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<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size=2>It may be worthwhile to make
reference to the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights: </FONT><FONT
face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size=2><A
href="http://www.linguistic-declaration.org/index-gb.htm">http://www.linguistic-declaration.org/index-gb.htm</A> (see,
esp. in this context, section II on education). It is not a binding
inernational document as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but is
gaining interest since its creation in 1996, and hopefully promoting
discussion.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size=2>Don Osborn</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size=2>Bisharat.net</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mward@LUNA.CC.NM.US href="mailto:mward@LUNA.CC.NM.US">Matthew
Ward</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU">ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 04, 2004 4:54
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: AZ AG: public schools not
exempt from Prop. 203</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>It's ironic: to a certain degree, our national government
has recognized the issue. But, states are using the initiative process
to allow urban newcomers to supress the languages of people who were there
thousands of years before English even arrived. <BR><BR>I really believe
that this needs to be publicized as much as possible, for a dual purpose:
to try to embarrass the state of Arizona into acting in a just way, and
to help discredit the entire English-only movement. One of the central
planks of the English-only movement is the idea that English is the only
language that can be considered "American." That ideology is sick and
wrong. <BR><BR>I've forwarded a copy of the article below to NARF, and
written a letter to the Arizona Republic. Here's a link to their Letters
to the Editor dept: <A class=moz-txt-link-freetext
href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/help/contact.html#editor">http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/help/contact.html#editor</A>.
I plan to try to do as I can to publicize this issue. I do believe
that if the American public knew about this issue, they would recognize the
unfairness. Any ideas for doing this would be much appreciated.
<BR><BR>Matthew Ward<BR><BR>Richard LaFortune wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid20040304004316.20539.qmail@web11204.mail.yahoo.com
type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Interestingly, Andrew Dalby notes in his book,
Language In Danger (Columbia University Press,
2003)that,
"It took a sustained campaign of civil disobedience
before the British Government, in the 1960s,
grudgingly accepted its responsiblity to deal with
Welsh-speaking citizens in Welsh."
p 118 paragraph 2
Richard LaFortune
Minneapolis
--- Matthew Ward <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:mward@LUNA.CC.NM.US"><mward@LUNA.CC.NM.US></A> wrote:
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that
there haven't been
more responses to this article. What century are we
living in, anyway?
Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil
disobedience. I'm sorry
to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an
English-only law in
Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the
idea that the law
applies to schools on reservations... This really,
really needs to be
publicized. If anyone can point me to an
organization fighting this, I
would be very grateful.
Liko Puha wrote:
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203
By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">on the offensive
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">whether English would be
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">the only language that classes would be taught in.
At that time, a compromise was reached that public
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">school educators
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">thought would allow them an exemption so they could
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">provide instruction
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">in Native American languages in the early grades.
Boy, were they wrong.
Education officials for the state of Arizona are
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">now saying that based
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">on an opinion by the state's attorney general,
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">public schools on the
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">reservation have to comply with the English Only
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">law (Proposition 203).
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt.
"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">Jackson-Dennison,
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">District.
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr.
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">involved in her
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">efforts to get the state to change its policy and
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">exempt public schools
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">on reservations that have a large Native American
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">student population.
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">Tuesday meeting with
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">state education officials to get the matter
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">clarified.
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">language immersion
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">programs like the one at Window Rock where students
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">in the primary
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">grades get instruction in their native language. As
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">they get into higher
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">grades, they receive more and more instruction in
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">English.
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">By doing this, she said, it now appears that school
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">districts will be
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">putting in jeopardy some of their state funding.
She said that on many state funding requests, the
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">Arizona Department of
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Education has placed a new item asking districts if
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">they are complying
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">with the English Only law.
"The form gives us only two options - yes or no,"
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">said Jackson-Dennison.
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'"
By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">reservations within the
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">state are taking a definite risk of getting their
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">application denied. If
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">Immersion Program
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">will be eliminated.
State school officials have made it very clear that
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">classes - all
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">classes - will be taught only in English.
Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">the Arizona
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Department of Education, said that while BIA
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">schools are exempt from
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">complying with Proposition 203, public schools are
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">not.
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">In a written statement, she said that "if a public
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">school has a large
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Native American student population, it must still
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">adhere to the
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">of whether or not
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">that school is on a reservation.
"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">languages besides English as
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">Instruction)," she
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">said. "All other courses such as history, math,
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">English, and physical
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">education are to be in (English Only) unless the
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">student receives a
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">waiver."
This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">sense since federal
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">statutes contain provisions that protect and
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">encourage the development
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">of native languages such as those offered within
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">the Window Rock school
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">district.
"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">teaching of native
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">languages," she said.
Now, the state is coming in and saying that the
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">school district could
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">lose some of its state funding by following the
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">federal laws and this
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">isn't right, she said.
Rosalyn LaPier
Piegan Institute
<A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="http://www.pieganinstitute.org">www.pieganinstitute.org</A>
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap=""><!---->
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