Day 13. The Language of Love, Reviving Native Tongues.
Each Indigenous language carries a deep history of the people who have carried their words through the ages. To lose language is to lose a way of knowing and expressing who we are in the world. Banning the use of native language is an intentional harm. Linguistic oppression, or “linguicism,” the systemic, forced removal of non-dominant languages in favor of a dominant one, is as a form of cultural, social, and historical suppression rooted in colonialism.
The censorship of native languages is a common and shared trauma across BIPOC experiences. The harmful practices of linguistic suppression crossed all native borders by missionaries and colonizers, leaving legacies of erasure that require ongoing efforts for revitalization and healing.
Blowouts and the “No Sabo” Wound
An example of the fight against Indigenous linguistic erasure can be seen in the Chicano uprising known as the 1968 East Los Angeles Blowouts. The uprising began a movement of solidarity against the deep and systemic oppression faced by students of Mexican heritage in California schools. Speaking Spanish was forbidden and often resulted in “swatting,” being struck with a paddle, the same punishment given for cutting school.
The cultural trauma of denying and shaming the use of indigenous language resulted in future generations of “no sabo” kids; people whose parents deliberately withheld teaching their native language to spare their children the pain of difficult assimilation. This parental choice, combined with ongoing marginalization, left profound cultural wounds of perpetual inadequacy, often resulting in people feeling “not Mexican enough” and “not white enough.”
Stories of Resilience and Reclamation
Restoring language is an act of cultural, spiritual, and political survival for communities across North America and beyond. Around the globe, language revitalization movements are rekindling cultural heartbeats and healing collective wounds.
The 1968 East Los Angeles Blowouts – A pivotal moment that ignited the Chicano Civil Rights movement by demanding educational justice, better resources, and an end to cultural oppression. The uprising and continued community advocacy created the momentum that fueled future responses to police violence, the rise of the La Raza Unida Party, and the success of establishing Spanish ESL classes and teaching Spanish in schools for every generation since.
The Ojibwe Immersion Model – Immersing young learners in the native language is an effective and holistic way to revitalize a language, strengthening identity and knowledge systems that are embedded in the language itself
Wampanoag Language Reclamation – The successful effort to bring Wôpanâak back from dormancy, a language with no native speakers for 150 years, is a testament to community dedication and healing through language
The cinematic Rrclamation of ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi – The use of the Native Hawaiian language in the HBO series Chief of War, is a powerful act of sovereignty and cultural healing. Through profound choice to tell Hawaiian history authentically in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, is representation that matters as a proud moment of reclamation. As actor and co-creator Jason Momoa stated about the series, “This is my heart, my soul. This is like a love letter to our people.”
“Our languages are our medicine.” – Jessie Little Doe Baird (Wampanoag linguist)
Reflection: What efforts are being made to preserve and carry the language of your ancestors?
Learn More
- Explore the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project – This project is recognized globally for successfully restoring a language that had been dormant for more than a century, demonstrating the deep connection between language, identity, and tribal sovereignty.
- Preservation of ‘Olelo Hawai’i – This article about A Rich Oral History of Olelo Hawai’i in Cultural Survival highlights the revitalization of the Hawaiian language.
- Jason Momoa & the Cast of Chief of War sharing about speaking their native language.
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