Transcript
November is National Native American Heritage month.
This is a time to recognize the many sacrifices, contributions and achievements of Native American people as well as celebrate their rich and vibrant cultures.
In 1990, President George HW Bush approved a resolution designating November as National American Indian Heritage month.
Recently Sign1News MMJ Martha Anger chatted with a woman named Sarah A. Young Brown Bear.
She is a member of the Meskwaki tribe, one of 573 indigenous tribes in the US.
She is Deaf, her husband is Deaf and her children are Deaf.
She shared interesting facts about the history of sign language in the Native American community, the accepted signs for Native American and ways the Deaf community can become allies for Native Americans.
You have posted about PISL. Can you explain what that is? Also wasn’t PISL the original language in America before French, ASL, BASL and Martha’s Vineyard signing?
Yes that’s true. PISL was the grandmother language first established by my homeland over 600, 700, 800 years ago. I don’t know exactly how old it is. It’s an ancient language. PISL has survived because we have 573 tribes right now. But many years ago, they were tens of thousands of tribes, 50,000 to 500,000. But genocide shrunk the numbers. We communicated with different languages all over. But one day two tribes came together while hunting. They spoke different languages. So they started signing to communicate. After that, PISL became alive and spread.
It’s fascinating because they were hearing. They couldn’t communicate with each other when they spoke. They used sign language to save their lives. Every tribe signed. Twenty tribes had a council meeting and communicated with each other by using PISL. That’s fascinating.
What’s the most important thing you desperately want the Deaf community to know?
PISL of course. I want the Deaf community to know about Pete PISL. Secondly I want them to know there is an indigenous Deaf population that they can talk to about history, education, the diversity of the heritage. All powwows are welcome. Thirdly, the month of November is Native American Heritage month. I want the Deaf community to recognize and become involved in Native American heritage and invite others to presentations, go to activities with the children to educate them about Native American Heritage month. And finally, I really want to let the Deaf community know there’s nothing wrong with signing Native American like this or this or this. It’s all about how you identify yourself, knowing your background, where you come from, your family history, however you’re comfortable identify yourself.
Before I close is there anything else you want to add?
How to be an ally and support our people. Like I said always invite people to attend presentations. It’s important that you don’t step in. Let us speak first. And listen to us too. It’s important to listen. Share information, share sources. That’s it.
Thank you.
If you want to participate in honoring Native Americans this month, and every month actually, you can also support Native American-owned businesses and charities, study and read the works of Native American authors and consider making donations this month to support National Native American Heritage month.
Sarah A. Young Brown Bear also says you can find more information on “Gathering Deafatives” on Facebook.
The Closed Caption version of this video can be found here: https://sign1news.com/2019/11/09/sign1news-11-9-19/
Sign1News is the first and only digital network, partnered with world news leader CNN, to offer on-line news and information in American Sign Language. Sign1News provides equal access to local, regional and national news and information to the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community via a daily post-produced broadcast. Sign1News: Your Life. Your Language.