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Lakota Language Gets Boost at DU Conference

[/fusion_title][fusion_title title_type=”text” rotation_effect=”bounceIn” display_time=”1200″ highlight_effect=”circle” loop_animation=”off” highlight_width=”9″ highlight_top_margin=”0″ before_text=”” rotation_text=”” highlight_text=”” after_text=”” title_link=”off” link_url=”” link_target=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” content_align_medium=”” content_align_small=”” content_align=”left” size=”3″ animated_font_size=”” fusion_font_family_title_font=”” fusion_font_variant_title_font=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” animated_text_color=”” text_shadow=”no” text_shadow_vertical=”” text_shadow_horizontal=”” text_shadow_blur=”0″ text_shadow_color=”” margin_top_medium=”” margin_right_medium=”” margin_bottom_medium=”” margin_left_medium=”” margin_top_small=”” margin_right_small=”” margin_bottom_small=”” margin_left_small=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”10px” margin_left=”” margin_top_mobile=”” margin_bottom_mobile=”” gradient_font=”no” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ highlight_color=”” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” link_color=”” link_hover_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]Two-day event is part of the Native American language revitalization movement[/fusion_title][fusion_separator style_type=”single solid” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” flex_grow=”0″ top_margin=”10px” bottom_margin=”10px” width=”200px” alignment=”left” border_size=”3px” sep_color=”#8b1b1f” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” icon=”” icon_size=”” icon_color=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_color=”” /][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”12″ line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]

Monte Whaley | The Denver Post | October 20, 2018

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Lakota Language Instructor Allen Wilson, front, is teaching the language with the rhythm of drum Oct. 20, 2018. The Lakota Language Weekend, a crash course on Lakota language and culture is being held at the University of Denver. The workshop was open to people of all backgrounds, and geared towards beginners. Students learned basic vocabulary, grammar and practical sentences for everyday life.

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People such as Gwen Holmes are basically doing triage work in a desperate attempt to keep the Lakota language and culture alive in the United States.

“I wouldn’t say it’s extinct, but it’s definitely endangered,” the soft-spoken Holmes said Saturday during a Lakota Language Weekend at the University of Denver.

Nearby about 60 students of all ages were getting crash courses on the Lakota alphabet and pronunciation, basic grammar and how to use practical sentences for everyday life. Instructors were from the world-renowned Lakota Summer Institute and organized by the Lakota Language Consortium.

Organizers of the two-day event said the classwork is part of the Native American language revitalization movement, which is working to keep indigenous languages from dying, said Wilhelm Meya, chairman of The Language Conservancy, based in Indiana. “Indigenous languages are already disappearing at a rapid pace, and it’s an unknown but growing crisis,” Meya said.

At least 99 percent of existing Native American languages will vanish within our lifetimes, Meya said. There are about 150,000 Lakota left in the United States, and only about 1,500 are fluent speakers, making the training of new Lakota speakers pivotal to preserving the language, he said.

And by saving it, the Lakota culture survives, said Viki Eagle, director of Native American Community Relations & Programs at DU. “The Lakota language especially tells the tale of the culture. Every word has a special meaning and context,” Eagle said.

The workshop was open to people of all backgrounds and geared toward beginners. Besides the basics, the courses also talked about cultural values and using traditional songs to demonstrate how consistent spelling supports pronunciation and comprehension, Meya said.

“What we are doing today is stabilizing the free fall,” Meya said.

Lakota Language Weekends are held throughout the country, including New York and Chicago, Meya said. People are attracted to the romantic legacy of the tribe, which includes Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led confederated Lakota tribes with the Northern Cheyenne to defeat the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer on June 25, 1876, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

“For a lot of people, the Lakota are a special group,” Meya said.

Like most Native American tribes, the Lakota didn’t write down their language but passed it down through songs and stories.

And many of the tribe’s youths don’t see it as something they need to learn, said Alexis White Hat, an 18-year-old DU student who attended Saturday’s session. Her grandfather, Albert White Head Sr., wrote a book about the Lakota language and tried to teach it to her and her cousins. but they weren’t interested.

