12/1/12

Mandarin: neither Diné nor Lakota?

Or: WTF is wrong with GOP governors?

New Mexico's graduation rates have plummeted under earth hater governor, Susana Martinez:
Only 63 percent of our state's public school seniors graduated on time last spring, down from 67 percent the year before. The U.S. Department of Education ranks New Mexico second-worst in the nation just ahead of Nevada. --Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4
Mary Kim Titla, a member of the San Carlos Apache Nation which is trapped within the state of Arizona was one of six witnesses testifying before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee about how Native Americans can reclaim their image and identity in society.

Maryann Batlle quotes Titla in the Tucson Sentinel:
Panelists said that Congress should continue to support Indian Country on issues such as education, tribal self-determination and self-governance to ensure that Native Americans can protect their cultures. Still, she said more needs to be done to help native students retain their identity. She said that when native schools fail to reach state-issued benchmarks, the “failing” label can have a negative effect on students and give the impression that the whole community is a failure, even though there are success stories.





Lawyers trained in indigenous languages have access to stories that could reverse the loss of treaty lands.

Ruth Moon brought a story of hopefulness in the Rapid City Journal:
Lakota is part of the "Dakota" language group, the third most commonly spoken Native American language in the country, but new Census estimates indicate fewer than 19,000 people still speak it. More than 10,000 of the nation's Dakota speakers live in South Dakota. Navajo is the most commonly spoken Native American language with more than 150,000 speakers. Nearly 20,000 people speak Yupik, the language of central Alaskan indigenous people. The "Dakota" language group comprises 18 language variations.
The US Census Bureau cites the languages:
Assiniboin, Brule, Brule Sioux, Da'catah/Dakota/Dakota Sioux, Hunkpapa/Hunkpapa Sioux, Lakota/Lakotah/Lakota Sioux, Nakota/Nakota Sioux, Oglala/Oglala Sioux, Santee, Teton, Yankton.
Here are some additional resources (thanks to Nadene): The Endangered Language Fund and Stephan Greymorning (pdf)

No comments: