Legislature(2013 - 2014)CAPITOL 106
04/01/2014 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB127 | |
| HJR32 | |
| HB216 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 127 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HJR 32 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 216 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 216-OFFICIAL LANGUAGES OF THE STATE
8:54:31 AM
CHAIR LYNN announced that the final order of business was HOUSE
BILL NO. 216, "An Act adding the Inupiaq, Siberian Yupik,
Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Alutiiq, Unangax, Dena'ina, Deg Xinag,
Holikachuk, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, Gwich'in, Tanana, Upper
Tanana, Tanacross, Hän, Ahtna, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, and
Tsimshian languages as official languages of the state."
[An objection to the motion to adopt Conceptual Amendment 1,
labeled 28-LS0905\U.1, Martin, 3/14/14, was left pending from
the 3/27/14 House State Affairs Standing Committee meeting.]
8:55:05 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER withdrew his motion to adopt Conceptual
Amendment 1.
8:55:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON moved to adopt the proposed committee
substitute (CS) for HB 216, Version 28-LS0905\P, Martin,
3/31/14, as a work draft. There being no objection, Version P
was before the committee.
8:55:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON said he and [Representative Kreiss-
Tomkins], a joint prime sponsor, worked on the language for
Version P to ensure that under the proposed legislation, the
state would not be required to print out official documents in
all the languages of Alaska. He explained that that had been
the intent, but since intent language does not "travel with the
bill," language clarifying that intent was worked into HB 216.
He emphasized that Version P would not restrict municipalities
or the state from conducting bilingual meetings, but it also
would not require all 21 languages to be spoken at the same
meeting.
8:57:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS thanked committee members for
their cooperation and corroboration.
8:57:35 AM
CHAIR LYNN asked members of audience to stand up if they
supported HB 216, and then he offered his understanding that "it
looks fairly unanimous."
8:58:37 AM
SELINA EVERSON, Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS), opened her
remarks with a few words in Tlingit. She spoke about the impact
of being denied the right to speak ones Native tongue. She said
there is a 90-year-old man in Angoon who breaks down crying when
he recollects being forbidden to speak his language. She said
her brothers were forbidden to speak their language on the
Sheldon Jackson School grounds, but they would "jump up in the
air to say some words in our language." She stated that she
does not want anyone to forbid Native Alaskans to speak their
language, because "it is our very being; it's our culture." She
said there is respect among the speakers of Native languages,
including Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. Ms. Everson stated
that it would be an honor to be recognized for the culture and
language that is the heart and soul of Native Alaskans. She
thanked the committee in Tlingit. In response to Chair Lynn,
she noted that ANS would turn 100 in 2015; the Alaska Native
Brotherhood (ANB) had celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary
in 2012.
9:00:53 AM
XH'UNEI LANCE A. TWITCHELL, Professor, Alaska Native Languages,
testified in support of HB 216. He said he is in search of
equal rights in terms of language recognition. He said he is
speaking not only on his own behalf but for "every person in
this room and elsewhere who have asked me to speak for them
today." He said, "I will speak in the language of our
grandparents, and I say 'our grandparents' because you are here
with me on this land where this wonderful Tlingit Language has
been spoken for about 9,000 years longer than the English
Language has been in existence." He explained that he did not
say that to establish a hierarchy. He said diversity is not
about who is best, but is "appreciating the beauty of all things
without having to compare it to yourself; without having it be
yourself."
9:01:57 AM
MR. TWITCHELL spoke in Tlingit.
9:02:41 AM
MR. TWITCHELL continued his testimony in English, as follows:
Self-respecting people, please listen carefully. Our
language is our life breath; it is the last thing.
Through our language we are still holding each other's
hands - yesterday, today, tomorrow. Because of this,
from my little grandchildren I am speaking to you.
But it is not me that you hear. No, you hear the
voices of my grandparents; you hear my magnificent
uncles. They have come here - yes. We are dying;
right before your eyes our languages are dying. Help
us.
9:03:20 AM
Someone has taken all the fish out of the sea. They
are on the beaches gasping for air. I hear someone
say, "How did this happen? Oh, no!" Someone else
says, "Let's form a committee to talk about our
options. Let's preserve them where they are in this
condition." Yet another suggests a statewide holiday
for the dying fish; a resolution of support. If you
could speak their languages, you would hear how they
are screaming. It would tear you apart - if you could
hear them. But listening is not what it used to be.
Now let me tell you this: These fish did not decide
to get out of the ocean; they did not outgrow their
need for it - no. They were tortured as children for
speaking their languages - tortured. If you think
this type of thing happened [a] long time ago, then
you should know that it happened to people in this
very room - such suffering. If you don't know what to
do, then I'll tell you. You put them back in the sea.
You get as many people together as you can, and work
together very quickly to undo what has been done. You
fix things. There is no humane counterargument to
this.
We are here today for our elders, who have suffered
tremendously to keep our languages alive. They were
beaten, humiliated, and tortured in schools sanctioned
by state and federal governments and run by churches.
We are here for our parents. Many of them lived a
life without their languages and feel left out, alone,
isolated, lost. We are here for our combat veterans
who shed blood for this country and state. There were
code talkers in World War II, who used Alaska Native
languages to help win battles and wars. We are here
for your children, who are killing themselves in
record numbers. Our children are killing themselves.
