Students share value and history of their Indigenous languages

“We are still here,” said Alondra Mariano, a freshman majoring in pharmaceutical sciences and Native American studies, when asked if there was one thing she wanted the USC community to know about Indigenous students. 

The University Park campus sits on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Gabrielino-Tongva people. As part of the overall goal of Native American Heritage Month to acknowledge and highlight the history of Indigenous people of the United States, USC Student Affairs hosted a variety of events, from spotlighting the true history of Thanksgiving to gathering Indigenous students for bonding activities. 

The Daily Trojan sat down with Indigenous students at USC to discuss their personal significance of native languages in their lives, as well as their experiences at USC. 

Mariano said that her Indigenous language, Diné Bizaad, also referred to as Navajo, is an important cornerstone of her identity.

“I would say my Navajo language and culture is sacred to me,” she said. “It represents who we are as Navajo people through songs, prayers and whatnot. I utilize our teachings and culture and language and apply them to my everyday life.” 

She said that despite being proficient in Diné Bizaad herself, she was aware that not many people in her generation speak their native languages — yet recognized efforts to keep them from becoming extinct. 

“It is something to worry about, knowing that not many people from my generation speak my language and other Native languages,”  Mariano said. “[But] many of our Elders are still trying to keep our native language and traditions alive by having it spoken through radio stations and in school.”

In 2019, Ethnologue reported that “of the 115 Indigenous languages spoken in the U.S. today, two are healthy, 34 are in danger, and 79 will go extinct within a generation without serious intervention. In other words, 99% of the Native American languages spoken today are in danger.” These statistics highlight the issues Indigenous communities face today when it comes to keeping their language alive. 

Jair Peltier is a doctoral student studying political science and international relations. He is from the bear clan of the Anishinaabe people, and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa (North Dakota) is his home. Peltier said that the extinction of Native languages is due to the U.S. government’s persecution of Indigenous peoples and the schools Indigenous children were forced into. 

“The U.S. government was always interested in the colonial project, [and] was always interested in the destruction of Indigenous people. Assimilation was always on their mind.  Originally, it was [to] kill as many [Indigenous people] as you can. Then, they tried starving us out—and then that didn’t work … ultimately they settled on assimilation policy,” Peltier said.

Peltier and Mariano both mentioned a popular quote that was used to justify the abuses in these boarding schools. U.S Army Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt, a prominent figure in the late 19th century, is credited with saying, “Kill the Indian in him and save the man.” 

Peltier said that Indigenous children experienced abuse and identity erasure in these schools. Students received beatings if they spoke their native language and were forced to wear western style clothing. 

“Even after the federal government stopped kidnapping children and forcing them to go to boarding school, you still had parents sending their children to boarding school because it was a better opportunity, right?” Peltier said.

Peltier wasn’t always a lifelong speaker of Anishinaabemowin. He originally couldn’t speak more than a few sentences until he attended college and began studying it. He longed to learn the language, and even today, he has mixed emotions when speaking. 

“You feel like you’ve just been deprived of something for so long and you want it back, but the thing is, the spirit never forgets,” Peltier said.  “Native people, we’re really drawn to learning our languages because their spirit is calling out for it. Sometimes, just putting on Anishinaabe, people talking, just having a conversation can just make you feel so sad, but also happy.”

USC does not offer any Indigenous language courses. When asked if they should, Mariano was in full support of the idea, saying it would help to teach Indigenous students their languages. 

“I would really encourage that,” Mariano said. “Because part of history is taken away from us and many people of my generation don’t know the language, so it would be really nice for us, and for those who don’t know their native language to learn it.”

Kai Cayetano, a senior majoring in narrative studies, is currently spearheading a project to bring more language diversity to USC. They are Garifuna, an Afro-Indigenous population from the Carribean island of St. Vincent. 

Recently, they sent out a Google form to demonstrate to the University that there is sufficient interest to create classes for more languages. Part of this project would entail expanding USC languages offered to include Indigenous languages. They’ve already started getting replies and can pursue the next steps once they get more student input. 

“Many students are saying that they want Tamil, they want Swahili and things like that,”  Cayetano said.  “So now that I have what the students want, I can go directly to admin and say, ‘These are the languages people would like to see,’ [and ask] ‘how can we offer them at USC?’”

Options at USC are non-existent for students at USC wishing to learn Indigneous languages, with student organizations serving as one of the few resources for Indigenous students at USC to make themselves known. 

“The Native American Student Assembly has been very helpful because it reminds me that there’s Natives here at USC and that there’s actually other people here who have similar experiences,” Peltier said. “I really think these young people coming up are really the future… They’re really going to do something amazing, something very transformative.”