation.<p><\/p>\r\nThere are no fluent speakers of Arapaho left in Oklahoma, said James Sleeper, an Arapaho lead apprentice, and there might be only 10 or 15 first-language Cheyenne speakers left.<p><\/p>\r\n\u201cWe have less than 1,000 first-language speakers, our loss (during the pandemic) has been approximately 100 first-language speakers out of a population of 200,00 tribal members,&#8221; said Teresa Billy, assistant director of education services for the Choctaw Nation.<p><\/p>\r\n&#8220;This could very well be defined as a crisis for the preservation of our language.&#8221;<p><\/p><div class=\"mt-1 mb-1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8411603009680747\" data-ad-slot=\"6394965691\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/div><p><\/p>\r\nTribes are often oral societies, Neely said, and because not every speaker is knowledgeable on every aspect of the culture, losing just one speaker leaves a permanent hole in the tribes\u2019 cultures, communities and identities.<p><\/p>\r\n\u201cOne might be an avid fisherman and knows lots of terminology and concepts to deal with fishing,&#8221; Neely said. &#8220;One might be an avid basketmaker. One might be a gardener and know different terminologies for certain plants. Or somebody who deals with medicine and knows different herbs and ways to treat different ailments.<p><\/p>\r\n&#8220;So, you know, just losing one speaker has a devastating effect on Native people.\u201d<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ROzT9SNsFzw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Choctaw Nation: <a href=https:\/\/youtu.be\/ROzT9SNsFzw>Sounds of Choctaw &#8211; Social Greeting<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nFunding, or lack of it, is what Shawnee language director Joel Barnes said was most likely the detriment to Native nations\u2019 language programs of the past. He said the tribe would like to use the language allocations to first pay employees, not volunteers, for their work in preserving the language.<p><\/p>\r\n\u201cIt amazes me, after creating a budget, how much it takes to put on what I would call a successful language program,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cAnd I really think that&#8217;s been the failure with a lot of tribes in the language programs, why they&#8217;ve tried to start up and they&#8217;ve collapsed \u2013 because they just simply did not have the funding to do what was necessary in order to achieve success within the language program.\u201d<p><\/p>\r\n<STRONG>For more stories from Cronkite News, visit <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/?utm_source=referral&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=client\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<HR><EM>Note: This story originally <a href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2021\/03\/31\/tribal-efforts-to-preserve-languages-get-boost-from-covid-relief-funds\/\">appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>.  It  is published via a <A href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">Creative  Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkite.asu.edu\/\">Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at <A href=\"https:\/\/www.asu.edu\">Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM><HR>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The American Rescue Plan, which allocates $31 billion to Indian Country, set aside $20 million to help tribes preserve their languages.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,1,14],"tags":[1308,1096,428,5,1369,1017,1371,1372,1370,175,127,911,1373],"class_list":["post-9821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-health","category-national","category-politics","tag-american-rescue-plan","tag-cheyenne-arapaho","tag-choctaw","tag-coronavirus","tag-cpn","tag-gaylord-news","tag-james-sleeper","tag-joel-barnes","tag-justin-neely","tag-languages","tag-oklahoma","tag-shawnee","tag-teresa-billy","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/06\/cheyennearapaho.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-2yp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}