Anishinaabe core values and stories drive Ajuawak Kapa-she-SIT as a storyteller, actor, writer, and filmmaker. Born and raised on the White Earth Ojibwe Nation, of Ashinaabe, Cree and Jewish descent, Kapa-she SIT draws on that knowledge in his latest film, “Language Keepers,” a short documentary now in the works that is set to be released next year. “I let the stories I was told and things and people I’ve experienced bleed into my work as an actor, writer, and director.
Twenty-five years later, the Northwest Indian Language Institute’s work remains as urgent and important as ever. Decades of government policies aimed at forcibly assimilating Native Americans, guided by the notion of “kill the Indian and save the man,” included generations of Indigenous children ripped away from their families and placed in boarding schools, where speaking their language was forbidden. The cumulative result was the severe diminishment and, at times, complete loss of Indigenous languages across North America. That legacy set the backdrop for the formation of the Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI) in Oregon in 1997.
Tomorrow is primary day for Cheyenne River Sioux Voters. Polls open at 7 am and close at 7 PM…there are 21 polling places in the 6 districts on Cheyenne River – Voters will be asked to cast their ballot for candidates who will move on to the general election in November.