Post updated on 8/21/18 with additional information about providing testimonies.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is having an oversight hearing on "Examining efforts to maintain and revitalize Native languages for future generations" on Wednesday, August 22, 2018 @ 2:15 P.M. EDT.
If you work with Native American languages and communities, we urge you to consider submitting official testimony ahead of the hearing. To do so, you can email your testimony to testimony@indian.senate.gov and specify that you are sending the testimony to this hearing, and the date and time of the hearing.
The overall goal of the hearing is to highlight the diversity of languages that exist throughout Indian Country and the various resources and programs needed to support the revitalization of these diverse and unique languages. The LSA Committee on Endangered Languages & Their Preservation (CELP) have invited witnesses who represent languages that are in different stages of revitalization and hope, with the goal of showing the diversity of need throughout the various stages of revitalization.
The witnesses for the hearing are listed below:
- Jeannie Hovland, Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC
- Jessie Baird, Vice Chairwoman, Mashapee Wampanoag Tribe, Mashapee, MA
- Namaka Rowlins, Strategic Partnerships and Collaboration Director, Aha Pūnana Leo, Hilo, HI
- Lauren Hummingbird, Graduate, Cherokee Nation Immersion School, Tahlequah, OK
- Christine Sims, Director, American Indian Language Policy Research and Teacher Training Center, University of New Mexico, ABQ, NM
CELP organizers also wish to add that personal testimonies are allowed and encouraged. If you are sending personal testimony, please include your full name, title and association. Below are a few examples:
- Testimony on Behalf of the National Indian Health Board
- Testimony from Lillian Sparks Robinson on Indian Language and Education
Thank you for contributing your time and effort to provide supporting testimonies in favor of the revitalization of Native American languages! Please share this announcement with anyone else that may be interested in providing testimony.
Announcement from Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada & Michal Temkin Martinez, Co-Chairs of the LSA Committe on Endangered Languages & Their Preservation (CELP)