By Ruth Sampson
to the Alaska Association of Bilingual Multicultural
Education and Equity Conference
Anchorage, Alaska
February 2002
Good Morning respected Elders, honored guests, educators, and parents. (Uummatitchauragatapiaqtuami uvva nuna iliqsraqtiqman nakuqsiliqtunga.) My heart was really beating fast earlier but I feel calmer after the earthquake….
I worked in Anchorage in 1978 with Tupou Pulu and attended the BMEC over the years for a total of between 10 and 15 times. I was thinking that if you attend often enough, sooner or later they will ask you to be the Keynote Speaker…. I think this was Mike’s way of making sure I get here early. Actually, last night I set my alarm clock to 6:30 am. I didn’t want to be late. During the night, I woke up at 4:30 am and went back to sleep. I woke up again and it was still 4:30 am! I went back to sleep again and this time when I woke up it was 2:30 am and then I realized I had been dreaming that I was waking up at 4:30 am!)
It is an honor for me to be here today. I thank the BMEEC planning committee, Bernice Tetpon and also Mike Travis, into convincing me that I had something to say to you today. I am here representing the Inupiaq language, meaning the people who live in Northwest Alaska and the North Slope. I am from Selawik, Alaska and I work in Kotzebue for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. I am also here on behalf of our elder Minnie Qapviatchialuk Aliitchak Gray of Ambler, Alaska. She is not here due to a mild stroke she experienced this winter. Minnie is representative of the first Inupiaq language teachers who began to teach in the schools in 1972 when the bilingual programs were implemented in the Alaskan schools. She was part of a wonderful group of enthusiastic, fun Inupiaq language and culture teachers who took great pride and delight in learning to read and write in their native language. They actually sacrificed several summers while others were gathering food to attend workshops in Barrow, Nome and Kotzebue. They were fortunate to have people such as Martha Aiken, Edna McLean, Larry Kaplan, Hannah Loon and Tupou Pulu to teach them Inupiaq literacy, grammar and to help them develop materials for classroom use. In those days, sufficient funds allowed all the staff to attend the BMEEC and what fun they had. They have recounted story after story about their cross cultural experiences when they traveled to Anchorage. Some were afraid to answer the phone in their rooms. When they went to the restaurant, they would often order chicken fried steak thinking it was chicken. When they went to the stores, one lady said she often grinned at the store dummies thinking it was someone standing. One time, a whole bunch of them were crossing the street and walking when the sign said walk. When it said ‘don’t walk’ guess what they did? They ran across the street. Even though they experienced all this, they were always so willing to try things out and paid close attention to learn as much as they could in the workshops they attended.
Several years ago, we nominated Minnie Gray to be the bilingual educator of the year. This was her philosophy of education. She said it in Inupiaq and we translated it into English: (Listen very carefully because in this, you can hear everything that needs to be included in a curriculum to teach about a language and culture) "Inupiaq should be taught at an early age. I have seen that the younger students are, the more they learn. It is fun to teach these young children. As an Inupiaq language instructor, I realized that children need motivation to learn. I motivated my students by offering them variety. They cannot learn by only writing, so I took them out for field trips and taught them about the things that grow. Same thing in the spring. When they got tired of writing, I took them outside and taught them the names of the many different birds that migrate north. This motivated them tremendously. I had projects for them such as skin sewing and other crafts, including making birch bark basket. I allowed them to play Inupiaq games when they became restless. Sometimes, I even took them home and prepared an Inupiaq dish for them to sample, such as cranberry pudding or some other dish. Other times, I taught them how to make Eskimo ice cream. I also boiled the head of mudshark, which has many bones, and as we ate it, I told them the individual names of the bones. This is an interesting project and the students think it is fun. For added variety, I told them Inupiaq stories and legends. Students should learn about life in school. They should learn practical skills such as skin sewing and cooking. Many students need these basic skills. They should know the names of our native foods and know how to prepare them. It is practical to learn these skills because our environment is going to be the same in spite of the changes in our lifestyles. We will still need warm clothing and we will still need to gather food. Students should know about the weather because we cannot predict what the coming seasons' weather will be like. They should also know their regional geography. They should know their local subsistence areas, their trails and place names of creeks, rivers and other landmarks. They should be able to know where they are and be able to communicate exactly where they are as they travel out in the country for it is a matter of survival." So there you have it. Everything you need to write a native language and culture curriculum. Minnie was one of this great group of Inupiaq language and culture instructors who taught what they knew to the students and I give them all tribute today. Right now, I would like all the Inupiat who are here to please stand. Over the years, most of this core group retired and we have been struggling to replace them as fewer and fewer candidates who speak Inupiaq fluently fill their positions.
