Legislature(2017 - 2018)BARNES 124
03/06/2018 08:00 AM House COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
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| HCR19 | |
| Adjourn |
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| *+ | HCR 19 | TELECONFERENCED | |
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
March 6, 2018
8:04 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Justin Parish, Co-Chair
Representative Harriet Drummond
Representative George Rauscher
Representative Dan Saddler
Representative David Talerico
Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (alternate)
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative John Lincoln
Representative DeLena Johnson (alternate)
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 19
Urging Governor Bill Walker to issue an administrative order
recognizing a linguistic emergency.
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HCR 19
SHORT TITLE: GOVERNOR: AK NATIVE LANGUAGES EMERGENCY
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) ORTIZ
02/16/18 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/16/18 (H) CRA
03/06/18 (H) CRA AT 8:00 AM BARNES 124
WITNESS REGISTER
REPRESENTATIVE DAN ORTIZ
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: As prime sponsor, presented HCR 19.
ALBERT NINGEULOOK
Shishmaref, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HCR 19.
YAAYUK BERNADETTE ALVANNA-STIMPFLE, Director
Eskimo Heritage Program
Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council (ANLPAC)
Nome, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified to urge Governor Bill Walker to
issue an administrative order in response to a linguistic
crisis.
ANNETTE EVANS SMITH, Chair
Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council (ANLPAC)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HCR 19.
XH'UNEI LANCE TWITCHELL, Vice-Chair
Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council (ANLPAC);
Assistant Professor of Alaska Native Languages
University of Alaska Southeast
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HCR 19.
MARTIN STEPETIN
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HCR 19.
LIZ MEDICINE CROW
First Alaskans Institute
Kake, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HCR 19.
NANCY BARNES, Member
Juneau Sm'algyax Group
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HCR 19.
DON BREMNER
Yakutat, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on HCR 19.
DELLA CHENEY
Kake, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on HCR 19.
ALISON MARKS
(No address provided)
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on HCR 19.
SARAH DYBDAHL, Manager
Cultural Heritage and Education
Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HCR 19.
STUART McDONALD, Superintendent
North Slope Borough School District
Utqiagvik, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the hearing on HCR 19.
JODIE GATTI, Staff
Representative Dan Ortiz
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered a question during the hearing on
HCR 19, on behalf of Representative Ortiz, prime sponsor.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:04:35 AM
CO-CHAIR JUSTIN PARISH called the House Community and Regional
Affairs Standing Committee meeting to order at 8:04 a.m.
Representatives Talerico, Drummond, Saddler, and Parish were
present at the call to order. Representatives Rauscher and
Kreiss-Tomkins (alternate) arrived as the meeting was in
progress.
HCR 19-GOVERNOR: AK NATIVE LANGUAGES EMERGENCY
8:05:22 AM
CO-CHAIR PARISH announced that the only order of business would
be HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 19, Urging Governor Bill
Walker to issue an administrative order recognizing a linguistic
emergency.
8:05:47 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DAN ORTIZ, Alaska State Legislature, as prime
sponsor, presented HJR 19. He read the sponsor statement, which
read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
The state has moved in the right direction by
acknowledging and recognizing the 20 Alaska Native
languages as official languages of the state; however,
recognition is just the first step. The intent of this
resolution is to heed the suggestions put forth by the
Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory
Council (ANLPAC).
The Council strongly urges that the Governor issue an
Administrative Order, recognizing the linguistic
emergency that exists, and state that it is the policy
of the State of Alaska to actively promote the
survival and continued use of all of Alaska's 20
Native languages.
In their 2018 Biennial Report to the Governor and
Legislature, ANLPAC warned that all 20 Alaska Native
languages are in crisis, and most are predicted to
become extinct or dormant by the end of the 21st
century. The State of Alaska can no longer sustain
these rates of language loss unless policy changes are
enacted that support people who are learning and
speaking Alaska Native languages throughout the state.
The loss of language represents the loss of a critical
piece of our history, culture, and a traditional way
of life. I respectfully request the Legislature join
me in support of ANLPAC and the languages that
represent intergenerational knowledge.
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ reported that the last speaker of the Eyak
language died in 2008. The last fluent speaker of the Tanana
language is now 93 years of age. He said this illustrates what
a critical point the state is in, in terms of its Native
languages. He said Alaska culture began over 10,000 years ago
with its Native people. He stated that it is critical to
preserve the language for future generations.
8:10:05 AM
ALBERT NINGEULOOK testified that Inupiaq is his first language.
He expressed that he is representing elders who still live and
those who have passed. He urged the committee to ask Governor
Bill Walker to issue an administrative order to save Alaska's
Native dialects. He recited a Bible verse as follows: "Do not
let their hearts be troubled; believe in God; believe also in
me." He then offered the words in Inupiaq. He urged the
legislature to support HCR 19.
8:14:11 AM
YAAYUK BERNADETTE ALVANNA-STIMPFLE, Director, Eskimo Heritage
Program, Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council
(ANLPAC), testified that her family originates from King Island
and she lives in Nome, Alaska, and has been affiliated with
ANLPAC since 2012. She urged Governor Walker to issue an
administrative order in response to a linguistic crisis. To
explain the impact of language loss over the last 50 years, she
said Native people in Alaska were "forced to forget their
identity as ... Native language speakers." She said there are
many elders in her region that did not speak their language to
their children, and childhood is a critical time for people to
learn a language. Children were sent to boarding schools. She
said, "Religion and education played a huge role in this Native
language loss." Young people did not understand why they were
disconnected from their elders. Native dance and cultural
values were not learned, she said, and healing from the past
traumas and language loss needs to happen.
MS. ALVANNA-STIMPFLE asked anyone in the room who spoke an
Alaska Native language fluently to stand up. [A few people
stood.] She then asked anyone in the room who understood or
spoke some Native language to stand. [Considerably more of the
audience stood.] Finally, she asked those who neither spoke nor
understood any of the Native languages to stand. [All committee
members stood.] She stated, "We are very sorry for not speaking
with you, and we didn't speak to you in our identity and
language. We wanted you to do well in school and at jobs when
you grow up. We now know that was not right."
8:17:37 AM
ANNETTE EVANS SMITH, Chair, Alaska Native Language Preservation
& Advisory Council (ANLPAC), testified in support of HCR 19.
She said she also works at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.
She said it is important in understanding the status of Alaska
Native languages to understand the historical context that
resulted in [the loss of Native language speakers]. She
directed attention to an Indigenous People's Language Map [hard
copy included in the committee packet], which shows color-coded
regions where various Native languages are originated.
MS. EVANS SMITH presented the history that erased culture from
the map and tore pieces of the map off, one by one, to signify
this loss as she shared the history, as follows:
Beginning in 1867, with the U.S. purchase of Alaska
from Russia, without consulting the Unangan people,
Russia signs a treaty with the United States.
American administration begins on October 18th. The
inhabitants are to be citizens. The uncivilized
tribes will be subject to the laws and regulations as
the United States may, from time to time, adopt. No
Alaska Natives are granted citizenship.
Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian missionary, convenes a
meeting of protestant mission society representatives
in Pennsylvania to encourage and coordinate the
establishment of mission stations around Alaska.
Congress passes an Organic Act to provide civil
government in Alaska. The Act calls for the
establishment of schools for Native and non-Native
children. The secretary of Interior appoints Sheldon
Jackson as general agent for education for Alaska - a
position Jackson holds until 1906.
Native languages are disallowed from public schools -
1886.
The U.S. Bureau of Education ends its practice of
contracting with missionary groups in Alaska to
operate day schools and opens federal day schools. A
new number of new school buildings are constructed in
Native villages. These federal schools continue on
until about 1966.
Congress passes the Nelson Act that among other things
funds roads, education, and care for the mentally ill
in Alaska. The administration states the funds for
education are for schools for white children and those
of mixed ... blood who need a civilized life. This
results in a second school system. Alaska has the
U.S. Bureau of Education - later the BIA - schools,
created by the Organic Act of 1884, that became known
as Native schools, and territory - later state -
schools. This dual system operates until the 1980s.
1908: Three Native families in Sitka go to court
seeking permission for their children to go to school
in the territorial town. The judge determines - in
the case known as David v. Sitka School Board the
families do not lead a civilized life, and hence, does
not permit the children to enroll in the territorial
school.
1912: 13 Southeast Alaska Natives created the Alaska
Native Brotherhood and ... the Alaska Native
Sisterhood. So, you can see the map can go back
together.
1915: The territorial legislature passes a law,
Chapter 24, Session Laws of Alaska, 1915, recognizing
Native people as citizens, though the law requires a
Native person to get endorsements from five white
citizens. The law requires a Native person to get
endorsements from five white citizens and to have
severed all tribal relationships and to have adapted
the habits of a civilized life. We have copies if you
would like to see an example of one.
1918: The pandemic flu ... spreads to Alaska and
rages through 1919. Many Native children,
particularly in the Seward Peninsula and in the
Interior, are orphaned. In my family ... of nine,
three sisters survive.
The territorial legislature passes a Literacy Act that
requires a person to read and write English to vote in
territorial elections. And then, of course, we pass
the Anti-Discrimination Law, and you can see again we
can build our map back. And then in 1972, the
legislature passes ... and creates the Alaska Native
Language Center.
In 1990 Congress passes the Native American Languages
Act, federally recognizing tribes for the first time
and ... languages. Though at first unfunded, it
federally recognizes languages. In 2012, the Alaska
State Legislature created Senate Bill 130, known as
ANLPAC or the Alaska Native Language Preservation &
Advisory Council. And then, of course, the
recognition that officially recognizes the languages
of Alaska as official languages of the state. And
Alaska, I believe, is still one of only two states in
the Nation that has done so.
So, you can see pieces of the map can go back
together, with well-planned, well-implemented state
policy. When we all work together, we can rebuild our
map. There are many pieces that still need to be put
back, but with all of us working together, we can do
this.
MS. EVANS SMITH said ANLPAC made recommendations to the
legislature on January 1, 2018. She said community members are
partners in ANLPAC's network. She said in the final pages of
the plan there is a list of all of the immersion programs and
all individuals leading these programs, largely without state
support. She asked the committee to imagine what those people
could do with state support. She said Native children do
better, perform better in school, and make better life choices
[when they are not conflicted about their culture and identity].
She said ANLPAC has been gathering testimony "from members
across the state of Alaska," and the genesis of the
recommendation under HCR 19 came from a member of the public.
8:30:32 AM
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER asked Ms. Evans Smith what she envisions
state support would look like.
MS. EVANS SMITH answered state policy regarding emersion, for
which there currently is not a lot of support. She mentioned
the state certificate program, and she offered her understanding
that a bill is currently being heard by the legislature that
would further strengthen the certificate program for teachers.
She mentioned place names. She further mentioned "a truth and
reconciliation process for the state of Alaska." She emphasized
the need for a healing process much like that which Canada is
experiencing now. Ms. Evans Smith said there is a need for
research to determine "exactly where our speakers are," "how
many new speakers are being created," and how old the current
speakers are. She expounded on the idea of place names by
stating, "Alaska needs to be special, but it needs to be
everywhere; it needs to be visible." She indicated that ANLPAC
would like to see [Alaska Native languages] as part of the
education curriculum.
8:33:26 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked Ms. Evans Smith to expound on her
final comment.
MS. SMITH reflected that German, French, Russian, Chinese, and
Japanese are taught in the Anchorage School District, and other
districts in Alaska, and [ANLPAC] would like Native languages
offered with the same support.
8:34:01 AM
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER asked for confirmation that there
currently is no elective for Alaska Native languages in public
schools in Alaska.
MS. SMITH [answered no].
8:34:39 AM
XH'UNEI LANCE TWITCHELL, Vice-Chair, Alaska Native Language
Preservation & Advisory Council (ANLPAC); Assistant Professor of
Alaska Native Languages, University of Alaska Southeast, noted
that he is a doctoral candidate in Hawaiian and Indigenous
Cultural & Language Revitalization at the Ka Haka 'Ula O
Ke'elikolani, College of Hawaiian Language at the University of
Hawai?i at Hilo. He began his testimony in his language; it
read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
__
X'unei áyá ax saayí. Good morning, honorable
Representatives of the State of Alaska. My name is
_
X'unei Lance Twitchell. I am an Assistant Professor
of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska
Southeast, a doctoral candidate in Hawaiian and
Indigenous Cultural & Language Revitalization at the,
and a council member of the Alaska Native Language
Preservation and Advisory Council. I will begin my
testimony in my language, and will translate.
xwasik?o yad?li ?t ?w? w?a s? at woonei haa aan? k?a.
_
tlax wáa sá haa kát uwagút. yá yak'
_
Lingít'aaní káa ?oowdziteeyí áthaa yoo x'atángi
tleidahéen, hél has du tuwáa ushgú. has akaawa.aa?w
__
áwé, x'gaa, ldakát wé aan yátx'i yoo x'atánkx'i yax
_
has ayawsi.een?. eeshand?in yoo haa kaawash?o w? gaaw.
__
eeshand?in yoo haa kasheix yeis?. w?an?x s?w? h?l haa
_
eedé wudushee? ch'u uwayáa tléináx haa yatee wé naná
tin
_
h?l y?i kgwatee. a sh?ot wutuwa.?t, yeewh?an. y? ax
_
__
dachxánx'i yán, hél has aguxsakoo wuliteesh haa yoo
__
x'atángi daat. yá haa aaní daax gugwa.aadi, has
_
______
asaga.aax. gwál ax'eixwaa.aax. yéi xwalxéis' yá
_
yagyee.
MR. TWITCHELL translated as follows:
It is a heavy thing, what happened on our ancestral
land. It really came upon us. This wonderful thing
that was born on our land our [Tlingit] language
at one time they did not want it. They tried, truly,
to kill all the languages that belonged to the
children of the lands of Alaska. How horribly we
suffered at that time. How horribly we suffer today.
