(gentle symphonic music) - I think there's just a natural draw for Native people to wanna speak their language.

Not everybody pursues it, but I think everybody wishes that they knew it.

- Language is important in building that connection and also building confidence.

- That's what keeps the people moving.

They understand each other, they know what they need, and so their life continues using that information.

- It's part of your culture.

It's part of your identity.

And so when something like that is removed, who are you, then, really?

- It gave us all a core way to believe and see the world where we would be able to thrive.

Well, you know, a couple hundred years ago people came in and was like, "No, you don't look at the world like that anymore."

- [John] The language was stripped because you were not allowed to speak it.

- Because of the impacts of boarding schools, many of us had lost our language, including in my family.

- They had several programs in place, and all the money in the world behind it to strip us all of our language.

So it's kind of like a puzzle, and three quarters of it got thrown on the ground.

And so now we have the chance to, like, pick some of it up.

- We're still here, we're thriving, no matter what has happened to us in the past or is possible having it in the future.

Like, we're gonna keep doing what we're doing 'cause this is our responsibility.

This is Potawatomi people.

- [Narrator] It's believed indigenous populations occupied the Great Lakes region for more than 10,000 years before European colonization.

Land here in Grand Rapids being the ancestral territory of the Anishinaabe, the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi people.

- But despite this longstanding history, colonization rampaged through Native practices, and to this day, key cultural lifelines, like languages, sit at the brink of extinction.

- [Narrator] On today's "Mutually Inclusive" we explore what tribal communities are doing to save it.

(upbeat piano music) Language is one of the most important parts of any culture.

In indigenous communities, language isn't just a method of communication, it's an extensive and complex system of knowledge passed down through generations.

While Indigenous people make up less than 6% of the global population, they speak more than 4,000 of the world's languages.

But the United Nation estimates a majority of them will become extinct by the year 2100, with one Indigenous language dying every two weeks.

While there has been global support, like the UN's 10-year survival plan to keep these cultural keystones alive, some of the most important work is being done right here in our own communities.

Our crew set out to meet the people championing this change.

- I'll do my traditional introduction first.

(speaking Anishinaabemowin) So I said my name is Ellie Mitchell, I'm Eagle Clan.

I'm Ojibwe.

I'm from the Saginaw Band.

I live in Awashtanong, which is Grand Rapids, and I'm from Mesichinaabezibwing which is the Chippewa River area, the traditional name of the Mount Pleasant area.

- [Narrator] Ellie Mitchell owns the Grand Rapids Bead and Powwow Supply store on 28th Street.

She grew up on the Isabella Indian Reservation, one of the primary land holdings of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe.

- I attended, for elementary school, so from kindergarten into 8th grade, the Saginaw Chippewa Academy where, instead of foreign language, we had Ojibwe language.

They used to bring elders in at lunchtime and then they'd sit in on our language class with us.

I remember them talking about how important language was for us as a people, for Tribal sovereignty, for our identity, for everything that they had worked so hard to build.

And that, because of the impacts of boarding schools, many of us had lost our language, including in my family.

- [Narrator] Boarding schools were one of the United States most targeted attacks on Native Americans.

Investigations by the US Department of the Interior say the primary goal was cultural genocide.

Through the removal and reprogramming of Native children, systematically destroying Native ways of life, which included language, children were forcibly sent to schools hundreds of miles away from their families and subject to widespread abuse.

By 1926, nearly 83% of Indian school-aged children were attending boarding schools.

- My grandfather, his parents were both fluent speakers of Anishinaabemowin, and that's what they grew up speaking.

But by the time their younger children were born, they weren't speaking Anishinaabemowin to their children in the home anymore.

They were speaking English because they wanted their kids to have English proficiency and be able to navigate in the world outside the community.

He didn't speak Anishinaabemowin, so his kids didn't speak it, my mother.

And so when I went to this school they were, like, so happy to hear us coming home and speaking the little bit of language we were learning.

And like, it was so important to them.

- [Narrator] Ellie decided to carry her passion for language and culture into her profession.

Attending Michigan State University for a degree in linguistics, eventually rejoining the school as an Indigenous community outreach liaison for the university's partnership with less commonly taught and Indigenous languages.