During the next three days, our theme will be "Bilingual and Cross Cultural Education: Tools for Community Empowerment and Academic Success." That’s a mouthful and has so much to say to us. We also have so much to say to each other because we come here with our collective knowledge and each and every one of you has something valuable to share with another person. As I thought of what to say to you today I had titled it "Living in a Modern World Without Losing Our Native Identity." I wanted to talk about how we as natives need to continue to share our heritage and history to our students so that they can cope in this modern world and still have a good sense of who they are and feel that same comfort of being one with nature when they are out in the country, which I believe as natives, that is one of our greatest treasures, something we should continue to nurture in our children and grandchildren. We must have a vision for our youth that they can share. What are we doing in this conference to expand this vision?
Coming back to our theme… What is Community Empowerment and Academic Success? Most of us would define academic success in terms of modern schooling, saying it is to be educated in school and home and go on to higher learning so that you can get a good job and have a successful and meaningful life. I’m sure you have your definition. How can we make bilingual education and cross cultural education tools for community empowerment and academic success? When we talk about bilingual education, we are talking about speaking two languages. As an Inupiaq, I will talk about the native language experience in Alaska. When the "Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages" were being developed, my concern was that someone needed to be responsible for providing a forum in which our people who had been punished for speaking Inupiaq in school could come together and tell their story so that their experience could be validated and they could hear an apology from the school system and some avenue for forgiveness and healing would begin. The reason I brought this up is because it is a recurring story that I hear and in a way prevents grandparents and parents from participating effectively in the school system. When bilingual programs first began in the early 70’s and as they continued in the eighties, some elders expressed shock and surprise that the language was going to be taught in the school because when they were young, they had been punished for speaking even one word in the school playground. As young children, they had a hard time seeing the difference between stealing, lying and speaking Inupiaq because they got punished for doing any of those. Now years later, they were told it was okay and today, there are people in their 70’s who still feel hurt when they remember what happened and I think many people think no one wants to hear their story because it happened so long ago and we should forget it and go on with our lives. However, we must realize that this action taken against our parents and grandparents had ramifications that occurred over the 20th century and an attitude of shame and humiliation toward the teaching of the native language was passed from parent to child unintentionally, unknowingly and innocently, like Harold Napolean described in his book titled "Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being." He wrote that the symptoms experienced by the survivors of the influenza epidemic are the same symptoms of survivors of post traumatic stress disorder and that the present disease of the soul and the psyche is passed from parent to child unintentionally, unknowingly and innocently. Let us take time to reflect and understand what happened to bring us to where we are today:
WILLIAM HENSLEY
In his 1981 speech at the BMEEC, Inupiaq William Hensley also said the following: "The
policy of repressing the Native language in the school system has had the effect
of repressing the ancient spirit of the people that enabled us to survive over
many thousands of years. The values that have been beaten into our people were
in direct contrast to the very values that enabled us to survive. In the place
of common effort, individuality has been made sacred. In the place of cooperation,
competition is fostered. In the place of sharing, acquisitiveness in our lives
is pummeled into our minds through the media. It is no wonder that there are
so-called Native problems."
EBEN HOPSON
Eben Hopson at a bilingual conference said the following, which appeared in Cross
Cultural Studies in Education. "Eighty-seven years ago, when we were persuaded
to send our children to western educational institutions, we began to lose control
over the education of our youth. Many of our people believed that formal educational
systems would help us acquire the scientific knowledge of the western world.
However, it was more than technological knowledge that the educators wished to
impart. The educational policy was to attempt to assimilate us into the American
mainstream at the expense of our culture. The schools were committed to teaching
us to forget our language and Inupiaq heritage. There are many of you parents
who, like me, were physically punished if we spoke one Inupiaq word. Many of
us can still recall the sting of the wooden ruler across the palms of our hands
and the shame of being forced to stand in the corner of the room, face to the
wall, for half an hour if we were caught uttering one word of our native language.
