S. 1948 and S. 2299 Hearing Committee on Indian Affairs
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S. HRG. 113–510 S. 1948 AND S. 2299 HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 18, 2014 Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 91–818 PDF WASHINGTON : 2014 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 15 2010 08:29 Dec 22, 2014 Jkt 091818 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\DOCS\91818.TXT JACK COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS JON TESTER, Montana, Chairman JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming, Vice Chairman TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona MARIA CANTWELL, Washington LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska TOM UDALL, New Mexico JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota AL FRANKEN, Minnesota MIKE CRAPO, Idaho MARK BEGICH, Alaska DEB FISCHER, Nebraska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota MARY J. PAVEL, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel RHONDA HARJO, Minority Deputy Chief Counsel (II) VerDate Mar 15 2010 08:29 Dec 22, 2014 Jkt 091818 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\DOCS\91818.TXT JACK C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on June 18, 2014 ............................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Barrasso ............................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator Begich .................................................................................. 19 Statement of Senator Heitkamp ............................................................................. 15 Statement of Senator Johnson ................................................................................ 3 Statement of Senator Murkowski ........................................................................... 17 Statement of Senator Tester ................................................................................... 1 WITNESSES Brockie, Clarena, Dean of Student Affairs, Aaniiih Nakoda College .................. 28 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30 Delgado, Hon. Ed, Chairman, Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin ................. 41 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 43 Mendoza, William, Executive Director, White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, U.S. Department of Education ............ 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 Rawlins, Namaka, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Collaboration, Aha Punana Leo, Inc. .................................................................................................. 46 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 49 Roach, Sonta Hamilton, Elementary School Teacher, Innoko River School; Board Member, Doyon Limited ........................................................................... 21 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 23 Robinson, Hon. Lillian Sparks, Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ......................... 7 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 Shortbull, Thomas, President, Oglala Lakota College .......................................... 35 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 36 APPENDIX Ammann, Brooke Mosay, Director, Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Im- mersion School, prepared statement .................................................................. 79 Bundy, J. Michael, Ph.D., Superintendent, Two Eagle River Alternative School for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, prepared state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 65 Harper, Leslie, Director, Niigaane Ojibwemowin Immersion, prepared state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 77 National Indian Education Association (NIEA), prepared statement ................. 69 Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Brian Schatz to: Hon. Ed Delgado ............................................................................................... 94 Clarena Brockie ................................................................................................ 93 William Mendoza .............................................................................................. 117 Namaka Rawlins .............................................................................................. 96 Hon. Lillian Sparks Robinson .......................................................................... 112 Thomas Shortbull ............................................................................................. 90 Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Jon Tester to William Mendoza ................................................................................................................ 114 Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to Hon. Lillian Sparks Robinson ................................................................................................... 111 Roman Nose, Quinton, Executive Director, Tribal Education Departments National Assembly (TEDNA), prepared statement ........................................... 81 Schatz, Hon. Brian, U.S. Senator from Hawaii, prepared statement ................. 65 Sullivan Sr., Michael D., Professor, The College of St. Scholastica, prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 80 (III) VerDate Mar 15 2010 08:29 Dec 22, 2014 Jkt 091818 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\DOCS\91818.TXT JACK IV Page Support letters submitted by: Pam Agoyo ........................................................................................................ 86 Kamana‘opono M. Crabbe ................................................................................ 89 Jennifer Hall ..................................................................................................... 87 Nokomis Paiz .................................................................................................... 88 Elizabeth Sahkahtay Strong ............................................................................ 87 United Tribes Technical College (UTTC), prepared statement ........................... 85 Wilson, Ryan, President, National Alliance to Save Native Languages, pre- pared statement ................................................................................................... 73 VerDate Mar 15 2010 08:29 Dec 22, 2014 Jkt 091818 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\DOCS\91818.TXT JACK S. 1948 AND S. 2299 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2014 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m. in room 628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jon Tester, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA The CHAIRMAN. I call this meeting of the Committee on Indian Affairs to order. Today the Committee will discuss two bills that address an issue that is very important to me and to many of my colleagues on this Committee: Native student achievement. The first bill is S. 1948, the Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act. The second is S. 2299, a Bill to Reauthorize the Native American Lan- guage Program of the 1974 Native American Programs Act. Both of these measures share a similar goal of increasing Native aca- demic achievement through supporting Native language instruction and ensuring Native students are college and career-ready. Language matters. It is how we as human beings convey our ideas, our feelings and our hopes. I think about the power of lan- guage and words and the impact they have to effect change. Just think about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech. Words comfort and uplift us. That is why we sing lullabies to our children and Christmas carols during the holidays. I am struck by what Chairman Delgado said in his testimony. He said that language is medicine. And when Oneida teaches their children of this medicine, the children in the community begin to heal. This is why these bills we are talking about today matter. The history of Native languages in this Country is one of great tragedy and also great triumph. In the early years of this Nation, the Federal policy toward American Indians was forced assimila- tion designed to eradicate tribal cultures. Children were forced into boarding schools, and among other things, forbidden to speak their Native languages. Years later, however, during both world wars, the contribution of Native American code talkers speaking in their native language was instrumental in helping the Allied forces pre- serve freedom and democracy. To honor these American heroes, (1) VerDate Mar 15 2010 08:29 Dec 22, 2014 Jkt 091818 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\DOCS\91818.TXT JACK 2 their people and their long histories, we must preserve and main-