- When I was in 8th grade, my teacher left our school and she got a position on the faculty at Michigan State University teaching Nishinaabemowin.

And I said, "Oh, well she's my favorite teacher.

I'm just gonna go to MSU so I can take her class."

And so I did.

I studied hard in high school so I could get in, and applied to MSU and got an acceptance, I think, less than four weeks after I applied.

- [Narrator] Now taking things full circle, she's expanding access for others to learn the language, finding the beauty and identity in it just as she did.

- My tribe is now finally building the school that they've been talking about for years that I was supposed to attend.

And I helped with the name plate translations for that school as well.

So like, seeing that coming full circle, and seeing, like, when it's done and I get to go see those, that'll be cool.

- [Narrator] Offering opportunities for Native communities today that past generations weren't presented with.

- My grandfather had passed before I got this job at MSU, but like they were still, he was still so excited to see me, like, using language and like seeing, you know, like conjugating sentences, and, like, answering questions and stuff.

The things that my great-grandparents did to give their children a good life, like, I'm doing the opposite.

And that's what time does, that's what progressive leadership is.

It changes with the times.

It changes with generations.

We see what needs to be done now for survival, and that's what we do.

(upbeat symphonic music) - [Narrator] While there are outstanding members of the younger generation like Ellie pushing the language forward, elders in these communities have been its backbone for generations, taking on the vital role of both preserving and revitalizing Nishinaabemowin.

Here in Okemos is where we find one of the community's most influential leaders.

Can you think of a number, How many people you've taught the language so far?

- Oh, quite a lot.

Hundreds, anyway.

- [Narrator] Alphonse Pitawanakwat has resided in Michigan for years, but originally hails from Canada with a unique experience surrounding language and culture.

- I come from an unceded territory.

In other words, my past chiefs ancestors never give up the land.

It's still ours.

And that's the reason why we have more fluent speakers from that reservation than any place else in Canada.

- [Narrator] He's been working with the University of Michigan to teach Nishinaabemowin and standardize the ways in which it's passed down.

- The language has not been written, and because of that we don't have reference material.

And so we need to create the material to learn from.

- [Narrator] Fluent speakers like Alphonse are who many look towards to guide the revitalization of indigenous languages and practices.

But numbers of elders are declining.

- There was a bunch of us who could speak the language at one time.

And right now all those people have disappeared, retired, or passed away.

There's just not many of us capable of teaching the language.

And there's only so much I can do, too.

I can't even write.

I got arthritis on my hands and it's too painful to do that.

Even typing is hard.

- [Narrator] While there are many factors that impact the death rate of Native elders, COVID-19 drew tragic impacts.

Despite Native Americans having higher vaccination rates.

a 2021 study by Princeton University showed Natives died from COVID-19 at more than twice the rate of white Americans.

The study cited socioeconomic and health disparities as potential causes.

And researchers across the world are finding a direct correlation when examining the death of Natives and the death of their languages.

But having enough teachers isn't the only barrier.

John Ostrander, who partners with Alphonse at the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center says they also need the audience and opportunity.

- You don't have the people in your area to sit there and hear it every day, speak it every day, you know, as an immersion setting and like that.

And how do we reach that?

You know, I don't know.

- I don't think it's ever been tried.

And that's part of the problem was no support.

Now in Minnesota, I've been there several times helping out with the language.

They're able to get grants over there.

The states really supports that.

They can get maybe a dozen fluent speakers, and they take care of 'em.

Dinners, gas, and whatever they can give them.

It's expensive to work on this stuff.

- [Narrator] While the center keeps an eye out for additional funding opportunities, John says, technology has been a powerful tool in bringing the classroom to the people.

- Doing all recording sounds, and then that's stuff that we're gonna have on our website so people can start hearing that and go to it all the time.

I have to say that there's a few places out there that do it, but we're going a little farther with it, - [Native Speaker] Aaniin.

- [Narrator] But the team also recognizes the importance of in-person learning, and has partnered with local schools to spread access, not just to language but history as well.

- We're getting ready to go into the Okemos public schools and the Grand Ledge public schools to start talking with the 3rd grade classes.

