Minnesota: Indian leaders, lawmakers try to save languages

[Francis Hult]

The Bemidji Pioneer

 

Indian leaders, lawmakers try to save languages

 

American Indian leaders fear their native languages are being lost, calling the situation a crisis.

 

"When a person passes away, it is like a whole dictionary that is gone," Lillian Rice told a Minnesota House committee.

 

A Native American's language, she added, "is the very sense of who we are. ... Without that, we are lost."

 

Indian leaders are working to save languages, and now the Minnesota Legislature is considering helping the cause. Bills to establish a state-tribal organization to look into the issue are being considered, along with providing $150,000 to help the cause.

 

Full story:

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/politics/index.cfm?page=article_bureau&id=50768&legislative_tag=1

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