“We were kids and didn’t want to listen to that stuff,” Alexis said. “Only later did I realize, ‘Oh, wow, I really missed out.”

Holmes said her mother, a Lakota, attended a boarding school for tribal children, and they were told not to speak their native tongue or they would be harshly punished. “So they grew up refusing to speak Lakota, and they passed that reluctance along to their children,” Holmes said.

Holmes, however, learned it from her grandparents, and now she possesses a master’s degree in linguistics. She teaches Lakota at the Denver Center for International Studies, which teaches multilingual skills to high schoolers preparing  for college.

“I think it’s great these weekends are held,” Holmes said. “It gives a me a little hope that this language will stay alive.”

The push to revive Native American languages, including Lakota, isn’t meant to supplant English, he said. Rather it gives native peoples a choice in pursuing a second language. But if that language vanishes, so does the opportunity to lean about the culture, he said.

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‘LEAP’ Forward for Lakota Language

[/fusion_title][fusion_title title_type=”text” rotation_effect=”bounceIn” display_time=”1200″ highlight_effect=”circle” loop_animation=”off” highlight_width=”9″ highlight_top_margin=”0″ before_text=”” rotation_text=”” highlight_text=”” after_text=”” title_link=”off” link_url=”” link_target=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” content_align_medium=”” content_align_small=”” content_align=”left” size=”3″ animated_font_size=”” fusion_font_family_title_font=”” fusion_font_variant_title_font=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” animated_text_color=”” text_shadow=”no” text_shadow_vertical=”” text_shadow_horizontal=”” text_shadow_blur=”0″ text_shadow_color=”” margin_top_medium=”” margin_right_medium=”” margin_bottom_medium=”” margin_left_medium=”” margin_top_small=”” margin_right_small=”” margin_bottom_small=”” margin_left_small=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”10px” margin_left=”” margin_top_mobile=”” margin_bottom_mobile=”” gradient_font=”no” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ highlight_color=”” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” link_color=”” link_hover_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]UND College of Education lands $1.4-M federal grant to prepare next generation of teachers in indigenous linguistics[/fusion_title][fusion_separator style_type=”single solid” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” flex_grow=”0″ top_margin=”10px” bottom_margin=”10px” width=”200px” alignment=”left” border_size=”3px” sep_color=”#8b1b1f” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” icon=”” icon_size=”” icon_color=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_color=”” /][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”12″ line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]

David Dodds | UND Today | October 4, 2018

[/fusion_text][fusion_imageframe image_id=”11719|full” aspect_ratio=”” custom_aspect_ratio=”100″ aspect_ratio_position=”” skip_lazy_load=”” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” lightbox_image_id=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” max_width=”” sticky_max_width=”” align_medium=”none” align_small=”none” align=”none” mask=”” custom_mask=”” mask_size=”” mask_custom_size=”” mask_position=”” mask_custom_position=”” mask_repeat=”” style_type=”” blur=”” stylecolor=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” hover_type=”none” margin_top_medium=”” margin_right_medium=”” margin_bottom_medium=”” margin_left_medium=”” margin_top_small=”” margin_right_small=”” margin_bottom_small=”” margin_left_small=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” z_index=”” caption_style=”off” caption_align_medium=”none” caption_align_small=”none” caption_align=”none” caption_title=”” caption_text=”” caption_title_tag=”2″ fusion_font_family_caption_title_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_title_font=”” caption_title_size=”” caption_title_line_height=”” caption_title_letter_spacing=”” caption_title_transform=”” caption_title_color=”” caption_background_color=”” fusion_font_family_caption_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_text_font=”” caption_text_size=”” caption_text_line_height=”” caption_text_letter_spacing=”” caption_text_transform=”” caption_text_color=”” caption_border_color=”” caption_overlay_color=”” caption_margin_top=”” caption_margin_right=”” caption_margin_bottom=”” caption_margin_left=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″]https://lakhota.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/181004-leapforward.jpg[/fusion_imageframe][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”12″ line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]UND’s College of Education & Human Development recently secured a $1.4-million federal grant to train the next generations of teachers in the Lakota language. Graduates eventually will teach elementary and secondary learners at tribal and reservation schools in North Dakota and South Dakota. Photo by Tyler Ingham/UND Today.[/fusion_text][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]

New Yorkers rescue all manner of things – pets, people and lost things. This weekend, they have an opportunity to do something exceedingly rare: Help rescue a language.

The language is Lakota, spoken by the Native American people, and it is “dangerously close to extinction,” according to the Endangered Languages Project. It estimates just 2,000 people speak Lakota as a first language, primarily on reservations in North and South Dakota. That’s about 2% of the total population of Lakota people.

An effort in New York to revive the language includes a Lakota Language Weekend, Saturday and Sunday at the nonprofit American Indian Community House, 39 Eldridge St. in Manhattan. The course is described by the Lakota Language Consortium as a “deep dive” into the Lakota language, as taught by experienced instructors.

There is some urgency to the work.

Many living speakers, Alex FireThunder, the deputy director of the Lakota Language Consortium, told Gothamist, are now in their 80s.

“Especially with the pandemic, we lost a lot of elders,” said FireThunder, who was raised upstate and now teaches the language in South Dakota. “The language has been in rapid decline because of colonialism, and so the work we’re doing in itself is a form of social justice.”

According to the Language Conservancy, 2,900 of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken across the world are now endangered. In 2019, the United Nations declared 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.

“Many languages are today in danger of falling into disuse,” reads a 2021 report by UNESCO. “People’s ability and freedom to use their chosen language is essential for human dignity, peaceful co-existence, reciprocal action, and for the general wellbeing and sustainable development of society at large.”

Wil Meya, the CEO of the Language Consortium, estimated several dozen Lakota speakers live in New York City, making it one of over 600 languages in the five boroughs.

Efforts to revive languages like Lakota, said Meya, increasingly involved digital technology. For instance, his organization re-released an app that with more than 40,000 Lakota words serves as “the largest Native American dictionary in the world.”

“It’s instrumental in the language revitalization movement. Young people are using it all the time,” said Meya. “They’re saying it’s like having grandma or grandpa in their pocket.”

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Sitting Bull Film to be Shown in North Dakota

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Cheryl McCormack | Bismarck Tribune | July 26, 2018

[/fusion_text][fusion_imageframe image_id=”11722|full” aspect_ratio=”” custom_aspect_ratio=”100″ aspect_ratio_position=”” skip_lazy_load=”” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” lightbox_image_id=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” max_width=”” sticky_max_width=”” align_medium=”none” align_small=”none” align=”none” mask=”” custom_mask=”” mask_size=”” mask_custom_size=”” mask_position=”” mask_custom_position=”” mask_repeat=”” style_type=”” blur=”” stylecolor=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” hover_type=”none” margin_top_medium=”” margin_right_medium=”” margin_bottom_medium=”” margin_left_medium=”” margin_top_small=”” margin_right_small=”” margin_bottom_small=”” margin_left_small=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” z_index=”” caption_style=”off” caption_align_medium=”none” caption_align_small=”none” caption_align=”none” caption_title=”” caption_text=”” caption_title_tag=”2″ fusion_font_family_caption_title_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_title_font=”” caption_title_size=”” caption_title_line_height=”” caption_title_letter_spacing=”” caption_title_transform=”” caption_title_color=”” caption_background_color=”” fusion_font_family_caption_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_text_font=”” caption_text_size=”” caption_text_line_height=”” caption_text_letter_spacing=”” caption_text_transform=”” caption_text_color=”” caption_border_color=”” caption_overlay_color=”” caption_margin_top=”” caption_margin_right=”” caption_margin_bottom=”” caption_margin_left=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″]https://lakhota.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/180726-sittingbullfilm.jpg[/fusion_imageframe][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”12″ line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]Starring Jessica Chastain, right, as Catherine Weldon and Michael Greyeyes, left, as Sitting Bull, “Woman Walks Ahead” depicts Weldon’s journey to the Dakotas in the late 1800s to paint a portrait of the Indian chief and offer support to his people. Submitted photo[/fusion_text][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]

BISMARCK-In 1889, an artist and activist living in New York journeyed to what is now the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, stretching across the Dakotas, where she befriended Sitting Bull and created four paintings of the Indian chief – one of which hangs in the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum’s Inspiration Gallery.

Caroline “Catherine” Weldon’s journey was recently made into a motion picture, “Woman Walks Ahead,” which will premiere Friday, July 27, at the Grand Theatres, Bismarck. Audiences will have one week to take in the special showing.

The film was released about a month ago, but it was not widely promoted in theaters, according to Grand Theatres owner Jerry Brekke, who first watched the film on DirecTV pay-per-view.

“I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, this is such a wonderful film. Why is this not in the theater?'” he said. “It’s beautifully shot and acted, and is totally awe inspiring.”

Film distributor A24 granted Brekke special permission to show the western, which was filmed in New Mexico with Jessica Chastain starring in the lead role. Michael Greyeyes plays the part of Sitting Bull.

Prior to production, filmmaker Susanna White visited Lakota lands, including Standing Rock, but opted for locations near Santa Fe, N.M. Filming began a week before protests erupted at Standing Rock over the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to Film Journal International.

“The movie really does depict the scenery that we have here,” said Brekke. “It looks like it could’ve been filmed here.”

As a member of the National Indian Defense Association, Weldon advocated for Native American rights. She headed west to offer support to Sitting Bull and his people in response to the Dawes Act of 1887, which broke up indigenous land into individual allotments.

Once she arrived in Standing Rock, Weldon acted as Sitting Bull’s secretary for several months. She also offered financial support to the chief and his family, drawing on a small inheritance from her mother.

Weldon painted four portraits of Sitting Bull, of which two are known to have survived. One is held by the State Historical Society of North Dakota and the other is on display at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, Ark.

When Matthew F. Steele donated the portrait to the SHSND in 1953, a story accompanied it.

After creating the image, Weldon presented it to Sitting Bull, who hung the gift on the wall of one of his cabins. In the exchange of gunfire that resulted in Sitting Bull’s death in 1890, seven of his followers and six American Indian police died.

A policeman whose brother was killed tore the painting from the cabin wall and struck it with his rifle, causing the rip still visible today on the portrait, which hangs in the “our lives, our communities” section of the North Dakota Heritage Center’s Inspiration Gallery.

Steele, who was a lieutenant with the U.S. Army forces that arrived after the fight, rescued the painting and purchased it from Sitting Bull’s widow. He went on to become a Fargo businessman.

“Woman Walks Ahead” is based on true events, which means it sometimes sacrifices accuracy for drama. For instance, the primary reason Weldon travels to Standing Rock in the movie is to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull. She also travels alone when, in reality, she made the journey with her young son, Christie.

Brekke says the film reminds him of the well-known western, “Dances with Wolves,” which was shot primarily in South Dakota.

“I just hope people see it. It’s really a great film,” he said. “It’s a rare thing that it wasn’t released, theatrically, on a wide basis. Only a few theaters have even shown it.”

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Lakota father and daughter on working to revitalize their language

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Prairie Public Broadcasting | July 25, 2018

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Those who work to revitalize Native American languages often find it challenging to reach the hearts of young people. But for one Lakota father and daughter, language has always been at the center of their lives, their bond and their purpose.

Manny and Claudia Iron Hawk recently visited the StoryCorps MobileBooth in Bismarck to discuss family history and the Lakota language as a healing force.

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Lakota storyteller on lessons learned from a good friend and mentor

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Prairie Public Broadcasting | July 10, 2018