Why was a hand not extended to us? It is as if we are
alone with this great death.
It will no longer be this way. We have reached the
end of it. My grandchildren, they are not going to
know lonesomeness for our language. Those who walk
upon our land, let them hear it. Maybe they will
understand. That is my wish today.
8:37:40 AM
MR. TWITCHELL continued his testimony, as follows:
My fellow council members shared tremendous
information with you, and my goal is to hone our focus
in on two things: the ways the horrors of yesterday
affect us all and the effectiveness of public policy.
It is hard for us to hear, and I assure you the reason
I share it is not to make anyone feel guilty, but this
testimony must include the suffering of our elders and
ancestors. This is a real thing and must not be
transformed into a metaphor or minimized into tough
choices or the ways that things had to be. These are
life stories shared with me by three amazing elders
Nora Dauenhauer, Marge Dutson, and Ida Calmegane and
I give them my respect and honor today.
There is a little school across from us near a place
_
called Anax Yaa Andagan Y?, which translates as Where
the Sun Rays First Hit," and it is sometimes called
Douglas Boat Harbor. This little school houses a
Montessori program. Good things happen there. Good
people are there. But we know it is a place that once
housed great suffering and injustice.
One of our elders who went to school there in the
1930s shared a story about having kerosene dumped on
her head the first day of school because the teachers
said they were dirty. Another talked about being
lifted up by her hair and shaken, as a delicate five-
year-old child, lifted by her hair and shaken
violently because she spoke the language of the people
of this great land.
A teacher who wrote a book in 1904 about his
experiences said, We required them to speak nothing
but English except by permission, but they often would
get into the washroom or in the wood shed, and having
set a watch, they would indulge in a good Indian talk.
A few cases of this kind, and we applied a heroic
remedy to stop it. We obtained a bottle of myrrh and
capsicum: myrrh is bitter as gall and capsicum hot
like fire. We prepared a little sponge; saturated it
with this solution; and everyone that talked Indian
had his mouth washed to take away the taint of the
Indian language!"
An elder who has worked with me for a long time was
hearing some of these stories, as I was researching
language shift and attempted genocide in the United
States. She shared this with me: "I was never beat
like that, but I had a teacher who used to call me
over every time she saw me. She would tell me when I
was a little girl, every day: 'You people think
you're going to be as good as us, but you're not.
You're just a second-class citizen, and no matter how
long you try, you will never be as good as us.'"
We are a battered people. Alaska Native peoples are
resilient and have survived tremendous hardships. We
remain. We are still here, and we are telling you
that it is time for massive change. The social debt
is due, and it is time to shift the scales to one of
more balance. The actions of the past affect us today
by creating tremendous loss and suffering on all sides
and by entrenching us in a great lie that allows us to
believe that languages can be ranked in terms of use,
effectiveness, and need often before we have ever
learned anything about them.
This is a health issue. The damage is physical,
emotional, psychological, spiritual, cultural, and
social. If language loss were a cancer, then we would
be scrambling to do something. If our languages were
panda bears, there would be protests and news stories
around the world. I think what we have done in the
past few years are positive steps, but we have really
only said that we are going to do something, and we
have not initiated enough changes in enough places to
secure a strong future for our languages.
Public policy can correct some of the horrific wrongs
that occurred throughout Alaska. Federal employees,
state employees, and religious leaders had their hands
in the attempted killings of our languages, and those
hands are unclean. It is time for some decisive steps
that result in elevating our official indigenous
languages to places of equity and opportunity. I ask
you to challenge yourself to fight the urge to do what
feels normal and to sit in silence and listen to those
who suffered.
For every child that was hit over the hands with a
ruler for speaking their language, we need a language
nest that is state-sponsored and promoted as a program
that we refuse to allow to fail. For every adult who
is now challenged with their concept of identity and
self-worth, we need a government that reaches out to
them and understands that doing the right thing is
neither liberal nor conservative but is decisively
human. Put money into this. Build programs that will
endure.
I have been in these halls pushing for a change that I
hear when I listen to the old people. When we
conclude our work and hand things over to the next
generation, my hope is that we can tell them that we
took an honest look at things, and we did our best for
them and their ancestors. Some of the proposed
changes might make you nervous, but that fear is not
based in fact or truth only speculation that what
happened and what is happening must be the right
thing.
We are a people of tremendous opportunity, and we are
going to take it. Our council has inherited lifetimes
of labor on this topic, and we are ready to present
our recommendations for change. In the tomorrow I
envision, we are all enriched by the languages of this
land as «sh yáa awudanéix'i» (self-respecting people)
and «aan yátx'i» (children of the land).
8:43:32 AM
MR. TWITCHELL summarized five points from his written testimony,
which read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
1. support for immersion programs. The state needs to get
behind immersion programs for children (language nests
& schools) and adults (adult immersion & master-
apprentice). They should declare them officially
sponsored activities that we collectively refuse to
allow to fail, and we find ways to fund them. We model
them after successful programs in Hawaiian and Mohawk
communities, and develop templates for all our
languages.
2. an official apology from the State of Alaska,
admitting wrongdoing and condemning the development of
racist hierarchies and activities. Within that is a
commitment to repair what has been broken by
sponsoring listening sessions throughout Alaska and
developing an action plan with the understanding that
monumental changes are needed in order to avoid
committing genocide.
3. a comprehensive state-sponsored survey of the state of
all the languages in Alaska, focusing on developing
the capacity within each language to track the number
of existing speakers and new speakers that are being
gained, with special celebrations for the addition of
new speakers.
4. language normalization activities that involve
restoring Alaska Native placenames (making them
official and making sure they are used), and placement
of appropriate Alaska Native languages in public
spaces.
5. language restoration commitment through unity and
showing that our languages are vital and values by
making them a required component for high school
graduation.
Gunalchéesh ? Háw'aa ? Quayana ? Mahalo
8:45:22 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND said she was moved by Mr. Twitchell's
testimony. She shared that she was born into a Greek-American
family in New York City, and she did not speak English until she
was in Kindergarten. She said she appreciates being able to
speak one's language. She mentioned the immersion language
programs established by the school districts a number of years
ago in the Yukon/Kuskokwim area and asked Mr. Twitchell if he
knows how successful they were in restoring those communities.
MR. TWITCHELL answered yes. He said ANLPAC works with its
members across the state. He remarked, "That is one of the ...
hallmark programs, as far as language retention." He said the
language preserved there is Yupik. He stated that he thinks
there is a generational shift happening, and he expressed his
hope that the program is elevated to the point where the State
of Alaska recognizes it as one of the best.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND observed that that program focuses
solely on "the Yupik and Chupik in that area" and there are 18
other languages in the state. She asked if there are any other
immersion programs that currently exist.
MR. TWITCHELL answered yes. He specified there are language
nests and language schools. He offered his understanding that
there is one school in the Yupik territory and there are several
language nests: one recently opened in Kodiak; two recently
opened in Fairbanks; one has been running for a long time in
Kotzebue; one recently opened in Yakutat; and one is in the
process of opening in Juneau this fall. He expressed his hope
that "these are just sort of isolated pockets" and that an
Alaska Native School Board could be developed. He said ANLPAC
looks at both the Hawaiian and Maori models.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND opined that the idea of having an Alaska
Native School Board is a wonderful one.
8:48:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER imparted his background in English and
opined that language, as it intersects with culture, is
fascinating. He said he thinks the committee would change
history; it would, but it cannot. What the committee has to
consider is a resolution asking the governor to issue an
administrative order recognizing linguistic emergency; it does
not ask the legislature to declare the emergency. He asked Mr.
Twitchell if he has approached the governor to request such a
declaration.
MR. TWITCHELL said [ANLPAC] has been in communication with the
Office of the Lieutenant Governor since the inception of the
idea, by Sarah Dybdahl at the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN)
listening session in October [2017]. He offered his
understanding that today may be the first time that ANLPAC has
testified before a legislative body and for the purpose of
emphasizing the importance of the issue and illustrating what it
would like to see in an administrative order. In response to a
follow-up question, he said he has not heard the governor say he
would not do this without the urging of the legislature. He
noted that House Bill 216, which asked that Alaska Native
languages be considered the official language of the state, was
considered by many to be just a symbolic act.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER interjected, "It's actually in the
language of the resolution."
MR. TWITCHELL said a friend, who was a Vietnam veteran, had
testified about the experience of coming back from a war without
recognition and that at some point there was a small ceremony to
recognize those veterans. He indicated that the idea behind
"getting unanimous voices" is to highlight the issue - "it adds
to our momentum."
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER noted that a governor can issue an
executive order without the intervention of the legislature, and
he expressed interest in finding out if Governor Walker placed
"any conditions" on this or "suggested this as a ... tactic."
He then asked Mr. Twitchell to expound on the relation between
language and culture.
MR. TWITCHELL answered that the two are intertied, although a
person can have cultural fluency without language fluency and
vice versa. For example, a Tlingit person could know songs and
know about potlatch and hunting and fishing but might not speak
the language. Conversely, someone who is "someone disconnected
from these cultural activities" could speak the Tlingit language
fluently in a classroom without understanding "some of the
cultural depth" of the language. He said it is easier to have a
revival of culture than language. He stated, "A post-colonized
world is not always friendly towards having multiple languages
existing in the same space." He talked about the dancing and
energy during Celebration, which takes place in early June
[biennially, in Juneau, Alaska]. He said Hawaiians noticed the
division between culture and language in Hawai'i and made
efforts to change it. For example, someone should not learn
hula without learning the Hawaiian that is spoken with it.
Without the connection, he said, the cultural ceremonies "lose
the things that they're rooted to." He concluded, "So, there
are specific words that connect to concepts and that connect you
to ancestors and that connect you to each other."
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said he went to school with Jewish
children who attended Hebrew school. He added that he had taken
French in school. He said, "I'd like to think that government
cannot block culture and that a culture will survive and thrive
- or maybe just survive - in the face of government action. I'm
also therefore, on the converse side, concerned that government
cannot support culture." He asked Mr. Twitchell if government
support of Alaska Native language can be adequate to support the
Alaska Native culture or if it is "part of the whole thing."
MR. TWITCHELL responded that government can and has limited
cultural activities. When governance was handed over to
missionaries, following the comity plan issued by Sheldon
Jackson, he said, missionaries were established as governing
bodies that would decide whether or not certain cultural
activities were allowed. Mask dancing and language speaking and
some ceremonies were banished. He said, "You can't just squash
people out and expect them to ... just bounce back." He said
the discussion is not about race; it is about people, and
governments, and languages, and it is difficult to piece them
out from each other. Mr. Twitchell said sometimes when there
are initiatives, people will question why they are not included
in the proposed benefit, but in terms of language, he said,
"Anybody could come to the language." He said there are plenty
of non-Tlingit people learning Tlingit, and he offered his
understanding that those people's lives are enriched. He said,
"We're focused on the languages, with the belief that the
language has a health impact, and part of that health impact is
culture." He quoted Walter Soboleff as saying, "People who know
who they are don't kill themselves." People without a root tend
to drift, which is something Mr. Twitchell said he has witnessed
in areas where indigenous people have been colonized and forced
to live without choice, which he said is a government action.
He mentioned the lack of history given to students, and that
without that history it may seem like Alaska Native languages
are just fading away without any particular reason. He
suggested that where there were once government sponsored
activities that caused this, there need to be government
sponsored activities to [support] the languages. He opined, "If
we all just moved to Greece or to France and we decided to never
learn that language, it would just be strange, but it's
acceptable here in America."
8:58:54 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND pointed out that a map of Alaska
stretches across the entire Lower 48. She said Greece is a
small country of approximately 700-800 million people; millions
more [people with Greek ancestry] live around the world; there
are approximately 600 Greek Orthodox churches in North America;
each church holds a festival annually to celebrate Greek
culture. She stated that there are not that many Alaska Natives
left "on the land" - perhaps only a few hundred thousand.
Representative Drummond stated that for that reason she is
concerned and supports calling [the state of Alaska Native
languages] an emergency. She imparted she had read that Chinese
and Greek are two languages that have remained unchanged. She
said [Alaska Natives] cannot [save their languages] by
themselves; they need to be supported. She said that as the
chair of the House Education Standing Committee, she would work
toward creating an Alaska Native School Board.
MR. TWITCHELL noted that fewer than 10 percent of Alaska Native
people can speak in their language, a circumstance he
characterized as dreadful.
9:01:06 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER surmised that it is easier for the
mechanism of government to break up culture rather than to
support it. He asked if it would help resolve the linguistic
emergency to have non-Natives learn to speak Alaska Native
languages or if it was important that Alaska Natives speak the
languages.
MR. TWITCHELL answered that he thinks both things are important.
He said [language] is a key component of who indigenous
populations are. He said Native language can help non-Native
people connect to a place in a different way. He explained the
interconnectivity between a place name [and how that name is
repeated in the name of] a river and a school. He said he
thinks it is important for people in Alaska to understand that
they are part of the colonial process, which unfortunately for
Native Alaskans was one that went from negotiation to removal to
elimination. The elimination started through warfare and then
was manifested by forced assimilation. He said a person either
can become complicit in that or decide this is a bad idea. He
reiterated that people do not need to feel bad about what
happened in the past; they just need to "do better now." He
concluded, "And so, I think it's important that everybody
achieves some basic level of proficiency, and I think it
enriches their experience wherever they live in Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said he had prepared for today's meeting
with some trepidation, because HCR 19 asks the legislature to
make a request of the governor that could have been made
directly to the governor. However, he acknowledged there is a
lot of emotion surrounding this issue, including "pain, hurt
pride, grievance, and loss." He said that puts the legislature
"on this spot." He cautioned people not to "look at this as
you're either for us or against us." He posed the question of
whether it is possible to support Alaska Natives and Alaska
Native culture and people but not support HCR 19. He said the
proposed concurrent resolution asks the legislature to get
government involved in repairing that which government caused in
the past. He said he doesn't know to what extent a culture that
relies on government to support it is "in the best place." He
observed some steps have been mentioned, and he asked what the
end goal is.
MR. TWITCHELL answered, "I don't know if we ever get to a safe
place." He said there are 20 Alaska Native languages. He
offered his understanding that over 12 of them have only 100
speakers left; 4 or 5 of them have fewer than 10 speakers left.
He indicated that it is difficult to understand why, after
hearing from elders and about what the U.S. and the education
system have done, anyone would vote "no." He said the no votes
are heavy, and the reasons given by those who vote no is that
this is not the responsibility of the government. Mr. Twitchell
said English and European culture is not the only culture, but
it is "the default" - it is what is studied. He questioned how
many high school students would be able to show on a map where
the 20 languages are but said they could name 20 states, 20
countries, and 20 presidents. He indicated that [not teaching
Alaska Native culture and languages sends the message that]
"those people aren't really important." Hierarchies have set up
systems of privilege and suffering, he said, and "all we have to
do is do what feels normal, and those hierarchies continue." He
said suffering is probably invisible to people in power.
MR. TWITCHELL said one solution is to change what it means to be
an Alaskan and to be educated. People said Alaska Native
languages were of no value, but that was before they ever
learned anything about them, he said. He encouraged educated
and informed decisions be made. He said he is open to hearing
why HCR 19 might be a bad idea. He said some people might say
that the proposed concurrent resolution would be "privileging
Alaska Native people," but he argued that is not the case,
because currently the system blatantly privileges non-indigenous
people by making them the default - "the standardized knowledge
that you have to acquire." He concluded, "But we say, 'Okay, a
portion of that can be indigenous people, too, because they're
here; they've been here; they're going to be here."
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said he takes the issue seriously. He
said regardless of what the government does, Native youth
learning the languages and passing that knowledge down to their
children will "win the battle at that level." He wished success
to Mr. Twitchell.
9:09:31 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS reflected upon government's role,
both in the past and as a force for good. He asked Mr.
Twitchell to speak about language programs, school funding,
grassroots efforts in teaching Native languages, and how they
all tie together. He offered his understanding that
Representative Saddler had spoke to a point that "just through a
law you can't change things." He clarified that he wants to
hear Mr. Twitchell's perspective regarding the ability of
investment and support in the public sector to be "a tide that
rises a lot of boats, including boats that aren't at all
affiliated with government."
MR. TWITCHELL first shared an anecdote, an experience he had at
a ceremony in Hawai'i for preschoolers moving on to
Kindergarten. He said there were hundreds of people, a teacher
speaking in Hawaiian, and each child spoke in Hawaiian and
received a response from their parents in the language. The
friend who had invited Mr. Twitchell was moved to tears and
could only muster, "Intergenerational Transmission." He said
many of the children were crying but "we didn't feel the weight
of the impending death of everything." His friend later
explained his tears: the parents of those children were his
students as children when he first started teaching. Mr.
Twitchell said he wondered how [Alaska Natives] could get to
this point. He said he thinks there currently is momentum going
in the right direction; there are many people who have been
fighting their whole lives "who might have a chance to see
this." He said he wants to open the door to "that language
immersion school" before some of the elders are gone but "we're
missing the boat." He said he has tried to work with local
school districts, with the superintendent, and with others to
build a program that functions only in Tlingit, but "they just
can't say, 'Yes'." He said the graduation rate among Alaska
Natives is horrible and he cannot understand why something
different is not being done. He said it comes back to him
asking, "Am I important? Are we as a people important? Can
that happen that we feel this sense of being important?"
MR. TWITCHELL said Hawai'i once was down to 100-200 speakers of
the Hawaiian language; now the state has over 10,000. He
indicated that state sponsorship was involved in the effort to
restore the Hawaiian language. He said graduation rates in
Hawai'i grew to a 20-year history of a 100 percent graduation
rate and an 80 percent college placement rate. He said people
have asked how children being taught Tlingit are going to be
prepared for the "real" and modern world, and he said Tlingit
people are real and modern.
MR. TWITCHELL indicated that his sister, Liz Medicine Crow,
said, "Don't play devil's advocate." Instead consider where
thoughts come from and how they can be analyzed "in the context
of these greater things." He said "we" stand upon a platform
that was built and says that "these guys are better; these guys
are worse." He said there still exist today laws in the U.S.
Supreme Court that say indigenous people are inferior. He said
he is amazed that those laws have not been rescinded. He said a
choice can be made to make laws that focus on the languages.
People can realize that "we have some keys in our pocket; we can
open some door."
9:17:02 AM
MARTIN STEPETIN stated that out of all the testimony he has
given on behalf of his people and the future, this testimony is
the most important. He expressed appreciation for all the
questions that have been asked to figure out what can be done to
help. He said he thinks HCR 19 asks for help not just from the
governor but from the legislature, and if the legislature was to
help, "it would have a lot more meaning." Mr. Stepetin said he
is Aleut and his wife is of Tlingit and Japanese ancestry. He
said one reason his family moved to Juneau is because the
Tlingit culture is strong; it has been more resilient through
colonization. There are more Tlingit speakers than Aleut
speakers. He said he wants to move home but wants his children
to be close to one of their cultures and they love Tlingit
dancing. He said he signed them up for a program so that they
can start learning the language. He suggested making it a law
that children have to learn some form of indigenous language in
school. He said while he does not have the level of education
of some people in the room, the issue is near and dear to his
heart. He noted that he had brought his children in the room
with him.
9:23:31 AM
LIZ MEDICINE CROW, First Alaskans Institute, testified that she
is Tlingit and Haida; she is Eagle; her crest is the
Hummingbird. She talked about her grandparents and parents.
She said her mother, who was present in the room, is a language
learner who taught her. She stated that when the experts say
[this issue is one that should be heard], "these are the people
that we have decided we should listen to." She said she feels
pride to listen to "the love and the dedication to something
that is so big many cannot even imagine how we start to deal
with this." She said there is an analogy that asks, "How do you
eat an elephant?" The answer is, "One bite at a time." She
said the analogy does not work in Alaska, and she offered a
substitute: "How do you eat a whale?" She said it is not one
bite at a time; it is "by community" and "by a collective
responsibility to the land and to one another." She remarked on
Mr. Stepetin's having encouraged the committee to ask questions.
She recalled Mr. Twitchell's comments regarding the connection
between Alaska Natives knowing their languages and being healthy
and making good life choices. She commented that she is blessed
to be able to be here to speak on this issue.
