Guest opinion.Language connects us to our ancestors, our identity and our place in the world. For the Cherokee Nation, preserving and revitalizing our unique language is a sacred duty. With every word spoken or written Cherokee, we reclaim a piece of what it means to be Cherokee.
The task of revitalizing our language remains daunting, but thanks to longstanding advocacy with the federal government, we have made great progress. At the recent White House Tribal Nations Summit, the Biden-Harris administration unveiled a 10-year national plan for native language revitalization. The sweeping strategy – developed with input from tribal nations and the Departments of the Interior, Education, and Health and Human Services – recognizes and addresses the U.S. government’s historic role in the loss of indigenous languages.
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Cherokee Nation is ready to capitalize on the new momentum. Just last week, we signed an agreement creating a formal partnership between the tribe, Cherokee Film and federal entities, including the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Fund for Excellence in American Indian Education.
Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr.
Over the next decade, this collaboration will help advance language revitalization efforts through film and media. Cherokee Film will provide expertise and access to its extensive nationwide network to help tribes preserve and promote their languages.
This partnership will not only preserve our language but also promote it on popular educational and entertainment platforms. Future generations will be able to hear and see Cherokee spoken and celebrated in everyday life.
The new federal 10-year vision builds on the findings of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, which exposed the devastating impact of the federal government’s suppression of Indigenous languages among youth and irrevocably damaging Indigenous families and communities. To do justice to this immense tragedy, a large-scale response is needed, such as the plan’s call to finance 100 new primary schools for mother tongue education in primary and secondary education and to train 10,000 mother tongue teachers.
For the Cherokee Nation, these national efforts are long overdue, and they align with our own commitment to language preservation. Under our own Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act, we are undertaking a historic effort to revive the Cherokee language, committing approximately $20 million annually. New federal dollars for language immersion and community revitalization will amount to approximately $1.5 billion annually nationally over the next decade, and reflect our plans to grow our own schools, including a new high school for Cherokee language students.
While we commend the current administration for its leadership on Indigenous language efforts, the work of Cherokee Nation transcends political parties or cycles. Our vision for language revitalization requires collaboration through changing administrations in the White House and the ever-changing balance in Congress. That is why my administration and the Council of the Cherokee Nation operate on a bipartisan basis and advance our interests without fear or favor, regardless of who holds the highest offices in Washington.
As stewards of Cherokee culture, we can see a future where our language thrives in classrooms and at home, on TV screens and cell phones. Wherever people want to learn and hear Cherokee spoken, we want to be there. Yes, the federal government’s 10-year plan provides the necessary resources, but it is our responsibility to use them wisely. Language revitalization is about empowering every new Cherokee student to advance our culture and tribe.
Chuck Hoskin, Jr. is the principal leader of the Cherokee Nation.