[/fusion_text][fusion_imageframe image_id=”11762|full” aspect_ratio=”” custom_aspect_ratio=”100″ aspect_ratio_position=”” skip_lazy_load=”” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” lightbox_image_id=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” max_width=”” sticky_max_width=”” align_medium=”none” align_small=”none” align=”none” mask=”” custom_mask=”” mask_size=”” mask_custom_size=”” mask_position=”” mask_custom_position=”” mask_repeat=”” style_type=”” blur=”” stylecolor=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” hover_type=”none” margin_top_medium=”” margin_right_medium=”” margin_bottom_medium=”” margin_left_medium=”” margin_top_small=”” margin_right_small=”” margin_bottom_small=”” margin_left_small=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” z_index=”” caption_style=”off” caption_align_medium=”none” caption_align_small=”none” caption_align=”none” caption_title=”” caption_text=”” caption_title_tag=”2″ fusion_font_family_caption_title_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_title_font=”” caption_title_size=”” caption_title_line_height=”” caption_title_letter_spacing=”” caption_title_transform=”” caption_title_color=”” caption_background_color=”” fusion_font_family_caption_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_text_font=”” caption_text_size=”” caption_text_line_height=”” caption_text_letter_spacing=”” caption_text_transform=”” caption_text_color=”” caption_border_color=”” caption_overlay_color=”” caption_margin_top=”” caption_margin_right=”” caption_margin_bottom=”” caption_margin_left=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″]https://lakhota.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/180710-lakotastoryteller.jpg[/fusion_imageframe][fusion_separator style_type=”none” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” flex_grow=”0″ top_margin=”10px” bottom_margin=”10px” width=”200px” alignment=”left” border_size=”3px” sep_color=”#8b1b1f” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” icon=”” icon_size=”” icon_color=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_color=”” /][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]

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Kevin Locke tells StoryCorps Facilitator, Madison Mullen, about a promise and gift made by his friend and benefactor, Arlo Good Bear, shortly before his death. He describes Good Bear’s lessons and gift of the hoop dance, which Locke has since shared with people all over the world.

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‘Woman Walks Ahead’ Lead Sees A Sea Change For Indigenous People On Film

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Lulu Garcia-Navarro | NPR | July 1, 2018

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In Woman Walks Ahead, an artist and activist from New York City (Jessica Chastain) travels to North Dakota to make a portrait of Sitting Bull (Michael Greyeyes).

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In Woman Walks Ahead, a New York City activist and artist named Catherine Weldon (played by Jessica Chastain) travels across the United States to paint the great Native American chief Sitting Bull. The role of Sitting Bull is portrayed with humor and complexity by Michael Greyeyes, who is Plains Cree and hails from Muskeg Lakes First Nation in Canada.

Based on real-life events, the movie finds Sitting Bull just after he was released from penitentiary for his involvement at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. “So this is really a portrait of a man near the end of his life — disillusioned, really, by the dispossession and violence that his community had faced,” Greyeyes says.

Greyeyes has had plenty of meaningful roles in an acting career that is nearing three decades. But in an interview, he explained why he considered this a “role of a lifetime.”

Interview Highlights

On what drew Greyeyes to the script

It was almost, really, from the first page that Steven Knight’s writing grabbed me. And of course, the first time Sitting Bull actually appears on the page immediately … where he meets Katherine and Katherine’s sort of speaking this elevated sort of language … and immediately Sitting Bull just shoots back really, with this comfortable, easy, vernacular tone. And we realized right away at how sophisticated he is, and the audience laughs. Every screening I’ve been in the audience laughs heartily. And from that moment I realized we were looking at a paradigm shift in terms of how Hollywood is treating native characters.

Very often in films and scripts that, you know, deal with our community or have native content, we’re often placed as foils against which some larger questions, some so-called more important question is examined. But in this film we see a Sitting Bull that is three-dimensional. We see his irony, his regret … his brokenness. And in that way it’s actually quite startling. It’s quite politically startling to see a native character treated with that with that scope — scope usually reserved for other ethnicities. And of course that drew me to the project immediately.

On the film’s role in telling the history of the American West

I think it’s a powerful corrective, to be quite honest. When I speak to people about the role and about what happens – and, of course, where the assassination of Sitting Bull lies in terms of the political landscape, the historical landscape of that time — I’m quite stunned, often, when I realize people don’t know that history. So when I encounter people that don’t know these kinds of monumental historical events, you know, whether it’s Indian removal or Wounded Knee, I’m often stunned. And so I know that with this film and its detailed examination of the Lakota struggle for sovereignty, for their lives even, I knew that this was timely. And with Susanna White, our director’s treatment, the humanism of her work, of Steven [Knight]’s work, creates a kind of empathy that I find is desperately lacking in our discourse.

