Educational Media Reviews Online

We may not realize the importance of language to identity. ᏓᏗᏬᏂᏏ (We Will Speak) is the story of the Cherokee community and their efforts to revitalize the Cherokee Language. By preserving the language, they also reconnect with their culture and better understand who they are, where they came from and where they are going to. Healing is still taking place. The film charts the beginnings of this process through a new generation committed to repairing the basket of their collective identity.

The documentary features the journey of three people: Carolyn Swepston (a mother, second language learner, and now a teacher), Keli Gonzales (a recent graduate of Northeastern, second language learner, talented artist, and producer of this documentary), and Schon Duncan (second language learner and teacher, writer and director of this documentary). In the film we see them interact with members of their family and community who are devoted to establishing new ways of connecting and learning. Cherokee community experts in education, museum management, and first language speakers are interviewed for context. 

Keli’s goal is to create art with language in it. She drives with Shon Duncan to the Greasy School, a campus acquired by the Cherokee Nation to immerse students in Cherokee language beginning in Fall 2022. She was hired to create a mural of words. Keli’s family is so proud of her, they gather to watch her paint the mural, which is the Cherokee phrase, translated by Schon, as stating, “Our language, all of us will speak, today, tomorrow, and forever.” This is the core message of the film and lends its sentiment to the title. Around the mural are handprints from her grandmother and members of the community. In an interview, she expresses how deeply she wants to please her elders and they, in turn, express their pride in her. Where they once felt shame in their identity, she has restored confidence in them and in the future. Despite all her work at a young age, she fears she is not doing enough.

Carolyn, the mother of two boys, is seen in different contexts such as with her children playing in the water and travelling from Oklahoma to North Carolina by car. The family drove to Kituwah in North Carolina. Kituwah is known as the Cherokee mother town; it was destroyed in 1761. This is the same journey as the Trail of Tears but from west to east. The filmmakers let her record her journey by cell phone lending it a sense of nearness. In one scene while driving and reflecting, Carolyn weeps for her ancestors when imagining their being forced out of their homeland. In 1838-1839 the government forced 16,000 Cherokee from the Eastern United States over 1,200 miles to Indian Territory; the film notes that it took seven months and over 4,000 people died. Later in the documentary, we see her teaching in the classroom. She takes the children out to name the squash and the butterflies in Cherokee. She is content now that she is having an impact and instilling a passion for learning amongst others. As she was a recent learner, she knows what helped her to learn best.

The film explains the history of the Cherokee and their language. There are three federally recognized Cherokee tribes that meet in a Tri-Council: 1) the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, 2) The Eastern Band in North Carolina, and 3) the United Keetoowah Band in Oklahoma. Members of all three tribes are featured in the documentary. In 2019, it was the Tri-Council that declared a state of emergency for the Cherokee language and developed efforts towards revitalization programs. They do not have an alphabet, but a syllabary (written symbols that represent syllables of words) created by the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah around 1810 to 1820. This is a notable achievement which is not taught in U.S. schools. In the film it is said that he is, “...probably the most famous person in American history about whom so little is known.”

The many ways that language can be learned are demonstrated through : music, art, repetition, mentoring, discussion groups, and reading. In addition to the establishment of an immersion school, we see Howard Paden gathering a list of all first language speakers onto a Speaker Roll. Paden is establishing a language village where the community can live and speak the language together. Just in November 2022, the Durbin Feeling Language Center is opened; the community regards Durbin Feeling as the godfather of language learning; before he passed away in 2020, he was the first to sign the Speaker Roll. There is also the Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program (CLMAP) where speakers work intensely all day long for a couple of years. We see Carolyn graduate from this program and express her frustration at times. You must “reprogram your brain” as the language is 85% verbs where English is 25% verbs. While the program is successful, they are working to enlarge it so more students can attend.

How language was lost is covered. Initially it is from the youth being removed from their communities into abusive American Indian boarding schools (up though the 20th century) where they were forced to assimilate to Anglo-American culture, especially with religion and language. Gradually, parents lost their knowledge of speaking it so they could not pass it on to their children. Now the parents are participating in classes and learning with and from their children.

There are three parts segmented by title cards each with words of wisdom: Part 1: Trust each other's existence as being sacred or important, Part 2: In the mind and heart always have the thought of working together; Part 3: Strengthen one another with encouraging words in all that you do. Through each of these segments, viewers are immersed in scenes of Cherokee lives as they work together to revitalize their language.

The film is carefully crafted. I appreciated the periodic title cards that provide history and background. While there are numerous members of the community featured in the film, each interview has the name of the speaker in English and often in Cherokee. The credits let us know what Carolyn, Keli and Schon are doing now. They include all the members of their community and honor Eda Mae Scraper (d. 2022) and T.J. Holland (d. 2020). The film was made during the pandemic (we see Zoom meetings and masks); it is unclear if they died due to the virus, but I read some articles post-viewing that stated that COVID-19 hit Native Americans especially hard.

As the film is called ᏓᏗᏬᏂᏏ (We Will Speak) it is essential that those who watch the film will listen. This is an important part of the Cherokee story as told by them and not others. I look forward to additional documentaries that tell stories from their perspective.

Awards:
Winner, Hibulb Cultural Center Film Festival; Dead Center Film Festival, Best Oklahoma Feature; Circle Cinema Film Festival, Best Documentary; Albuquerque Film and Music Experience, Best Indigenous Feature (Runner Up)

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