This outrageous treatment and the exiling of our youth to school in foreign environments
were to remain the common practices of the educational system. For eighty-seven
years, the BIA tried to destroy our culture through the education of our children.
Those who would destroy our culture did not succeed. However, it was not without
cost. Many of our people have suffered. We all know the social ills we endure
today. Recently, I heard a member of the school personnel say that many of our
Inupiaq children have poor self-concepts. Is it any wonder, when the school systems
fail to provide the Inupiaq student with experiences which would build positive
self-concepts when the Inupiaq language and culture are almost totally excluded?"
CHANGES IN THE 80’ AND 90’S
Since these speeches were said in the 70’s and 80’s, much as changed.
William Hensley was instrumental in developing the Inupiaq Ilitqusiat Spirit
Movement in NW Alaska, where the values were listed and parents were encouraged
to speak Inupiaq to their children. Immersion programs have been developed in
Barrow, Bethel, Arctic Village, Kotzebue and others around Alaska. We have powerful
websites such as the Alaska Native Curriculum and Teacher Development Project
created by Paul Ongtooguk and his staff and the Alaska Native Knowledge Network,
a by-product of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, where we receive a lot
of information from Sean Topkok, under the direction of Ray Barnhardt, Oscar
Kowagley, and Frank Hill. Although we have made some progress since then, the
effects of the punishment inflicted on our parents or grandparents for speaking
Inupiaq lingers today. I was born in 1954 and when I went to school this did
not happen to us. My mother lived in camp much of her childhood years so she
didn’t speak much English when I was young. My father, on the other hand,
had attended school until he was in the 8th grade. He had heard stories of how
people were punished for speaking Inupiaq and knew the importance of speaking
English. When I was very young, my mother’s cousin and I were playing and
speaking Inupiaq with a high tone English accent saying something like this: "Uvunga
aquvillagutin." We thought we spoke English when we raised our voices and
played "teacher." Well, my father pulled me over and said in Inupiaq, "Daughter,
you must try your best to learn to speak English." From that moment on,
I did my best to speak English to him but I spoke Inupiatun to my mother and
grandmother. Only recently have I started speaking in full Inupiaq sentences
to my father. I know he told me this because he wanted me to succeed in school.
My father’s generation did not have the luxury of welfare or government
assistance, so their goal was for us to learn as much as we could so we could
have good jobs that provided food and shelter for us. I dare say that at some
point in the 60’s, it seemed like the goal for many young women was to
move to a city and work somewhere with a typewriter. Just come home once a year
and see how everybody’s doing. That happened with some people but they
found that they missed home, missed Inupiaq food and all that goes on in a village.
Last year, we had invited an Elder at Kiana by the name of Tommy Sheldon to speak
to the school staff about the history of Kiana. Eventually, he spoke about how
the schools were desegregated when he was a child. Only the people of white people
or half breeds attended school until they set up a school for native children.
He spoke about how he was punished for speaking Inupiaq at school. The most common
form of punishment for people who tell their story was: (At this point Lena Hanna,
Katherine Cleveland, Arlene Greist and Elmer Goodwin went up to the stage to
demonstrate the forms of punishment)
to stand in the corner or next to the black board with your nose matched to
a dot on the board. This was punishment for being Inupiaq and speaking your own
language. A beautiful language that had been used to communicate and verbalize
concepts from a world view that existed for many years and helped the Inupiat
to survive in the arctic.
Later he said that if they spoke Inupiaq, then they were not allowed to attend
the school party. If you didn’t go to the school party, you didn’t
get to eat cookies and juice. That’s when I thought, " We lost some
of our language to cookies and juice." (Show a cookie and juice)
Today, the grand children do not speak the language because of this cookie and
this juice. When I spoke to my father, he recounted that boys who were older
than him would refrain from speaking Inupiaq just to attend a school party where
beans were served. (Show a bag of beans)
So we lost some of our language for a bowl of beans. I also spoke to my friend
Bertha Sheldon of Shungnak. She said that when they spoke Inupiaq, they would
stand in a corner. They would also have to hold books from an outstretched hand.
