![]() To date, eight high school seniors have been awarded California's State Seal of Biliteracy in Yurok, a prestigious accomplishment that signifies commitment to and competency in the language. Yurok language classes are also offered in local Head Start preschool programs as well as in some K-8 schools when there is teacher availability, and at the College of the Redwoods, the regional community college. The classes meet language instruction requirements for admission to University of California and California State University systems. Today, the Yurok language is offered as an elective at four high schools in far northern California. An enrolled Yurok tribal member, Gensaw is also part of the tribe's Yurok Language Program, which is at the forefront of efforts to keep the Yurok language alive. Tribal officials say Gensaw is one of 16 advanced-level Yurok language-keepers alive today. ![]() I thought, why didn't we get to have that? We needed more respect for sharing our culture." James Gensaw's work in California's public high schools as a Yurok language teacher and mentor to Native American students is part of a reckoning with equity and justice in schools. ![]() "Other cultural groups and issues would sometimes be presented in school assemblies, in the gym, where teachers monitored student behavior. "The media would be invited to come cover the dancing as part of their Thanksgiving coverage, and it felt like we were a spectacle," he continued. Some kids would make fun of the Native American dancers, mimicking war cries and calling out 'chief.'" "On the other, it wasn't always respectful. ![]() "On the one hand, it was nice that the school wanted to have us share our culture," Gensaw told me during an interview. They would always ask him to bring students from the Native American Club, which he advises, to demonstrate Yurok dancing on the high school quad at lunch time. Whenever November would roll around, James Gensaw, a Yurok language high school teacher in far northern California, would get a request from a school administrator. This article was originally published on The Conversation. ![]()
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