Native odyssey highlights importance of language (fwd)

[Phil CashCash]

Native odyssey highlights importance of language

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/09/26/news/local/news12.txt

WASHINGTON — It wasn't the blisters and shin splints that John
LaFountain remembered as he walked the last three miles of a 1,700-mile
odyssey, but the language of his ancestors.

La Fountain, 48, and 16 other Lakota people finished a 77-day journey
from Pine Ridge to Washington, D.C.

LaFountain, joined by members of the Seven Fires Foundation, concluded
the Spirit Walk 2003 Race Against Time Thursday with prayers at the
Washington Monument.

"This is the first step to ensure that the Lakota language is not lost
like many other languages of the Americas," LaFountain said in a
telephone interview.

The Reno, Nev., man had dreamed about this walk more than a year ago. It
was the realization of a dream to conclude this important mission of
language awareness, he said.

An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota,
LaFountain wanted to bring attention to the dwindling population of
fluent speakers and the apathy of those left about learning the
language.

"It's been tremendous. A lot of people had no idea about what was
happening to our language. They thought it was thriving, while it's
actually on the doorstep of extinction," he said.

Roger LaMere, 51, of Rapid City agrees.

LaMere says a lot of people are concerned, and education is vital to
keep not only the language alive, but the culture as well.

"It has to do with our culture and even our way of praying," he said.

Through forced assimilation, the majority of native languages have
disappeared from the Americas "and ours is on the brink."

Of South Dakota's American Indian population of about 59,355 people,
only several hundred are fluent. Of those, 75 percent are elders and
irreplaceable once they've died.

Part of losing the language is the loss of the Lakota's traditional
ways.

"For a lot of youth, being a Lakota is to dance and sing at powwows, and
that's the extent of it. There's more to it than that," LaMere said.

LaFountain and his group walked the first 100 miles to Winner. After
that, they walked relay-fashion, covering 25 miles a day. Walking at
the height of summer with temperatures soaring to the high 90s and even
100 degrees, the marchers would begin at 5 a.m. and finish at 2 p.m.
"It was brutal," LaFountain recalled.

As the seasons began to change, the group started at 7 a.m. and
concluded by 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.

"It's an experience that all of us will hold close to our hearts, and
it's been a very harmonious, a very powerful and moving event,"
LaFountain said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen at rapidcityjournal.com