9:27:57 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW said in 1935 her grandmother graduated from
Sheldon Jackson and was sent to Ashville Normal Teacher's
College in North Carolina. She traveled there on her own via
steam ship to Seattle, then train to Chicago and then to North
Carolina. She stayed there for four years, unable to come home
for the holidays, until she graduated in 1939 with a Bachelor of
Science in Education. Ms. Medicine Crow said her grandmother
would combat loneliness by imagining conversations in Haida with
her mother. She said her grandmother's perseverance and
resilience were gifts she inherited, and now she herself is an
adult language learner, which is difficult. She said there are
things that could be done to make [learning language] more
accessible and to overcome barriers.
9:30:40 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW said HCR 19 is calling upon the legislature to
show its support and counteract history by "taking proactive,
well-thought action." In showing interest in the issue, the
governor, the legislator, and many others support prevention of
a human rights catastrophe. She said if the issue is not
addressed, "we are on the verge of losing the essence of our
humanity and the soul of what Alaska can and should be." She
said the government, churches, and businesses "worked together
to get us where we are today," and "the way to heal that history
is to make new history" and "be on the right side of history."
MS. MEDICINE CROW said First Alaskans Institute is involved in a
truth, racial healing, and transformation endeavor, with healing
being at the center. She explained that transformation involves
a metamorphosis much like that of a caterpillar turning into a
butterfly. What was done in the past cannot be changed, but
from this moment forward those wrongs can be put right. She
said she knew this is possible when she read the call for
administrative support [under HCR 19]. She said, "We look to
the opportunity to partner with the legislature to be able to
serve our community by giving them a place to heal."
9:35:14 AM
MS. MEDICINE CROW recalled a question that had been asked as to
whether [HCR 19] was an opportunity for Alaska Natives to learn
languages or for all Alaskans to know Alaska Native languages,
and she said the answer is it is for [all Alaskans]. She noted,
"The difference is that it requires so much more healing as a[n]
indigenous person, so we have to create a network to support
that." She explained that every time she used to stand up to
introduce herself in her language, she would "go blank, and
English would come out." She said she had to take an immersion
program with some of her sisters to break down that barrier
inside her mind and to start "healing that hurt." She said she
also participated in a canoe journey, paddling eight days from
her village, which also helped. Now, when she hears [Native
Alaskan] experts talking about what needs to happen, she can
support those recommendations, because she trusts their
knowledge and has her own experience from which to draw. On
behalf of First Alaskans Institute, she stated support of HCR
19. She thanked the committee in both Tlingit and Haida.
9:36:53 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said HCR 19 says nothing about truth and
reconciliation; it speaks to the legislature to encourage the
governor to work with the legislature to "work to ensure the
survival of 20 Alaska Native languages" and "to establish
policies that prioritize survival and continued use." He said
if truth and reconciliation is the goal of Ms. Medicine Crow, he
encourages her to bring forth specific legislation to that
purpose.
MS. MEDICINE CROW agreed that HCR 19 "doesn't say that," but
there are efforts underway to "create a place that allows for
the advancement of this healing that is necessarily a part of
moving forward."
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER responded, "We are in agreement."
9:38:34 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS remarked that perhaps this
[conversation] is "good fodder" for creating such legislation.
9:39:40 AM
NANCY BARNES, Member, Juneau Sm'algyax Group, began her
testimony speaking in her Native language of Sm'algyax. She
then shared that she is of the Eagle moiety and is both
Tsimshian and Aleutiq. She said she is "a life-time Sm'algyax
learner." She said the Juneau Sm'algyax Group supports HCR 19.
She said Alaska indigenous languages are at a critical point.
She said a Tsimshian talking circle was started in 2013, and a
group would gather at her home, using a talking dictionary. The
group's teacher, Donna May Roberts, and her husband, Tony
Roberts, took part in the group. She said Ms. Roberts came to
Juneau in 2002 and taught a week-long total physical response
(TPR) class. Ms. Barnes said Ms. Roberts taught her a word -
magwa'ala - which is the most severe winter storm that comes
only once every 100-200 years and for which preparation is
difficult. She indicated that Ms. Roberts told the group, "Our
language is in a state of magwa'ala now." Ms. Barnes stated,
"At that time we had 30 fluent speakers; we have 6 on the United
States side."
MS. BARNES said today amazing efforts are being made by the
Haayk Foundation in Metlakatla; Donna May Roberts, in
Metlakatla; Terry Burr, in Ketchikan; Marcella Asicksic, in
Anchorage; and Mique'l Dangeli, in British Columbia, Canada.
She said for over two years, the group has practiced its
language every Saturday. Terry Burr is teaching them on line,
with elder, John Reese, who is 92 years of age. She said
President Richard Peterson, from Central Council Tlingit and
Haida Tribes has allowed the group to use rooms and the
technology to reach out to many areas. She said, "He knows that
Native languages are in a state of magwa'ala." She credited
Alfie Price, who works for Central Council, for doing a
wonderful job ensuring that the group has materials and the
logistics to keep going.
MS. BARNES urged support of HCR 19. She cited language on page
2, lines 17-20, which read as follows:
FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature
encourages the Governor, in cooperation with the
legislature, to work with Alaska Native organizations
to initiate and strengthen, as appropriate,
legislative and policy measures that prioritize the
survival and continued use of Alaska Native languages
MS. BARNES said HCR 19 would "give us a good statement to carry
on." She said many gather on their own but need tools and
support.
9:44:23 AM
MS. BARNES, in response to Representative Saddler, said she had
worked on Rural and Native Affairs under Governors Cowper,
Hickel, and Knowles and Senator Kookesh and Representative
Kreiss-Tomkins.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER highlighted the words "prioritize the
survival" from the excerpt of HCR 19 Ms. Barnes had quoted. He
asked what that means to Ms. Barnes.
9:45:10 AM
MS. BARNES indicated it means [providing] language material and
language opportunities through the school districts and tribal
organizations and the legislature. She reemphasized the need
for support and recognition that "we are in the state of
magwa'ala." In response to a follow-up question, she indicated
a focus on that which is critical rather than distinguishing
priority.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER emphasized that to prioritize something
means to give it higher importance than something else;
therefore, he suggested that if Ms. Barnes is not comfortable
doing so, perhaps the word "prioritize" should not be used in
HCR 19 and instead the focus would be to make everything as
important as everything else.
MS. BARNES responded, "Probably do some wordsmithing on that."
9:47:54 AM
DON BREMNER testified that his parents were prevented from
speaking their language and practicing their culture in schools
and in public. He stated support for HCR 19 and surmised that
Governor Bill Walker would support it. In terms of history, Mr.
Bremner described the English language as a malignant tumor in
his mind, body, and spirit. He said compelling generations to
speak English is "evil-intentioned." He said the younger people
who testified did so in the spirit of cooperation; however, his
generation and the generation before him grew up fighting the
state and federal government "for everything we have to be
Native." He said, "We set the base for them to speak here like
they're speaking, but we fought for this. So, now, we're
getting crumbs pushed off our table, where before we had a huge,
massive piece with our languages - culture." The issue is the
total extinction of Native languages.
