ᏓᏗᏬᏂᏏ (We Will Speak)

What is a culture without a voice? Cherokee activists fight to preserve and revitalize their dying language, which is now only fluently spoken by less than 2,000 people because of hundreds of years of racism, government intervention, and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic.  —M.G.

Generations of displacement and forced assimilation have destroyed so many beautiful Native American cultures and languages, whose histories will never be fully known. Refusing to let their stories disappear without a fight, the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes declared a State of Emergency for the Cherokee language in 2019. Because of the risk of the remaining fluent Cherokee speakers dying out with the older generations, there is currently a massive push to share the language with as many members of the Cherokee Nation as possible. ᏓᏗᏬᏂᏏ (WE WILL SPEAK) follows these inspiring and dedicated Cherokee activists and language experts as they fight to preserve their culture and their language, which are intrinsically intertwined. —G.S.

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