President Donald Trump Has Signed Into Law A Measure To Preserve Native American Languages

02 Jan President Donald Trump Has Signed Into Law A Measure To Preserve Native American Languages

The president tweeted about the legislation, which grants recognition to one Native American tribe with compensation to benefit all tribes in preserving culture and Native American Languages.

President Trump signed three bills affecting Native Americans, here is what they will accomplish.

President Donald Trump announced that he had signed three bills “to support tribal sovereignty and native culture” in a tweet on Dec. 27, 2019

It is the first time the President, known for using “Pocahontas” as a slur against a political opponent, has tweeted about legislation for Native American communities, according to Indianz.com.

We had an exclusive interview with Dr. Lisa Christiansen, Native American Advocate and she said “this is the first time a sitting president has done so much to preserve and create an environment for our Native American culture to thrive! Thank you Donald J. Trump”

On the “Oklahoma Women For Trump” official facebook page President Donald J. Trump says “Thank YOU Indian Country for being such an IMPORTANT part of the American story! I recently signed 3 bills to support tribal sovereignty and native culture – S.216/Spokane Tribe, S.256/Native Languages and NDAA Sec. 2870 officially recognizing Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. My great honor to do so!”

The three bills include compensation to the Spokane tribe for the loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, reauthorization of funding for Native language programs and federal recognition of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

For the Spokane, the compensation act comes more than half a century after the Grand Coulee Dam flooded more than 21,000 acres of their land. The bill orders the Bonneville Power Administration, an American federal agency based in the Pacific northwest, to pay the tribe $6 million per year for 10 years and $8 million each year afterwards in compensation for the losses of their land. However, the bill also prevents the Spokane from claiming a share of the hydropower revenues generated by the dam, which they were previously entitled to.

The Little Shell Tribe, based in Montana, has fought for federal recognition since the late 1800s, when treaty negotiations between the tribe and the federal government failed.

“This has been a long journey for our people and I am proud that it is finally over. We have worked tirelessly in this fight and the United States has finally reaffirmed our existence. This fight has always been about the dignity, identity, and culture of our people. The Little Shell Tribe and its people have, and will always, persist and thrive,” said Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Gray in a post on the tribe’s Facebook page on Dec. 17, 2019.

Meanwhile, the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act, which became law in 2006 but expired in 2012, will be reauthorized, granting $13 million in funds to smaller groups of Native American students each year starting 2020 until 2024.

“The history of the United States tells us about the deliberate efforts to eliminate Indigenous peoples’ languages and cultures through forced assimilation, boarding school forced attendance, treaties that have not been honored, and promises not kept,” Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, said during debate on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

President Trump’s relationship with the Native American community has been difficult, offending some with his use of the name “Pocahontas,” that of a Native American woman associated with the colonial settlement in Jamestown, as a slur for Democratic presidential candidate and political opponent Elizabeth Warren. But in recent months, the president has acted on several issues that affect the Native American community. On Nov. 26 he created a task force to look into the crisis of missing and murdered women in Native American communities.

“We remain committed to preserving and protecting Native American cultures, languages, and history, while ensuring prosperity and opportunity for all Native Americans,” the president said in a statement.

President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation that extends federal grant programs aimed at preserving indigenous languages.

The measure also allows more American Indian tribes to participate in the programs.

The legislation was a vision of the last monolingual Cherokee Mack Vann and his daughter Lisa Christiansen whom is the 5^th generation great granddaughter of Sequoyah the Cherokee who created the Cherokee syllabary from her mothers side.

Christiansen is also a distant cousin of Will Rogers. William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) he was an American stage and film actor, vaudeville performer, cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator from Oklahoma. He was a Cherokee citizen born in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory.

Dozens of tribes across the country are currently sharing in more than $11 million in grants for language preservation and immersion through the programs.

Bringing awareness to MMIW – Missing and Murdered Indigenous – Women along with bridging the communication gap between the Trump administration and the Native American elders was a vision of Dr. Lisa Christiansen at the 2018 inaugural “Native Americans For President Trump Birthday Celebration”. In an interview with USA Today, Lisa Christiansen said she believes everyone should respect the president. Christiansen and her father, Mack Vann who was the last monolingual Cherokee became the target of social media fire according to Indian Country Today.