They would also be barred from attending the school party at the end of the month.
If they couldn’t go to the party, they would go to the window and watch
the fun the students were having inside. She particularly remembers when apples
were hung from the ceiling with string and the students raced to see who would
finish eating apple first without using their hands. It looked like so much fun
and the apples looked so delicious. Mmm, they thought, this time I will not speak
an Inupiaq word. Later, they couldn’t even look inside the window anymore
because the curtains were drawn across the window. (Show apple.) Then I spoke
to a former Inupiaq teacher named Amelia Aaluk Gray of Kobuk. She said that if
they spoke Inupiaq in the school grounds, someone would tell on them and they
would receive a black mark by their name on a piece of paper. If they got so
many marks, then they could not go to the school to play games on Fridays (an
equivalent to game night.) She said the teachers only wanted them to learn English
so that they could learn what was taught in school. She was not bitter about
what happened because by this time, she had learned to forgive them and tried
to understand what had happened. Okay, so we’ve heard those stories before.
They happened many years ago. Right now is the time to move on. Well, after Tommy
spoke, a woman younger than me remembered how she had to hold books with an outstretched
hand. She remembers the shame and humiliation and says that today, as a parent,
it makes it difficult for her to speak Inupiaq to her children although she speaks
Inupiaq to her spouse, siblings and parents. Another woman shared with me that
when she moved from the village to Kotzebue, where more people spoke English,
whenever she started to speak Inupiaq, her sister would whisper and scold her
not to speak Inupiaq. Especially since she spoke a slightly different dialect
from the one spoken in Kotzebue. That is when I realized that this problem has
to be dealt with. I am not a therapist and I have no quick solutions. Because
a public apology was not made soon enough, the attitude about the language silently
crept from generation to generation during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.
Now there is a new young generation who wonder why their parents did not speak
Inupiaq to them.
FORGIVENESS AND HEALING
If we are to make parents and grandparents feel welcome in the school, we must
invite them into the school and publicly apologize for what happened to them
or their parents in the past. We must hear their story and validate it. We must
not ignore it or it will continue to fester and more bitterness will grow until
we have nothing left. We still have hope that more of the language can be shared
and spoken in all its beauty for it is a language of the heart.
LANGUAGE OF THE HEART
I read a wonderful article by Marilyn Wilhelm about heart language and how the
ancient languages spoke from the heart as God created us. I began to think of
our Inupiaq language. I thought of the word meaning "to think" : Isuma-
or isruma-. Isu- or isru- is the end of something. –ma is "my" and
I think then the literal meaning is ‘my end’ This could mean that
everything about us reaches our mind, which is like our end. It is our source
of thought. Then I thought of the word for eye which is iri. To exist is " it-" When
when you add –ri, it’s a postbase that could mean something like "the
means, the cause of, " so everything we see, we behold and in our mind,
it exists when we see it. Nakuagi- means ‘to like’ or ‘to love’.
Nakuu- is ‘good’ and when you nakuagi- something, you think that
person or thing is good. It’s like saying, ‘I think good of you.’ Isn’t
that wonderful? See what beautiful languages we are struggling to save? Not only
our languages, but our history. I have been so fortunate to have translated many
narrations from our elders. There are so many wonderful concepts and world views
that they knew and that are being lost as each precious one dies, slowly, one
by one. I remember one particular story that I like to share about an elder named
Susie Stocking from Kobuk. She recounted how they used to gather willow bark
to make into net twine and how they would walk barefoot among the thorns in the
heat of early summer, among mosquitoes and gather the bark. They would pile it
so high around their necks that you couldn’t see the person anymore. Then
when they brought it down to the birch canoe, they had to keep the bark covered
and moist the whole way through. All through the process, they had to keep the
bark moist or else it would become brittle dry and break off into little pieces.
The remarkable statement that I remember from her narration is that she said
in all the hard work they did, they just simply viewed their lives as being normal.