MR. BREMNER referenced the 1910 U.S. Census and said at that
time if a person did not speak English, he/she was considered
illiterate. He questioned, "How do you deal with that? How do
you live with that? How do you wake up in the morning in your
own country and go out there and be illiterate?" In 1910 there
were an estimate 25,000 Native Alaskans, 56.6 percent of which
spoke only in their Native language. Just 43 years earlier, in
1867, all Natives spoke in their Native language. Using the
calculation of 56.6 percent, Mr. Bremner said that in 1910, 174
of the 307 Tlingit living in Yakutat spoke in their Native
language. Today there are approximately 211 Tlingit living in
Yakutat and only one elder healthy enough to teach the language,
which he said is .0047393364 percent today.
9:51:59 AM
MR. BREMNER posed the question, "What positive steps can we take
in the right direction?" He answered that [HCR 19] is a step in
the right direction - "a lifeline" thrown to Native people in
Alaska. On a personal level, he said he is done fighting. He
mentioned again the younger people who are willing to work with
[the state] cooperatively but emphasized that [Native people]
have demonstrated, since before Alaska became a state, that "we
could coexist with you" and that "our Native languages can
coexist with you." He opined, "I think it's important for all
of us to be bilingual, with English and with our Native
languages in the state." He concluded:
There are state policies, state education standards,
and state advertising and promotion. These are the
things that pushed us out into just an English world.
So, these are the three areas that we need to work
with.
MR. BREMNER told committee members that they are doing a good
job here today. He thanked them in Tlingit, with "Gunalch?esh."
9:54:02 AM
DELLA CHENEY gave her Tlingit and Haida names and said she was
born and raised in Kake, Alaska. She said she worked in the
Office of the Governor for 10 years, taught for 10 years, worked
at Sheldon Jackson College, and worked as a city administrator,
and she loves the life she has lived and where she lives. She
said there are many ways of looking at "what we have experienced
as Alaska Native people." She said her mother was 10 years of
age when she was sent to boarding school and could only speak
Haida. She said some children at the boarding schools were just
five years of age. She said the children at the boarding
schools were not nurtured and did not understand what was
happening to them. She stated, "Some people didn't come back
home. So, my friend, Bob Sam, is bringing them back from
Carlisle, because that's where they passed. That's all the way
across the country." She said some who did come home, "like
from Vietnam," did not know what had happened to them or what to
do, and they had no support."
MS. CHENEY said she had just attended a workshop on "cultural
relative teaching" which taught that ethnic groups anywhere in
the U.S. have not been recognized and are invisible in their own
world. She added, "So, we don't know how to grapple with that
education from a place of comfort, from a place of nurturing,
from a place of love. So, we're doing the best we can with what
we have." She said when her parents came home [from boarding
school], they had no skills for parenting or cultural ways of
knowing." She added, "Thank the Lord they both could speak
their language 'til they left us and became powerful leaders in
the state." She said with that knowledge of their language and
culture, her parents had "a firm ground to walk on." She said
she had that, too, because of the love of her parents and
because she was never sent to boarding school. She said she was
born and raised in a community where she knew her parents,
siblings, cousins, and full extended family. She stated, "So,
the love in me is bigger than some of those people who came home
without it and are so not sure what's happened to them."
MS. CHENEY expressed appreciation to the committee for its
consideration of HCR 19, and she expressed hope that its members
will see that "we want to move and grapple with education from a
place of education and nurturing." She thanked them in Tlingit,
with "Gunalch?esh."
10:00:24 AM
ALISON MARKS related that she is a traditional artist and
carver. She said Alaska Native languages are part of the
state's history, having existed pre-contact and during every
major event since. She said those in the Last Frontier pride
themselves on being different from those in the Lower 48, and if
Alaska's languages are allowed to die, the state will be moving
further away from that which makes it unique. She mentioned Mr.
Twitchell's testimony and said if the polar bear were to become
extinct Alaska would lose "a vital and vibrant thread in
Alaska's tapestry." She proffered the same could be said about
Alaska's Native languages. Ms. Marks said the Tlingit language
contains sounds that are not heard in any other language. The
extinction of Alaska Native languages is the result of "top-
down" policies, with governing bodies and educations systems
actively repressing Native languages. Ms. Marks concluded,
"This repression is so ingrained in us today that we need these
top-down policies to support our languages, and we need the
support of our governing bodies to ensure the revitalization of
our languages."
10:03:19 AM
SARAH DYBDAHL, Manager, Cultural Heritage and Education, Central
Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, testified
first in her Native language and then translated that she is
originally from Klawock, Alaska, and she is Tlingit. She said
Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is
the largest [federally] recognized tribe in Alaska, representing
30,000 tribal citizens, and supports HCR 19. She noted that
Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
provided a letter [included in the committee]. In the letter is
a report, and in appendix e is a list of all the Alaska Native
programs in Alaska that represents over 40 years of effort to
begin to "see the tide change amongst our languages."
MS. DYBDAHL said the late Clarence Jackson had told a story
about a tsunami that took place at Lituya Bay and one tree that
had been left. The tree asked, "Can you hear me? Trees on the
other side that had grown back answered, "We hear you." She
said the legislative body is being asked to hear Native
Alaskans, because "being heard is going to allow the forest -
our languages - to grow." She said, "It's not zero sum for our
language prioritized. ... We're asking for equal advancement of
our languages - advancement of our way of life." Ms. Dybdahl
said her son takes part in an optional [emphasis on "optional"]
Tlingit Cultural Language and Literacy Program at his school,
but unlike other languages taught at the school, there is no
school bus offered; parents are responsible for bringing their
children to Harborview Elementary School for the program. She
imparted that when she told her son she would be speaking before
Representatives today, he said he wishes there would be a simple
fix that makes it so Alaska Native languages could be learned in
school, because he said he has no use for French or Spanish.
She said her son asked, "Can the State of Alaska start doing
things smarter rather than harder?" Ms. Dybdahl thanked the
committee, with "Gunalch?esh."
10:08:59 AM
STUART McDONALD, Superintendent, North Slope Borough School
District, testified that his name was fodder for ribbing; he was
called Stuart Little and Old MacDonald. He said it was the
preservation of Gaelic language and culture by his family that
helped him "preserve a different identity." He said in the
1990s he was the Clan Donald USA Northwest Region Alaska
Commissioner and would greet people in Gaelic. He then stated a
phrase in Inupiaq. He said, "These are more than words; they
are actual frameworks of conceptual thinking."
MR. McDONALD proposed, "If we worry about low graduation rates,
then let's follow the numbers." He told committee members to
pay attention to previous testimony about a school in Hawai'i
with 100 percent graduation rate. He relayed that in 2016, the
North Slope Borough School District had a 58 percent graduation
rate and has for seven years been developing an Inupiaq
education framework. In 2017, the graduation rate was 77
percent. He said the district has fully integrated Inupiaq into
its language arts program for "a different perspective to get a
different result." He stated, "Our job as educators is to build
a positive, person, powerful future vision for our students that
connects them to education." He said HCR 19 uses the word
"priority." He asked committee members to imagine a cooperation
with the legislature that can determine what action the
government can take. He talked about collecting data that shows
how many students are increasing their fluency in another
language and creating policies and rules like Hawai'i has where
15 percent of all contracts and business exchanges are required
to be in the regional language. Mr. McDonald stated that
research shows that bilingual students are superior students;
they perform better, are better connected, and are a stronger
academic voice with more power than a mono-linguistic student.