Because the kids weren't getting it.

You weren't finding stuff in the history books.

It's not so much going in there, and where they want us to still just teach history.

It's who are the Anishinaabe people of today.

People are starting to acknowledge now that there are Natives here, and that we're still alive and flourishing.

I think it's gonna help open up people's minds more and more, you know, about other cultures.

And so whether if it's gonna be enough and fast enough, you know, time will tell on that.

But at least I think that we're trying to make a dent here.

- You can't do it alone.

You have to have support and willingness to change.

- [Narrator] Around two hours and nearly 130 miles away from the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center, a similar idea has taken shape.

Okay, Jen, where are we heading?

- [Jen] Okay, so we are heading to Dowagiac today.

We are all very excited.

We are honored to be invited to sit kind of in a circle with the Potawatomi Band, and learn more about Indigenous language and about the classes that they are hosting to preserve language.

(gentle music) - [Carla] Shnaabemowin, if you just have Neshnaabemo, you're saying like he or she is speaking, speaking Neshnaabe language.

- [Narrator] Members of the Pokagon Band and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi have been partnering on language efforts for the past two years.

They say it's one of the first times bands of Potawatomi have been able to come together as language apprentices, instructors, and learners.

They found success using online learning, and their class attendance is spread across the nation.

- We've got students from Oregon, California, Florida, Maine or New York.

- [Narrator] But there's a key difference here compared to other programs like the ones seen in Okemos.

While Neshnaabemowin language covers the three fires, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi, there can be wide structural and cultural differences within.

The Potawatomi refers to its language, Bodwewadmimwen.

- So you think of Potawatomi, Odawa, Ojibwe were one people, we split off of it into different areas.

When you go into different areas, you're interacting with other tribes that speak differently.

So you start adopting things that they say, they start adopting things that we say.

So that's kind of how the dialects evolve over time.

Now, if you go up north for "hello," you might hear a strong "bojo".

Down here are speakers said "buju".

- [Narrator] Right now the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi says it doesn't have any fluent speakers.

Two are intermediate and working with around a dozen early learners.

And members of both bands have put in time away from their everyday lives to travel across the state, and even nation, to ensure revitalization efforts stay alive.

While each person has a unique story of what brings them to the table, sentiments held about language share a common thread.

- So I think there's just a natural draw for Native people to wanna speak their language.

Not everybody pursues it, but I think everybody wishes that they knew it.

I also think that there's a lot of trauma that can be healed if you learn your language.

- My aunts, my mom, my grandma, a lot of them aren't here anymore.

So that's my motivation.

Also hearing them.

Like sometimes I'll hear words, I was like, "Oh, that's what my grandma said back in the day."

But just one of my aunts are still alive out of all those people.

So my mom's gone.

But that's my motivation too is, you know, especially my mom.

She would be happy - [Narrator] For many, the classroom can be a place where they find a sense of self.

- I didn't grow up here, I actually grew up in the city.

But my aunt Carla, she brought me out here, probably like once a month, for about three years and go to ceremonies and stuff.

Having those little moments of coming out here left such a huge impression on me, for me to know that I wanna work with my tribe in the future.

So that's what my goal is, is to work with those young ones and hopefully they wanna bring back to their people as well.

- But back when I was just starting out learning too, it just kinda like finding my identity and like where I fit in with different things, and stuff like that too.

I was given my name at that time by a healer.

And it was later on, maybe like a year later, I found some of my great grandpa's stuff, my grandma's dad, he was writing a dictionary back before he passed, and I found in there his name was the same as mine.

Now I have a daughter and she learns here and there too.

So it's important for her to learn to let it be passed on to the next generation, 'cause without our language, we can't call ourselves Bodewadmik Potawatomi.

- And there was an internship through our casino and with that came Friday lessons with Kyle.

And for the first time I got to actually speak, Bodwewadmimwen, and it just felt incredible.

Everything fell in place in such a way.

And it feels like once I got that language spoken, everything just, like, clicked.

- [Narrator] Some also view practices like language as a spiritual connection across generations.

- I believe blood memory's a real thing, and I think the way trauma imprints onto DNA, I believe blood memory is the same way.