On playing such an important historical figure

Sitting Bull is a hero. He’s a hero to indigenous people around the world. And for me to approach that role I too am an outsider. I’m indigenous but I’m — I come from a different community, a different culture. And so when I sought to approach this, I looked for support. I had language consultants and cultural advisers from Standing Rock and from the Lakota community who had worked in Hollywood, and we had numerous people behind the scenes, behind the camera. And it’s with that support, it’s with that literal love, that I felt confident I could approach this and portray him as I think we understand him. We as indigenous people understand our leaders to be that they’re — that they’re human, they’re complex, they’re sophisticated. They were grappling with huge issues at the time when — you know, we learn about them later, you know Dawes Allotment act, the violence in the West. So for me it was, and is, a role of a lifetime.

On choosing roles to perform, and the responsibility therein

Interestingly, actors of color, I think, bear a particular, an added responsibility, because dominant culture often see us as exemplars, or as sort of icons for a larger culture — not something we always assume of, you know, a Caucasian actor … and so I kind of carry this with me. I’ve always been adamant about trying to expand or agitate or subvert in some way our collective notion of Indian-ness. And so for example, when I spoke English I always fought that my characters would have a really profound grasp of the language. You know, English is relatively easy, you know, compared to indigenous languages. So I said, “Why wouldn’t he learn English well?” And you know, producers or directors would often wonder about that. But with Susanna [White] and these producers, that wasn’t an argument I had to make. They were allies from the beginning.

On the push for indigenous (and other minority) actors to portray roles that aren’t directly related to their heritage

Greyeyes: I’ve been fortunate in my career. I’ve always been incredibly proud to represent my community, whether it’s as a Cree man or as an indigenous person here. So I’ve played Comanche characters, Lakota characters, you know, other cultures. And even though I’ve played these different roles, they were always a period role. But then more recently I started to get cast as police officers or lawyers and, you know, even a serial killer. But they were always native doctors, native lawyers, until just recently actually. It was only about two weeks ago that I was finally cast, after 27 years in the business, as a character whose ethnicity was not determined. They just liked me as a performer. And so that to me was actually a watershed moment.

Garcia-Navarro: Do you think it signifies something broader?

Greyeyes: I do. I do. I think there’s a sea change. I’ve seen it for maybe the past 4-5 years, actually. I’ve started to see a dimensionality finally appear in the materials I was being sent, the scripts I was reading, and I started to see it in other places — in the treatment of our cultures, of our characters. For example, just recently I watched a fabulous episode on Westworld, and there was an episode that was really focused on the indigenous “hosts” in the show, and it was beautifully done — truly sophisticated, and the performances were nuanced. So it’s there. It’s with films like Woman Walks Ahead. It’s of course in the work of indigenous filmmakers and indigenous writers — it’s always been present. But I think we’re on the eve of something. It gives me great hope, as I continue to work in an industry that I love, that change is on hand.

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The Language Conservancy Works to Revive Lakota Language

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Prairie Public Broadcasting | June 27, 2018

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The Language Conservancy (TLC) works to revive endangered languages. Alex Fire Thunder is an instructor for the Lakota Summer Institute at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck.

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One Lakota Instructor is Working to Revive the Language

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Renee Cooper | KX News | June 19, 2018

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Only about 1,500 people nationwide speak Lakota.

This is down 5,000 from ten years ago and 10,000 from 20 years ago.

But one Lakota Language Consortium instructor is working to revitalize the language.

The instructor, Alex FireThunder grew up hearing Lakota on a daily basis.

He explains, “My mom is Lakota, she is a native speaker. She learned Lakota first, and only spoke Lakota in the home until she went to kindergarten.”

Now he spends his time teaching the language and working for it’s revitalization.

He says, “If you want to speak Spanish, you can go to Spain and you can hear Spanish be spoken when you go to the store. And when you go to a restaurant, you have to order in Spanish. You’re expected to speak the language of the people.”

He says he hopes one day the same will be true for Lakota Country.

This is the first year the Lakota Summer Institute has come here to UTTC after 11 years in Standing Rock, and Bismarck is very much a part of Lakota Country.”

So how do you normalize a language that is currently in decline?

