Arizona Central
Jul. 9, 2003
New Mexico's congressional delegation introduced legislation Tuesday to
preserve American Indian languages.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Rep. Heather
Wilson, R-N.M., and Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced the Southwest
Native American Language Revitalization Act of 2003. The bill would
encourage the development of American Indian language to help reduce the
impact of past discrimination against Indian language speakers.
"For years many schools across the country did their best to eradicate
languages used by tribes and pueblos," Bingaman said. "Punishments were
carried out on those students who spoke their native tongue. Thankfully,
in more recent years, we have come to see the importance of preserving
Native American languages."
The bill would create a center through the University of New Mexico's
Native American Studies Department to work with the Linguistic Institute
for Native Americans in promoting the teaching of languages native to the
Southwest.
"Native languages contribute to overall linguistic and cultural richness
of our society," Domenici said. "We only need to look to our own Code
Talkers in New Mexico to understand just one of the benefits to keeping
native languages alive."
The Navajo Code Talkers used a military code based on their native
language to communicate troop movements and other orders during the World
War II.
Wilson says she was approached by the Jicarilla Apache Nation about
setting up Native American language schools.
"I was very excited about the idea," she said.
The legislation would provide federal money to train American Indian
language mentors, conduct community education and outreach, examine the
effects of government education policies on survival of native languages
and establish endowments to further study and preserve American Indian
languages.
"This legislation empowers Native Americans for whom language builds a
bridge of understanding that connects the wisdom of the past, the
experiences of the present and the hopes of the future," Udall said. "It
is imperative to tap the experiences of native elders as quickly as
possible to stem any further loss of native languages."