They didn’t know that they were working so hard. Stories like these must
be documented and handed down from generation to generation because that is our
rightful heritage. (Also tell story of Lena Sours and how she loved to swim)
It is not too late. If we are to empower our communities, we must validate the
pain that our elders experienced and help them walk through that process into
healing and forgiveness and a new resolve to speak the language and pass on the
knowledge. God made us forgiving hearts and we can help each other heal. So,
there is one plan to get our parents to participate in the programs. What about
the schools and the education system? What can they do? The AFN report on "The
Status of Alaska Natives: A Call for Action" wrote on Education: "In
the words of the most thorough study to date of the federal and state school
systems operated in Alaska from 1867 to 1970: policy makers over the years have
vacillated between attempted assimilation of the Native population into white
society and protection of their cultural identity. "
Our history tells us this: (Info from www.alaskool.org)
1886 the policy was that In all schools conducted by missionary organizations,
it is required that all instructions shall be given in the English language.
In 1887, it said that the instruction of the Indians in the vernacular is not
only of no use to them, but is detrimental to the cause of their to their education
and civilization, and no school will be permitted on the reservation in which
the English language is not exclusively taught. "It is also believed that
teaching an Indian youth in his own barbarous dialect is a positive detriment
to him." etc. etc.
Well, in 1990, an article appeared in Education Week, that stated that Federal
officials were assessing the potential impact of a new law that encouraged the
use of Native American languages in schools run by the BIA and in public schools
enrolling Indians or other native groups. Spokesman for the Interior and Education
departments had said that the statement of federal policy-contained in a bill
approved by the congress without public hearings and signed into law by President
Bush- might well result in an invigoration of native language instruction. But
they also said that the intent of the new Native American Languages Act could
prove costly and difficult to realize because of the vast number on native languages
and the paucity of native speakers who have been trained as teachers. The article
quoted John W. Tippeconnic 3rd, who headed the Education Department's office
of Indian Education as saying, "On the one hand, it promotes the languages,
which is positive, but it does create burdens for the schools." The article
further said that the law includes no penalties for noncompliance. But some officials
had suggested then that it could provide legal ammunition for parents seeking
native language instruction, particularly in BIA schools and public schools with
high concentrations of Native American students.
The measure declares that the policy of the United States (this is in 1990!)
is "to preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans
to use, practice, and develop Native American languages." This act became
part of public law 101-477 on October 30, 1990. The law states that the status
of the cultures and languages of Native Americans is unique and the United States
has the responsibility to act together with Native Americans to ensure the survival
of these unique cultures and languages."
I remember being so excited when I read this bill. I thought there was going to be funding like Title VII that went with it. When I brought it to the attention of an administrator in Kotzebue, he looked at me and said, "Ruth, all this does is reverse the policy of 1887 which stated that Indian languages will not be taught." He thought it was long over due, or maybe too late. In addition, there was no extra funding attached. All it basically did was say, "Oh, by the way, it's okay to teach a native language in the school now." In any event, in 1991, Senator Murkowski introduced the Alaska Native Languages Preservation and Enhancement Act. It was to preserve and enhance the ability of Alaska natives to speak and understand their Native languages. Today, under the Administration for Native Americans, there is limited funding for people to apply for grants to administer language programs but they had to be applied by the native corporations or IRA offices and they could do a joint project with the school. The problem is that there is very limited funding in this and it is competitive nationwide among all the Indian tribes. Several years ago, they started out with something like 1 –2 millions dollars available on a competitive basis among all the Indian tribes in the nation. Obligations: (Grants) FY 00 $2,455,995; FY 01 est. $5,060,037; and FY 02 est. $5,060,037. Range and Average of Financial Assistance: For Tribal Grants the range is from $50,000, Category I to $125,000 for Category II; $90,963. We applaud Senator Murkowski and his staff for this legislation. In July 2000, Senator Lincoln worked with the legislators to pass SB 103 "Native Language Education Act." This allows native language curriculum advisory boards for each school in the district in which a majority of the students are Alaska Natives. If the board recommends the establishment of a native language education curriculum for a school, the regular school board may initiate and conduct a native language education curriculum within grades K-12 in that school. We thank Senator Lincoln for her hard work to have this bill passed but there is no additional funding attached. In the meantime, What has happened with the bilingual state regulations? All this time, the whole intent of the bilingual education is to improve the English language of the student, always talking about exiting them out of the program all the time. Now the regulations say you can have a two way immersion program but 50% of your students who come in have to speak the Native language. So only if the parents teach them and they enter the school that way, then you can get an immersion program funded. Otherwise, if they come to school speaking English, even if it is village English, then they just have the English programs available as an option. So we need to get our programs identified as Native Language Programs by the village advisory board, but there is no special funding attached and if the school board decided not to have it, then that's it again.
