Native America Calling

The Osage language was declared dead in 2005 after its last fluent speaker died, but revitalization efforts since then have built the number of proficient speakers to about 40. The Caddo Nation continues its extensive language revitalization efforts more than a year after its last fluent speaker walked on. It’s an uphill battle for most tribes in the U.S. to retain their language. The new book, “How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words”, examines the global crisis of cultures losing their languages. In a New Yorker review of the book, philosophy instructor Nikhil Krishnan uses the book’s premise to argue that the death of a language is sometimes “just how things go.” That touched off strong opposition from the language advocacy organization, The Endangered Languages Project. They and other organizations say such fatalistic thinking promotes misleading and harmful narratives and undermines efforts to preserve languages globally. We’ll hear from Indigenous language advocates who argue no expense should be spared to revive languages before we lose them.

Tribal public health officials are among those reassuring citizens about the safety of their food as reports of new cases of cyclospora infections continue to rise. Michigan continues to be a hotspot with state officials reporting more than 11,000 cases. The actual number is likely much higher than that. One hurdle in tracking the cyclosporiasis outbreak is it has a long incubation period and it can’t be traced through the genetic markers that some other food-borne illnesses have. The infections are traced mainly to tainted lettuce from Mexico. Nearly all other states are also reporting cyclospora cases, many of them from a variety of sources.

Over the course of a few days, a gang war erupts on the fictional Thunderstone reservation in the new film, “Gangland”. Officer Teddy Sharpe (Lou Diamond Phillips) and his trainee must navigate a community affected by a dark secret. The new film features several talented Native actors including Lane Factor (Caddo), Elisha Pratt (Cheyenne and Arapaho), Irene Bedard (Iñupiaq, Yup’ik and Cree), and more.

The famed children’s series “Little House on the Prairie” gets a new screen adaptation for Netflix. The original books the show is based on faced criticism for perpetuating racist stereotypes. Now, the new TV series includes consultation with Osage citizens.

We’ll also remember the late Seminole and Cherokee actor Randolph Mantooth, best known as the lead of the hit 1970s television show “Emergency!” Mantooth died on July 9.

A bill making its way through Congress offers new hope for five Native communities in Southeast Alaska to secure their own land for the first time. For more than 50 years following the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the five tribes left out of the pivotal agreement that fundamentally changed tribal governance and land ownership in the state have been working to secure their homelands. Tribal leaders celebrated as the bill cleared the U.S. House of Representatives. But it’s not without opposition; environmental groups and others worry the land transfer will turn over vast expanses of pristine old growth wilderness to a for-profit corporation intent on maximizing financial returns through extensive timber harvests and mining. We’ll hear about what this latest policy momentum accomplishes and discuss how we got here.