Here on the Lake Traverse Reservation, home to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, many of my Dakota neighbors are doing the work of keeping the Dakota language alive.
My romantic partner learned the language from his father, a boarding school survivor abused for speaking the Dakota language as a child. A World War II Army veteran, he refused to let his own children meet that fate.
It's good to see the federal government change course,
Republished online by the Minnesota Reformer, after original publication in the Arizona Mirror, its States Newsroom sibling.
Biden launched a national plan for Indigenous language protection and revitalization
by Shondiin SilversmithTo support the revitalization, protection, preservation and reclamation of Indigenous languages across the United States, the Biden-Harris administration released a 10-year National Plan on Native Revitalization during the 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit.
“Indigenous languages are central to our cultures, our lifeways, and who we are as people,” Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland said in a press release. “They connect us to our ancestors, to our homelands, and to our place in the world.”
The National Plan is a joint effort between government agencies that outlines strategies to help address the government’s role in the loss of Indigenous languages among Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.
“This ambitious plan represents the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to address the wrongs of the past and restore what has been taken from us,” Haaland said. The departments of the Interior, Education and Health and Human Services produced the plan.
The National Plan on Native Language Revitalization is the result of the Department of Interior’s work to address the systematic and deliberate policies set in place by the United States to forcibly assimilate Indigenous peoples and eradicate Indigenous languages and cultures as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School system.
“Congressional authorization and funding of this Plan will reduce the number of vulnerable and endangered Native languages and increase the number of proficient Native language speakers, as defined by Native Americans,” according to the report.
The Department of Interior launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative in 2021. The initiative released two reports that highlighted the devastating impact the boarding school system had and continues to have on Indigenous communities. It also provided a complete list of all federally operated schools.
President Joe Biden became the first sitting president to formally acknowledge and apologize to Indigenous communities in October for the federal government’s role in developing and enforcing the policies.
“The legacy of forced assimilation continues to threaten the existence of many Native languages, and the legacy of the boarding school era echoes in today’s educational experience for Native students,” according to the report.
The report states that congressional action is required to preserve Indigenous languages. If action is not taken, fewer than 20 Indigenous languages will still be in use in America by 2050. There are 167 Indigenous languages currently spoken.
“We use language to write history, share knowledge, map the future, and pass down traditions,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said in a written statement. “Investing in language revitalization strengthens communities and contributes to their resiliency.”
The plan prioritizes investing in and supporting Indigenous language efforts within academia. The plan calls for strategic investments in core content instruction in Indigenous languages to improve the educational outcomes for all Indigenous youth.
“I always say: multilingualism is a superpower—and that includes Native American languages,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said.
Cardona said he traveled through Indian Country as Secretary of Education and learned words in the Oneida, Dakota, and Nakota languages.
“One thing was crystal clear: when young people reclaim their Native languages, they reconnect deeply with who they are and where they come from,” he said. “But Native peoples have suffered from shameful policies that aimed to eradicate these languages and cultures for too long.”
Cardona added that he is hopeful that this national plan will be the start of the government’s remediation for its participation in Federal Indian Boarding School policies that have impacted Indigenous communities for generations.
“I am hopeful we can all choose to keep fighting for a future where Native communities have the tools and support to keep their languages alive and their cultures thriving,” he said.
According to the Department of Interior, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funds 187 schools for Indigenous students and works to provide them with a culturally relevant, high-quality education. However, the BIE did not receive funding for language revitalization until 2017, and the appropriations have not exceeded $7.5 million for any year.
As part of the summit, the Department of Interior also announced a cooperative agreement with the National Fund for Excellence in American Indian Education, which will provide $7.5 million in existing grant funding to BIE schools supporting the launch or expansion of immersion programs.
“This funding will help build a network of BIE schools committed to integrating Native language immersion and cultural education into their curricula, offering students the tools to connect with their language and heritage,” the department stated in a press release. “Together with the National Plan for Native Language Revitalization, these efforts create a comprehensive strategy to protect, preserve and reclaim Indigenous languages across the United States.”
Photo: An app to teach students the Navajo language. Photo by Cronkite News
This Arizona Mirror article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
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