Oppression and Privilege

On April 16, 2012, Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper signed a law that allowing the teaching of Native American language and culture in public schools. It is part of a larger global effort toward saving Native American and other languages, which have traditionally been lost through cultural assimilation. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a language vanishes every 14 days worldwide and, “if nothing is done, half of the 6000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century.”