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In addition to the state and local elections on Tuesday the
Navajo Nation was heading to the polls to elect their tribal
representatives. As the largest federally
recognized tribe in the United States, the Navajo maintain their own government
which includes council representative, school
board members, and a president. It
is the presidential position which has been in the news over the past couple of
weeks.
Last week, the high court of the Navajo Nation ordered the
ballots for president be reprinted and the candidate Chris Deschene be
removed. This has been on ongoing legal
battle to determine Navajo presidential eligibility. According to the Navajo Constitution, those
seeking the office of president must be fluent in their native language. While some have testified to Deschene’s
ability to understand the language, he is not fluent.
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To the traditional Navajo, the ability of the president to
fluently speak their native language is critical to continuing on the rich and
deep culture of the Navajo Nation. To
others, the requirement is outdates and needs to be reconsidered given the lack
of emphasis on speaking Navajo in the
education system for those who are now in
their 30s and 40s. Below is an article explaining
the issue in greater detail…
Do you agree or disagree with the requirement to be fluent
in Navajo in order to be president?
Why? What role does language play
in our culture and is that role important?
Personally I think this is a good thing to have becuse if you do not take the time to be fluent you shouldn't be running. This is like if a person came to America not speaking English but running for president. Think of how confusing it would be when he gave speeches. I'm pretty sure that the Navajos do not all speak fluent but there are a lot that do. Another thing is that there there probably some very authentic Navajos that only speak in their native language and the president at the least should be able to respect that and adress them in their language. I also believe that this is a very important part of their culture, this reminds me of the requirement in the U.S.A. in wich to be the president you have to have been born in the untied states I think this is important to keep the culture. I 100% agree with the requirement.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is important for the president to speak the native language so that the native language is not forgotten. If the Navajo people see their leader, the person that they look up to, speaking their language fluently, they will be inspired to do the same. I believe that language is important to culture because it is a big part of your history and a big part of who you are. If we as Americans suddenly decided to speak Chinese, a big part of our history would disappear. We fought for our freedom from Britain, but adopted some certain aspects from the British culture such as our language. If all of the sudden we started speaking a foreign language then that chunk of our history would be gone. If the whole world spoke the same language without any accents or anything then the whole world would be speaking this monotone, dull language. That is not the kind of world that I want to live in. I enjoy diversity and differences and that is what I like about the world, everyone and every place is completely different and unique. I'm glad that the Navajo people value their history so much and I hope that we do too.
ReplyDeleteI think the president should be able to speak their native language. I think a the Navajo language is very important to the Navajo because there language is important to their history and culture. I also think Americans language plays a role in some of the phrases we say, but I do not think it is as important as the Navajo language. I think it is not as important because America does not have a national language.
ReplyDeleteI think that the president should have to speak their native language because so first of all their language isn't forgotten. I think our language is really important because if all of the sudden we decided to speak Japanese then like all of our history would be forgotten and I think that we should value our history.
ReplyDeleteDo you agree or disagree with the requirement to be fluent in Navajo in order to be president? Why? What role does language play in our culture and is that role important?
ReplyDeleteI think that you should be able to speak a bit of the Navajo language, but not completely fluent, in order to be a president. If they know how to speak a little Navajo then they could have a translator to help them. Also during their term as president, they could study the language and become more fluent. Culture and language fit together. If people are born the cultures language is passed on. So if someone is born, then the language won’t suddenly change. The language might change if someone invades and takes over a country. This usually happens because the attacking country will bring their culture with them. Language is very important in culture because it holds the people and the culture together. Most different cultures have different languages. Overall I think that the president should be required to know some Navajo language and start learning the rest.
I believe that you should have to be fluent in Navajo, because it's less confusing that way imagine if some one ran for president and didn't speak fluent English it wouldn't work because they wouldn't be able to understand us and we wouldn't be able to understand them I think that this rule is smart and accurate!
ReplyDeleteI think it is important for a president to be fluent in the language of the country that he or she represents. They are the face of that country and to not be able to speak the country's language shows the rest of the world that the leader of that country doesn't care about its history or culture. The Navajo president should be fluent in their native language to be able to really connect with the country and it's people. It also makes them able to represent the country's history and culture.
ReplyDeleteI think that the president should speak their native language because it has a mark on all of them that is their language and culture and the shouldn't let that pass.it is a huge part of history to if we spoke something else all of the sudden then our history would be forgotten or different i think it is important to speak the language of your culture!!
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the president should be flu2ent in the native language. If the president doesn't speak the native language he wont be able to communicate with the natives and he needs to represent the native Navajo. The role that their language plays in their culture I fe3el is mostly tradition. It is tradition to speak the native language so they should keep it that way. It is important because it has always been that way and it is important to the people so the president should be approved by the people.
ReplyDeleteI think the president elected needs to be fluent in Navajo because if he stutters or says the wrong thing people won't understand and he might say something bad on accident when he didn't mean it. It is also important to be able to speak their language because it is very cultural and traditional. This would really help the candidate be elected too.
ReplyDeleteI think that the president needs to be fluent in Navajo because it is their language and you can't be a leader if you don't know what to do. President Obama communicates with us, lets us know most of whats going on, and we can understand him.
