Wisconsin Life

When the nation struck an agreement with a group to assist in language revitalization, it was a very controversial issue as to whether or not we were going to place our language on a CD or we were going to make it open. And as a matter of fact, a lot of people still hold that as a no-no. We're to a point where it's by any means necessary. Without compromising some of these things that are sacred and exclusive to Ho-Chunk people. I'll kind of openly admit this now, but the people that were worried that white people were going to learn our language weren't learning our language. And the sad thing is, if somebody wants to learn our language, they will! I always found it ironic that the people that couldn't speak were worried about someone else learning their language. It didn't take very long before people were bold enough to start openly being accepting of having these things written, first of all, and then reproduced for the purposes of learning and reference.