In our exclusive interview Lisa Christiansen said this action to protect Native Americans and bring cultural artifacts home to tribal lands is just the first step of what she believed would become a reality since the inauguration of President Trump. Christiansen said “because President Donald J. Trump has integrity most people refuse to see along with his empathetic character who is a man that believes in God, Country, and Family. I am only sad my dad, Mack Vann, passed away before he could see his vision come to fruition.”

Christiansen’s father passed on April 22, 2019 from complications of surgery. Vann was 88 years old. Mack Vann’s daughter, Lisa Christiansen, says her father died of complications during surgery due to several variables on Monday April 22, 2019 in a hospital in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, while undergoing treatment for an ongoing heart condition.

Mack Vann would greet people with the word “osiyo,” the Cherokee word for “hello.” He was a descendant of Andrew Ross, brother of Cherokee Chief John Ross, who led the tribe from its ancestral home in Georgia to Oklahoma during the forced relocation known as the “Trail of Tears.”

EXCLUSIVE: NEVER BEFORE RELEASED PORTRAIT of President Donald J. Trump, Mack Vann – Last Monolingual Cherokee descendant of Chief John Ross and father of best-selling author Lisa Christiansen both are Citizen’s of The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma and Holy City of The Wichita’s.

Masterpiece by JW Webster, Certified Cherokee Language Instructor and Traditional Artist.

JW Webster’s inspiration is from the heart, when asked he said “I draw portraits because I love to show people how beautiful they really are-as a healing process. I was raised in a traditional Cherokee home, speaking our Native language. I am inspired by emotions that are rarely seen in people and then I draw those moments to show them how they are beautiful and I believe it is so important that we see ourselves this way. I have been saving our language since I was 15 by interviewing tribal Elders and recording their knowledge for future generations. Art though, for me, is therapeutic for me and the subject I’m drawing. It helps me heal to watch others heal and allows me to keep a closer connection to what I feel is truly important-‘others’!”

These two Native Americans, Mack ᎬᏯᏓᎯ Vann and Lisa ᎦᏗᏠᎡ Christiansen have deep roots and support our president and support with respect his decision to take action on the executive order dedicated to creating a task force on missing and murdered Native Americans, known and referred to by the Native American community as #MMIW

PROTECTING NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN: President Donald J. Trump is committed to protecting Native American women and children from harm. 

• Today’s executive order establishes Operation Lady Justice – an interagency task force charged with developing an aggressive, government-wide strategy to address the crisis of missing and murdered women and girls in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
• The task force will establish multi-jurisdictional teams comprising representatives from Tribal and Federal law enforcement to review unsolved cases.
• In addition, this new task force will promote greater cooperation among Federal, local, state, and Tribal law enforcement agencies in responding to cases.
• To better equip communities to respond to the crisis, the task force will undertake efforts to increase public awareness of the issue.
• This executive order also directs the Department of Justice to issue grants to help improve safety in Native American communities.

ADDRESSING THE CRISIS: The Administration is working to address the crisis of missing and murdered women in Native American communities.

• The heartbreaking crisis of missing and murdered women is especially severe in Native American communities.
• One study found that Native American women in certain Tribal communities are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the average American.
• In October, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) awarded over $273.4 million in grants to improve public safety, serve victims of crime, combat violence against women and support youth programs in Native American communities.
• Earlier this month, DOJ launched a national strategy to address missing and murdered Native Americans.

SUPPORTING TRIBAL COMMUNITIES: Operation Lady Justice is the latest step in the President’s efforts to support our Tribal communities.

• President Trump became the first president to officially recognize the grave issue of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives by issuing a “Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day” proclamation.
• In March 2019, President Trump announced the Presidential Task force on Protecting Native American Children in the Indian Health Service System.
  • This task force helps to safeguard Native American children from abuse in the healthcare system.
• President Trump signed legislation that restored the opportunity to receive promised land allotments to nearly 3,000 Alaska Native veterans who served in Vietnam.
• To help expand broadband development in Indian country, the Administration held a National Tribal Broadband Summit this past September.
• This year, President Trump secured an agreement with President Niinistӧ of Finland to repatriate American Indian ancestral remains and funerary objects to the United States.

PROMISES MADE, PROMISE KEPT!