This is more than symbolic; this is historic. History
will not remember you for specialized license plates
and parking ticket processes; history will remember
you for this moment right here - what you say and do
when we ask you to help us live, to find a brighter
future for our languages, cultures, and people. If
you are worried about racial divisions, because you
choose to recognize us as equals, then you must
understand this: You cannot have multiculturalism in
Alaska and monolingualism at the same time. You just
get language death. The greatest way to achieve unity
is to look at your fellow man and say, "You are of
equal value." ...
9:06:00 AM
MR. TWITCHELL said HB 261 would make Alaska the second state in
the U.S. to officially recognize indigenous languages and end
suffering, humiliation, and racial superiority. He said Hawaii
is the only one currently reducing language shift, which means
the state is producing more Hawaiian speakers than it is losing.
He stated, "People cannot be something other than what they were
born to be, which is coded in their languages. These languages
root people - whether they are Alaska Native or not - to a
place. This is what unity feels like." He opined that HB 216
would be a step in the right direction by elevating Alaska
Native languages at the highest level, which would help in the
fight against addiction, depression, suicide, violent crimes,
and high school dropout rates, and it would create a better
state by "overcoming outdated notions that we are inferior." He
told the committee to have courage and support the proposed
legislation through the committee and on the House floor. He
concluded, "We will share with you the joy of overcoming the
worst of times." He thanked the committee in Tlingit and
English.
9:07:25 AM
PAUL BERG noted that he has been a teacher in Alaska since 1977,
but was speaking on behalf of himself. He said he had been
involved in multi-cultural education, including being part of
President George H. W. Bush's Indian Nations at Risk Task Force
approximately 20 years ago. He related that on the prior Friday
he "came home from a war." He explained that he gathered with
people to hear a senator announced that Alaska was going to
address a wrong. A Vietnam veteran took the microphone and
recounted his experience returning to the U.S., having people
spit on his uniform, and not being able to get a cab driver to
take him to his house. Mr. Berg said hearing the story brought
him back to his experience in San Francisco, in 1968, standing
in formation with his fellow military comrades, just having
arrived home, when people came and threw garbage on their
uniforms. He said he contained himself, but the man next to him
sobbed. They were not prepared for such a reception. Returning
to the Senator's words on that Friday, he recounted how the
group was told they were to receive a welcome home certificate
from the State of Alaska. He said at the end of that ceremony
he felt "a spike had been removed from the core of my soul." He
said it was an incredible healing, and he thanked the
legislature for making that happen.
9:09:19 AM
MR. BERG said veterans do not consider that the garbage and spit
was directed at them, but at their uniforms. He explained that
those in the military consider the uniform as "where we had
been, what we had done," and the "friends who didn't come back
with us." He said in the years he has traveled through Alaska,
especially during his work in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta,
he has witnessed the same pain. He said he is 69, and many his
own age have had their language torn away from them, through
sanctioned "physical and emotional brutality," and they have
borne the wounds "like a spike through the soul." He said that
pain frequently is passed down to their children and
grandchildren. He said, "It's called, 'secondary post-traumatic
stress.'" He opined that this is an historic moment for the
legislature, because it has the opportunity to right "a second
great wrong," to "restore balance," and "to begin healing a
great, open, and festering wound." He asked the legislature to
extend the same kindness and healing opportunity that was
extended to him last Friday, by "welcoming these languages and
their speakers home at last."
9:11:08 AM
CHAIR LYNN closed public testimony.
9:11:18 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS, as joint prime sponsor, said he
was completely unfamiliar with Alaska Native languages until he
ran for office. He said through the process of campaigning, he
got to know a woman in Klawock, whom he described as in her 80s,
"tough as nails," a "beautiful, resilient woman whose smile has
not aged one year with time." He said he visits her when he
travels to Klawock. She is a fluent speaker of Tlingit. He
said although he hopes to speak Tlingit one day, he does not
currently understand it; however, when the woman speaks in
Tlingit, "you can really see her soul come alive; it is the
essence of her being, and it's a beautiful experience." He
characterized the woman as a cultural treasure of Alaska, as is
Tlingit and the other Native languages of Alaska. He said it
has been gratifying to work on HB 216 in an attempt to honor and
revitalize the languages. He thanked the committee and
participants in the room, especially all the elders in Alaska
who are "the culture-bearers of these languages."
9:13:31 AM
CHAIR LYNN stated that people living in Alaska are Americans,
Alaskans, and brothers and sisters. He stated that language,
beyond being communication, is "our heart and soul." He said he
could not imagine trying to think without having some kind of
language. He said the proposed legislation would not fix
everything, but he indicated that it could be a step in a long
journey.
9:14:25 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON asked that the [joint-prime sponsor]
move the bill with full concurrence.
9:14:32 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS moved to report the proposed
committee substitute (CS) for HB 216, Version 28-LS0905\P,
Martin, 3/31/14, out of committee with individual
recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal note. There
being no objection, CSHB 216(STA) was reported out of the House
State Affairs Standing Committee.