MN Native Language Press Release

Tue Apr 20 14:02:09 UTC 2004

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OJIBWE AND DAKOTA LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION
MOVES FORWARD IN MINNESOTA

For more information contact:

Richard LaFortune, Native American language
researcher, writer, linguist consultant
612-871-0731

John Poupart
American Indian Policy Center
651-644-1728

Jennifer Bendickson
612-721-4246 *15
Native American Early Childhood Leaders Circle
Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals

On April 20th, a public hearing will be held to
discuss the survival and revitalization of the Dakota
and Ojibwe languages ~V languages that are native to
this area, but are on the verge of extinction.

The impetus for this hearing comes from the work of
the Dakota Ojibwe Language Revitalization Alliance.
With less than 30 fully fluent Dakota speakers living
in Minnesota and few fully fluent speakers left on
each of the seven Ojibwe Reservations in Minnesota ~V
working together to revitalize their languages has
become an imperative. Jennifer Bendickson, coordinator
for the American Indian Early childhood Leaders
Circle, which organized the Language Alliance, says,
~SIf someone lost his or her German or Irish or Swedish
language over the past generations, you can go back to
Germany or Sweden and learn it.  If we lose our Dakota
or Ojibwe languages, there will be no place to learn
this.  This is the home of the Dakota and Ojibwe
languages.

The Language Revitalization Alliance is a gathering of
elders; fluent Dakota and Ojibwe speakers, early
childhood and childcare providers, members from all
eleven tribes in Minnesota, educators, school
achievement, and education advocates, and community
members. This Alliance has been meeting since June,
2003 to examine the existing barriers and
opportunities to language revitalization, convening
people who are concerned about the loss of language,
supporting each others work, and building awareness at
the state and local levels of language revitalization
and immersion programs.

For Alliance members, language is important to fully
understand the cultures, to connect the past, present,
and future.   Language is connected to the heart and
it connects the young people to the elders. Because
the Ojibwe and Dakota languages were forcefully and
often violently taken away thorough the boarding
schools, many people see language revitalization as an
important step in reclaiming culture, educational
achievement, and a positive image of one~Rs self.  John
Poupart, facilitator for the Dakota Ojibwe Language
Revitalization Alliance, says, ~SConnecting to our
inner identity is a corner stone of where we must go,
language is part of that cornerstone.~T

Minnesota has a dismal picture on the success of
Native children in the public school system, which is
catastrophic in a new information-based and global
society.  These statistics are especially painful in
the Twin Cities where a large Native American
community lives. The Minneapolis Public schools had a
15% graduation rate among American Indian students in
the last school year, reflecting national trends in
American Indian education.

There have been many strategies to increase the
success of Native children ~V many designed by the
mainstream culture that does not recognize the ways of
thinking and being of the Native American community.
Research is now showing that students in a language
immersion experience have greater success in school
and had consistent measurable improvement on local and
national measures of achievements. (Bringing Thunder
by Janine Pease Pretty on Top, Tribal College Journal
of American Indian Higher Education).  Native Hawaiian
children in immersion experience outperform the
average for Native Hawaiian children.  The Maori
tribes in New Zealand went from a 5%-15% pass rate in
school to a soaring 75% when students were involved in
language immersion. Similar statistics are found at
the Piegan Institute in Montana with Blackfeet
language and other immersion schools around the United
States.

Language immersion is shown to have a multiplier
effect for young Native American children.  Language
Immersion with children has developed ~Sintensive
language acquisition~T which benefits in communication.
 Learning one~Rs native language reveals and teaches
tribal philosophies is a link between the past and
future of Native American tribal nations.  Darrell
Kipp of the Piegan Institute has documented the
precious bond created between the children and elders.
  ~SKnowledge of the Native language gives tribal
members a unique tool for analyzing and synthesizing
the world, and the incorporating the knowledge and
values of the tribal nation into the world at large.~T
(Crawford)

As Minnesota~Rs first languages, Dakota and Ojibwe are
important assets to Minnesota and to the world~Rs
linguistic resources.  The complexity and unique
aspects of Ojibwe and Dakota languages provide
important worldviews and concepts that can enrich all
Minnesotans.  Richard LaFortune says, ~SNative American
languages represent some of the richest and most
sophisticated languages on earth.  There are over 200
Native American languages still spoken in the United
States ~V many of them in grave danger.  Language
revitalization presents an outstanding opportunity of
our young people to maintain heritage and increase
education success.

The Dakota Ojibwe Language Revitalization Alliance
will be sharing their stories, visions and dreams for
a Minnesota where the Dakota and Ojibwe languages are
revitalized, where members of the Dakota and Ojibwe
communities hear their language every day, reclaim
their positive self identity, and unlock their great
potential for educational achievements.

Additional contacts:

Kalvin Ottertail ~V contact via fax at 218-475-2345
Joe Campbell   612-287-8406
Gilbert Caribou ~V 218-475-2277
Gabriella Strong ~V 763-277-3434
Laurie Harper ~V 218-760-7198

For more information:
Jennifer Bendickson
Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals
2438 18th Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404
612-721-4246 (phone)       & 612 -721-2428 (Fax)
allecp at aol.com (e-mail)    &    earlychildpro.org
(website)

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