“No matter how it was collected, where it was collected, when it was collected, our language belongs to us," said Ray Taken Alive, a Lakota teacher.

The Lakota Language Consortium had promised to preserve the tribe’s native language and had spent years gathering recordings of elders, including Taken Alive’s grandmother, to create a new, standardized Lakota dictionary and textbooks.

But when Taken Alive, 35, asked for copies, he was shocked to learn that the consortium, run by a white man, had copyrighted the language materials, which were based on generations of Lakota tradition. The traditional knowledge gathered from the tribe was now being sold back to it in the form of textbooks.

“No matter how it was collected, where it was collected, when it was collected, our language belongs to us. Our stories belong to us. Our songs belong to us,” Taken Alive, who teaches Lakota to elementary school students, told the tribal council in April.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldOP
    0·
    5 months ago

    From the fundraising page:

    I recently received a Cease and Desist letter on behalf of the LLC and Alex Fire Thunder, their deputy director signed by Chase Iron Eyes, a member of their legal team. They are also being represented by the lawfirm, Bochetto and Lentz, from Pennsylvania. Bochetto and Lentz helped represent Donald Trump in one of his impeachment hearings. They also fought to preserve “Columbus Day,” in Pennsylvania as well as a Columbus statue. They are targeting my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok in an attempt to silence me.  Although I am a Tribal citizen living in my traditional homelands, they are threatening to sue me through the Indiana state court system and/or South Dakota State court. Here are some examples of Social Media Activism

    The LLC is targeting me with an attempt to strip me of my professional licensure. A copy of the complaint is here:

    LLC Complaint, RTA

    Big Fire Law Rebuttal

    My hearing to defend my licensure is June 27th, at 9 am central time in Pierre, South Dakota. 

    They also targeted my wife with the South Dakota State Department of Education. Her hearing was held June 21st in Pierre, SD. She will know the outcome of that hearing on Thursday, June 29th