Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

You Tube video on Native identity and Tlingit song

The North Dakota Native Tourism Alliance will be hosting its second annual Native American Heritage Month Celebration at the state capital in Bismarck from Nov. 15-16. (Photo courtesy of the North Dakota Native Tourism Alliance)

Good morning:

I’ve included a You Tube video here of Duane Aucoin, Tlingit, speaking Tlingit and singing a song. He also offers some thoughts on cultural identity. The greatest concern among all tribes is language preservation. But what are we doing to to revitalize our languages? I’ll be regularly posting information on this American Indian blog site to share information about language revitalization efforts around the country, including language programs on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota.

Thanks for reading.

Jodi Rave

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.