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.