ReplyDeleteI think that the president should have to speak their native langage because it would be bad if it was forgotten. I think that it is good that we all speak the language we speak because if we didn't, then people might get in a fight about what they think is the better language or something like that. I think our language is important to our culture because we all know what other people are saying.
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree with you having to be fluent to be the president. I just think if you don't know the language then you should learn it. If you have an emergency then you don't want everybody screaming and running around. You want to calm them down and that would be easier if you knew how to speak the language. Language is a part of our culture. It is nothing big but knowing our language helps know where we come from and who we are. If we didn't have our language then people wouldn't know what others were saying. Language plays an important role in our lives.
ReplyDeleteDo you agree or disagree with the requirement to be fluent in Navajo in order to be president? Why? What role does language play in our culture and is that role important?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the requirement for the president to be fluent in Navajo because that is their nations language. How can you represent a culture and way of life and not be conversant in the language of the people one is trying to represent? i also think the navajo language is a link to the past. If a culture gives up its uniqueness, the culture dies or is absorbed. I want to see the navajo nation preserve as much as it can of its heritage.
Language is how we connect in a society. It can be something in common among uncommon people. I believe that a common language is important. It unifies, makes it easier to do business, share ideas and teach. The importance of language is very crucial
I agree and disagree with the requirement of having to be fluent in the Navajo to be the president. I think that being fluent would make ruling easier so you could communicate better. I also disagree because I think that anyone could make a good president, not just the ones who are fluent. I think that if someone who was fluent it was elected it would make the Navajo Nation look more united together. Language plays a very important role in our culture and our lives. I think that because we can understand each other and communicate. If we can communicate then we can solve problems and share ideas. In conclusion, I think that language plays a big role in our culture and and is very important.
ReplyDeleteYes, so you can talk and address all the people of their nation. to communicate or let us all no what is happening in The United states of America or world to day.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both sides of the argument. Being fluent makes it so that you can participate in the rich customs and speak easier to your people. At the same time, if the leader you have chosen is the right person for the job, than I think he should be allowed to lead, regardless of whether he is fluent or not. I'm not sure if language plays a huge part in OUR culture, because we have people from all over, speaking all different languages.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important because we need to communicate with each other so we know what is happening and what problems we can help them with. So that we know what is going on over there.
ReplyDeleteI think that you need to be fluent in Navajo to run for president. To be fluent proves that you actually care enough about the culture or country to learn it's language. Language is a way to show love and friendship. It also is the way to COMMUNICATE. Communication is so important in every culture.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree that Navajo should run for president. Not all people know english and it would be perfect for Navajo to run for president. We all don't share the same language and the same culture. It is important to be able to communicate in order to do that we have to say the same language. Although we all should respect each others culture. Also language is like speaking in culture. communication is very important to our culture. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Navajo should run for president. To be influence with the speeches and all of that stuff you have to know the same language in order to understand it. Being influence is very important to culture and beliefs. Thank you!
DeleteI think it is important that the Navajo has a requirement to speak their native language. I think this because languages keep the culture alive. Also it helps you communicate with others. Its like people in Germany completely forgetting their native language and start speaking Spanish. Without the leader speaking the native language it just isn't the same as speaking the native language.
ReplyDeleteI think the president should have to be fluent in the Navajo language, because language is a big part of there culture and there language has been around for ever. Language plays an important role, because its how we communicate talk to each other.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important that he speaks fluents Navajo because for he can speak to his people and not have to have confusion and arguement. Language here is a big role because we can communicate with other and continue our tradtion.
ReplyDeleteI think that speaking these old native languages is crushal to getting along with people who are different because you cannot rule the people without knowing the people and language plays a huge role in keeping our world in balance.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is a good idea to be bilingual and since the navajo language was such a big part of our country I think that yes the president should speak the language fluently. I also think that the president should be able to speak the language because he can speak to so many people for different reasons like reservation expansion. The english language plays a huge role in our society and I think it is that way because we communicate with a lot of people and we also need it for lots of other things like presidential speeches.
ReplyDeleteI think it is not a bad idea for there to be a requirement to speak fluid Navajo. I thinks that because the Navajo people don't want to lose there language. The role the language plays in our culture is that it has been here for a long time and not a lot of people want it to go away.
ReplyDeleteI feel like it is a bad idea because only 20 out of the 100 of people 20 only speak it fleetly . the lauguage is long gone in the past they shouldn't have to speak it fleetly. That's it that i have to say.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a good idea that the president has to be fluent in their native language. I think that because it helps keep the culture alive. It also helps make the language not disappear. Here in the United States, the president has to have been born in the United States. I think that is good because that way they know what the United States is like better than sombody from Spain or Australia would. This helps keep our culture alive, too
ReplyDeleteI think that it is really important that the president should know the native language because this language is a huge part of there culture and they want to keep the language going. Epecially that it has been a huge part of there history too. I think our language is really important to us because this is how we communicate with each other and without our language we wouldn't be able to understand each other.
ReplyDeleteI would think that it is very important for the president to speak the native language. But, since they have not been making the language a requirement in their schools I think that it shouldn't keep a good person running for office. I think language is a very important part of a culture and should be an important part of an education.
ReplyDelete