It's not just trauma that imprints in there.

You know, now we have, like, depression and substance abuse problems, and all races do.

But I think one of the keys to recovering from those things is to bring back some of that perspective that we should have that we're missing.

So it's kind of like a puzzle, and three quarters of it got thrown on the ground.

And so now we have the chance to, like, pick some of it up.

I don't think we ever will get the whole puzzle back, but you know, if we could get 75% of it back together, I think that would help a lot.

- Reclaiming the fact that, until the Indian Reorganization Act, we were all actual threats to the US government.

And that's what I wanna reclaim.

(group laughing) It's scaring the federal government.

- It was the federal government, the government that came in and started the boarding schools and did all of that.

Do you think that the federal government should then do more in reparation or any other manner of which to repair the damage that's been done?

- It would be nice if they would, but I don't not think they will.

It would be nice if they would do, like, reverse boarding schools, where they would build schools for us to relearn our language and other things like that.

But I don't see that ever happening.

- [Narrator] Today's project is funded by an emergency language grant by the US Administration for Native Americans, and BIMs are working quickly to stay ahead of revitalization efforts.

- You know, even now there are more grant funds available, but it's because COVID, because we lost so many fluent speakers.

So we're grateful to be having more grant money available, but it's not going to, you know, bring language back.

It's not that kind of money.

- There's a lot of people that don't realize how much of an influence that tribes have and how much we do in the areas that we are in.

And just the fact that we're still here, we're thriving no matter what has happened to us in the past, or as possible having it in the future.

Like, we're gonna keep doing what we're doing because this is our responsibility.

This is Potawatomi people.

- [Narrator] Individuals we've spoken with hold unique life experiences.

Some speaking completely separate dialects of Nishinaabe language, but there's a sense of unity that can be felt across borders, in their efforts to keep these connections to ancestry, identity, and communication alive and thriving.

- It's like we're all Swiss cheese, our holes are in different areas.

You stack 'em all up and you can't see through it anymore, but separately, you know, there's so much that we lack in knowledge.

(ethereal music) - We all have our own story.

I just wanted to get our stories shared.

They are a big role with what we have going on, and I'm glad, you know, we're able to make this possible with this little collaboration that we have going on.

(ethereal music) - We're more worried about the language as a whole because it is disappearing so fast.

And so when I take the attitude of I will learn any Anishinaabemowin, it doesn't matter if it's the Anishinaabemowin my great grandparents spoke.

And so I've ended up traveling to, you know, different communities just so I can hear speakers and hear language, because that's more important than saving the language as a whole.

- [Narrator] Championing the good.

- I try to build personal relationships with each of the kids so that hopefully they remember me once they're like my age or younger, hopefully, and they want to also work with language as well.

- [Narrator] Acknowledging the obstacles.

- It took the US government 300 years to eradicate 90% of our language.

They had several programs in place and all the money in the world behind it to strip us all of our language.

And it said, don't feel discouraged because your language team can't bring it back in 10 years.

- [Narrator] And finding grace and humanity in between the journey.

- Learning any language is really hard.

And you stumble on things.

- One student, one time we were working on the meaning of "zhimaaganish."

"Zhimaaganish" is a soldier in Ojibwe.

And this lady goes up like that and she says, "Chimoganich."

Chimoganich means dirty smelling head.

(laughing) I'm gonna tell you, I had trouble keeping my straight face.

(laughing) - [Narrator] It's a part of thousands of Natives DNA and a cultural keystone they won't let die out.

- I don't wanna say I didn't have purpose in life before, because I did.

But now I can see that the path that life is gonna be on until the end of it.

I know where I'm gonna be right up until I'm in the grave.

- No matter how big, you know, the mountain is, like there was, you know, someone was impacted by that.

So, keep going.

Yeah.

(ethereal music) - [Announcer] Thanks for watching.

You can find this episode and others online at wgvu.org/mutuallyinclusive, or by visiting our YouTube page.

But don't forget to follow WGVU on Facebook to keep up with everything happening here in West Michigan.

Thank you for helping us be mutually inclusive.

(quirky electronic music) (quirky electronic music continues) (quirky electronic music continues) (quirky electronic music concludes)