He said many steps have been taken and it is time to "grab ahold
of what's possible here and make a huge difference in the way we
go about business in Alaska." He said, "I think in the long run
it will be good for Alaska - good for all of us, non-Native and
Native alike - it's the right move."
MR. McDONALD related that the district is continuing work in
language nests. It is trying to capture fluent speakers in a
preschool program. It is one of the few places in the state
that has such a program for that age. He said the district is
working with the community to take the preservation of language
seriously. He said it is something that can be supported and
legitimized by government. He added, "Not because government's
going to help, but when government allows the reporting and
acknowledges the need for the presence of the language and
everything that we do, then it helps local effort be legitimized
and validated."
10:15:55 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND asked Mr. McDonald if he has had a
chance to consider a recommendation from the Alaska Education
Challenge, which the governor and state school board brought
forward last year regarding the creation of an option for self-
governance. The recommendation was for "compacting the delivery
of education between the State of Alaska and tribes or tribally
empowered Alaska Native organizations."
MR. McDONALD answered yes. He said existing rules allow local
school boards to work with their communities and the state,
using state and federal dollars, "to accomplish everything that
exists within the concept of the compact now"; however, spelling
out the rules and understanding what is allowable now is not
clear from district to district. He opined that as long as
compacting is not "an exit from the state to step away from
responsibility of public education in our communities," it is a
good step forward. He said the concept of "public school" must
be preserved. He said there are people from all over the world
in the North Slope. He indicated that when someone greets him
with "good morning" in Inupiaq, "she tells me it's critically
important that this is a public school system for all students."
He advised that compacting must not sacrifice that notion. He
said this Alaska Education Challenge concept is a new one he
would like to see developed. He said he thinks most of the
tools needed to "make this go well" exist. He opined, "We need
to take advantage of that strong voice in local control, backed
and supported by our state in helping us with recording
requirements and other things that would allow legitimizing our
work and strengthening local control."
10:19:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER offered his understanding that Mr.
McDonald had emphasized that public schools are for all
students.
MR. McDONALD said that's right. He said one of the early views
of the melting pot of America was e pluribus unum, but a
stronger view of the U.S. today is "e pluribus pluribus - for
many, many." He stated, "It's a system that we need to play to
our strengths and our diversity." He opined that HCR 19 is
critical. Mr. McDonald said Gaelic survived because in the mid-
'90s there was a Scottish independent movement that ensured that
Gaelic was taught in parts of the world. Now the language is
preserved with no worry it will parish. In Alaska, Native
language will parish, he warned, if a similar move is not made.
He said, "The greatest experiment in the United States is the
best experiment in the entire world of making sure that public
school serves all and has room to focus on individual groups
without excluding others."
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER recollected that Mr. McDonald had said
language is a framework of conceptual thinking that "we're
pushing for different results." He directed attention to
language on page 2, [within lines 10-12], of HCR 19, which read:
WHEREAS indigenous peoples should be able to
provide education in the peoples' own languages in a
manner that is appropriate to the peoples' cultural
methods of teaching and learning;
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked Mr. McDonald if he thinks HCR 19
implies there is a necessity of changing public school
instructional methods. He asked, "Does teaching German or
Japanese or Spanish require cultural specific instructional
methods?"
MR. McDONALD answered that happening now is the reinvention of
mathematics and instruction and there are wonderful tools
involved related to various types of math. He offered further
details and encouraged the continued growth and development and
incorporation of "the best of what's being borne out of other
cultures." He reiterated that something different must be done
in response to low performance rates of Alaska Natives and
American Indians. He said that as an educator and
superintendent, he thinks "we can do better" and there is room
for discussion and for a change in the framework in education in
order to address the needs of all students.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER said changing the framework is a larger
change than "the symbolic recognition of the official languages"
and is different from what people might assume in having Alaska
Native language as an adjunct language, such as Japanese,
Russian, or German. He stated concern with "the vulcanization
of the state" and possibly that of the education system "to have
different methods of instruction in different languages." He
said the nation is multi-cultural and English is the language
everyone speaks in order to understand each other.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked Mr. McDonald what "priority" means
to him. For example, he asked Mr. McDonald if he thinks Alaska
Native languages should be taught instead of Western languages
or alongside them.
MR. McDONALD replied that when he served in Kodiak, English
language learners had low performance levels, but when they were
allowed to flourish in their first language, with English then
incorporated, the success rate grew from 47 percent to 98-100
percent. He said that was done "without sacrificing anything."
Regarding the Alaska language component, he said, "No one's
asking for this resolution to be a one-size-fits-all silver
bullet; it's a piece of a larger complex story, and it's a
critical story." He said HCR 19 is a good step forward to
tackle a complex issue. He assured that no one is saying that
the state should do away with an entire education framework; the
goal is to grow, develop, and mature the education framework to
be an inclusive one where students "have a fighting chance not
to be a statistic in the low-performing demographic."
MR. McDONALD said that in the interest of time, he would try to
produce a written statement for the committee. He stated that
he is in 100 percent agreement with most of the testimony that
had been heard thus far. He continued as follows:
The parts that I might have a slight, different
opinion on is purely borne out of my own personal
ignorance, and I can't ... answer for a group of
people any more than somebody could help understand
why it's important to me to know that McDonald meant
something more than Big Macs.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked again for Mr. McDonald's take on
the word "priority".
MR. McDONALD, in response to Co-Chair Parish, deferred to the
bill sponsor's staff and said he would submit the rest of his
answer in writing.
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER expressed keen interest in getting the
answer from Mr. McDonald.
MR. McDONALD replied that he would respond in writing within two
days.
10:28:37 AM
JODIE GATTI, Staff, Representative Dan Ortiz, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of Representative Ortiz, prime sponsor of
HCR 19, stated that the specific language on page 2, lines 19-
20, asks for "legislative and policy measures that prioritize
the survival and continued use of Alaska Native languages" but
does not specifically say that "we are going to prioritize it
over other languages [or] teach it instead of other languages."
10:29:53 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked for confirmation that Ms. Gatti
means that he should not interpret the language on page 2, line
19, as meaning that the resolution supports legislative policy
measures prioritizing Alaska Native languages over any other
languages.
MS. GATTI answered that's correct.
10:30:15 AM
CO-CHAIR PARISH ascertained that people still waiting to testify
would be able to present their testimony at the next hearing of
HCR 19. He held public testimony open.
[HCR 19 was held over.]
10:31:40 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Community and Regional Affairs Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 10:32 a.m.