Fwd: [NativeNews] Indian Children Find Forum to Perform in Their Native Language

[David Lewis]

>
>sent by Lona...thanks!
><http://www.abqjournal.com/news/3929news04-09-00.htm>http://www.abqjournal.com/news/3929news04-09-00.htm
>
>Indian Children Find Forum to Perform in Their Native Language
>
>By Brendan Smith
>Journal Staff Writer
>      For almost a century, government and mission boarding schools for Indian
>children sought to extinguish a vibrant culture by forbidding the speaking
>of native languages and the practice of tribal religions.
>      "Kill the Indian, save the man," was the motto of Gen. Richard Pratt,
>founder of the first off-reservation federal boarding school in 1879.
>      Because of this stifling legacy, many Native American children today
>don't speak their native language, said Inée Yang Slaughter, executive
>director of the Santa Fe-based Institute for the Preservation of the
>Original Languages of the Americas.
>      "It was a U.S. government policy to assimilate the people," Slaughter
>said Saturday. "When children no longer speak or use the language, it's
>considered an endangered language."
>      The institute held its Second Annual Native American Youth Language Fair
>& Pow Wow on Saturday at Santa Fe Indian School to showcase the talents of
>Native American children in speaking and performing in their native
>languages.
>      The language fair grew from just six contestants last year to about 150
>this year from pueblos and reservations across New Mexico, said Santa Fe
>actor Wes Studi, a Cherokee who has appeared in many movies including "Last
>of the Mohicans." Studi, who was honored last year by the institute for his
>work in language preservation, served as master of ceremonies Saturday.
>      "It's becoming a popular event," Studi said. "Language doesn't have to
>be something serious. It can be fun to do."
>      Each contestant, ranging in age from 8 to 19, received a medal and a
>gift, with additional awards in three age categories.
>      Autumn Gomez, 13, and her 9-year-old brother, Matthew, gave a puppet
>show with 8-year-old Julian Wahnee. The trio, who take Comanche language
>lessons in Santa Fe, sang the alphabet and some numbers in Comanche before
>offering a Comanche rendition of "Old McDonald Had a Farm."
>      "We are all going to speak Comanche again," Autumn told the audience
>after the puppet show. "From now on, we're going to speak Comanche forever."
>      Autumn said she became interested in learning the language from her
>grandmother, who speaks Comanche fluently.
>      The youths participating in the fair had to work with teachers, parents
>or other relatives to create their presentations in about 20 Native American
>languages, so the fair is a "wonderful community-building activity,"
>Slaughter said.
>      The Institute for the Preservation of the Original Languages of the
>Americas hopes to expand and hold more Native American language fairs in
>other parts of the country, Slaughter said.
>      Out of 300-plus original Native American languages, only 175 still
>exist.
>      During an intermission Saturday afternoon, Blue Star Singers, a group of
>five teen-age girls from Santa Fe, sat around a large drum, beating a rhythm
>while they sang, their voices rising in unison.
>      The language fair, which was followed by an intertribal powwow with
>gourd dancing, is meant to instill pride in Native American children in
>using their native language, Slaughter said
>
>
>Reprinted under the Fair Use 
><http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html>http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html 
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>----------

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               David Gene Lewis
         P.O. Box 3086
Eugene, OR 97403, USA
Home 541.684.9003  Cell 541.954.2466
Fax 541.346.0668

talapus at kalapuya.com, coyotez at darkwing.uoregon.edu,
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~coyotez
http://www.kalapuya.com
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~coyotez

Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community, Oregon
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