RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – A Pine Ridge-based non-profit wants to ensure the Lakota language never dies and even gets stronger.

As part of the Black Hills Pow Wow, Tusweca Tiospaye held their Lakota Dakota Nakota Language Summit.

The summit was born in 2008 to unify the Oceti Sakowin or Sioux people in an effort to revitalize the Lakota language and culture.

During the event, people have the opportunity to learn strategies, resources, and technologies they can use to learn the language.

Through his travels and language-learning studies, the director of the non-profit, Michael Carlow said he noticed many reservations and communities were having trouble with the decline of the Lakota language and culture.

“A lot of the social problems that our people have been faced with over the years, I directly link those to the decline of language and culture,” said Carlow.

He said it’s important to give back the language and culture to the youth, to help them be successful in their lives, and language is the foundation and identity for indigenous-people.

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