AS NATIVE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN BILINGUAL EDUCATION, WE MUST WORK TOGETHER FOR FUNDS TO BE ALLOCATED FOR THE "Native Language Education Act" TO BE IMPLEMENTED. So how does all this relate to our students who must live in this modern world and not lose their Native identity? If we believe our theme that bilingual education and cross cultural education are tools for community empowerment and academic success let us remember The AFN report on the Status of Alaska Natives: A call for action wrote on Education:
THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS
Children are the most important segment of any community, for each community's
future lies in its children. To assure that future, the children must be given,
through education, the skills that will enable them to succeed in life and the
understanding that will continue the community's values. For Alaska Native children,
this means that they must receive an integrated education that encompasses two
sets of skills and two sets of values. The first set of skills is that it is
necessary for the children to succeed in traditional Native life ways. The second
set of skills is that it is necessary for the children to succeed in Western
society. The children’s education must also integrate Native and Western
values so that they are empowered in both cultures. The skills and values are
inseparable, for mastery of one cannot be obtained without mastery of the other.
This ideal of an integrated education has not been achieved, or even accepted,
in the past. Alaska Native children enter an education system developed by Western
culture. In past years the system had eradication of Native culture as one of
its objectives. Even after this misguided goal was abandoned, the system still
proved unable to meet its own fundamental objective: education of Native children
in the skills and values necessary to succeed in Western society. Those are the
words conveyed by past elder Chester Seveck, who advised us to take the good
parts of the Inupiaq culture and the good parts of the western culture and blend
them together for an integrated education. So how does bilingual education help
us toward community empowerment? What is community empowerment. Let us take a
moment now and visualize an empowered community with students learning to cope
and succeed in the 21st century. To me, an empowered community in the villages
of Alaska means that a community where children are well taken care of and they
get enough sleep, enough food and their clothes are clean. They eat well and
to school on time and are hardly ever absent. Their parents take time to plan
activities for them and train them to develop habits that result in good character
traits. For example, they take them on long hikes on the tundra so that they
can learn the value of hard work. They take them fishing so they can learn patience.
They feed them wholesome foods, including Native foods so that they can be healthy
and strong and realize what good health is. They speak their Native language
to them and tell them stories and their people’s history. If they don’t
know this, they take them to someone who can. They limit watching TV and playing
electronic games. They monitor how the computer is used by the children. They
provide time for them to do their homework and teach them to pray. They cook
food and have the children bring some food to a needy person or an elder. When
they hunt and gather, they also have the children bring the food to share with
others. They make sure that they know who their relatives are. Although they
enjoy snow machining, skiing, and other outdoor sports, they also make sure that
their children can built an outdoor fire and survive if they had to live off
the land in an emergency. In all of this, they speak respectfully to others,
especially elders. They show that helping elders is necessary and important.
If they have the opportunity, they allow their children to learn about the world
outside and travel with them. They speak respectfully of teachers and other people
in the community who work to help everyone else. An empowered community is where
the children graduate from high school and go on for more training or school
and still feel comfortable to come back to the village and work in jobs that
pay well so that they can enjoy all the outdoor activities that our back doors
in Alaska can provide. An empowered community has school systems that work to
accommodate the needs of their students, including the provision of the child’s
language and culture being integrated into the curriculum. That is my idea of
how the lives of our children could be improved in an empowered community. Let
us begin to visualize this empowered community and share the vision with our
children. And in the words of John Pingayak of Chevak: "Our ancestral ways
are always best for our future. Never forget them and learn them well..." Thank
you.
(Ruthie Tatqavin Ramoth-Sampson is the Bilingual Education Coordinator at the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. She is the daughter of Ralph and Emma Ramoth from the village of Selawik. She is married to Luke Sampson and has four children and five grandchildren.)