FireThunder says, “You need to read, you need to write, you need to speak and you need to hear it. I’m on social media and I just bombard all of my friends with the language. So when I’m on Snapchat, I’ll be talking in Lakota on my snapchat videos.”

It won’t be easy though.

Executive Director for the Lakota Language Consortium Wil Meya says, “In order to maintain even current levels, we need to be creating about 200-300 new speakers a year.”

But the 80 students enrolled at UTTC this summer keeps him optimistic.

Meya adds, “It’s not enough yet to offset the decline of the speakers but we estimate in the next couple years, we’ll be able to generate in the order of hundreds of new speakers a year.”

Meya says more people are interested in learning the language than ever before.

And FireThunder is assured: Lakota is a living language that will not be left in the past.

Storycorps, one of the largest oral history programs in the world, has partnered with the Lakota Language Consortium.

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Native American Nonprofit Aims to Boost Community Health by Teaching Lakota Language

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Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech | NYN Media | March 14, 2018

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ILLUSTRATION BY ZACH WILLIAMS/ NYN MEDIA

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In a small room in the basement of New York University, Aru Apaza sits with a group of a dozen others and gushes about American Indian Community House – a nonprofit that has become a home away from home for her.

She is speaking to a group made up of staff and volunteers from AICH, the Language Conservancy and New York University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. They have met to kick off New York City’s first Lakota Language Weekend – two days dedicated to improving community health and overall well-being through the speaking and learning of Lakota.

“It is good medicine to hear people hearing the language,” said Apaza.

It’s all part of an ongoing work at the lower Manhattan-based nonprofit, which was founded in 1969 by Native American volunteers to support their community and create intercultural understanding at a time when indigenous communities across the U.S were reasserting their identity.

Programs include “well-briety circles” for those looking to recover from addictions, mental health services and assistance with finding affordable health care providers. The organization, led by Ben Geboe, has become one of the oldest urban Native American health programs in the United States. By hosting a Lakota Language Weekend, AICH is adding another tool to its interventions for improving well-being.

A 2016 study suggests that efforts to keep a language alive translate into health-related benefits for Native Americans. Language use generates a strong sense of connectedness to the community and cultural history. And an increased interest in the culture goes hand in hand with an increased desire to improve community health.

“I needed it for my own identity as a Lakota person,” said Alex Firethunder, an instructor during the Lakota Language Weekend. “Spiritually, emotionally, I felt like I wasn’t meeting my full potential as a Lakota person.”

Firethunder grew up in Upstate New York but left home to study on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. During his childhood he spent every summer in South Dakota and dreamed of living on the reservation to be with his people and learn Lakota. His mother is a Lakota speaker but chose not to teach it to her children. Now Firethunder is the Lakota language and cultural coordinator at the Lakota Waldorf School on that reservation.

The Endangered Language Project categorizes the Lakota language as an extremely endangered one. Since the 1700s, many speakers of Native American languages were forced or pressured by white settlers to only speak English, which has played a role in the decreasing numbers. As of 2016 there were about 2,000 native Lakota speakers left with the majority being over the age of 65. To help address this, there have been six Lakota Language Weekends in various cities since it began in 2016. AICH reached out to the Language Conservancy’s director of communications to explore hosting the event in New York City for the first time.

The health status of Native Americans is such that every possible beneficial intervention is appreciated, research shows. According to the Indian Health Service, Native Americans suffer some of the poorest health outcomes of any other racial group in the United States. Native Americans and Alaska Natives have a life expectancy of 73 years, four years less than the national average.

According to the National Congress of American Indians, the suicide rate among Native Americans is 62 percent higher than in the non-Native American population. Suicide is also the second leading cause of death for Native youth between the ages of 18-24.

“I mean everybody knows someone that has done it. It has almost become normalized,” said Renelle White Buffalo, another Lakota language instructor who traveled from South Dakota to participate in the weekend.

Firethunder credits learning Lakota as a step towards creating better outcomes for himself and his family. He wanted the ability to pass on his ancestral language to his own children and he has already seen first hand the physical and mental health benefits to his community:

“Most of those people are sober, most are further in their education, they worry about their well being and they are pushing to be better,” said Firethunder.

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