Overview
Senate Joint Resolution 379 was introduced on September 15, 1988 (legislative day September 7) during the 100th Congress, 2d Session. It establishes as the policy of the United States the preservation, protection, and promotion of the rights of indigenous Americans to use, practice, and develop Native American languages.
The resolution was read twice and referred to the Select Committee on Indian Affairs. It contains both critical findings about the suppression of Native American languages and a formal congressional acknowledgment of the Iroquois Confederacy's influence on the U.S. Constitution.
Sponsors: Senators Inouye (D-HI), Evans (R-WA), Daschle (D-SD), DeConcini (D-AZ), McCain (R-AZ), Murkowski (R-AK), Domenici (R-NM), and Matsunaga (D-HI) — a bipartisan coalition of eight senators.
Congressional Findings
The resolution makes the following critical "Whereas" findings:
The unique status of the cultures and languages of Native Americans is analogous to that of native and endemic species in the United States, and the United States has the responsibility to act together with indigenous Americans to ensure the survival of these unique cultures and languages.
Traditional languages are an integral part of their cultures, traditional heritage, and identity, forming the basic medium of the transmission and survival of Native American literatures, histories, religions, and values.
The widespread practice of treating Native American languages as if they were non-valid languages has placed Native Americans in a position of being treated as linguistic outcasts in their own homeland.
The lack of a clear, comprehensive and consistent Federal policy has often resulted in acts of suppression and extermination directed against Native American languages and cultures, especially as used by the young in educational institutions.
Acts of suppression and extermination directed against Native American languages and cultures have often been premised on bases incompatible with a United States policy of self-determination for Native Americans.
Native American languages and cultures in their own homelands, principal settlements and reservations have been restricted, banned, and, in some cases, exterminated.
All indigenous languages of the Americas are recognized as full members of the world's linguistic community and are fully capable of serving as a means of communication for the full range of human experiences.
Languages are critical to the survival of cultural integrity of any peoples and provide a direct and powerful means of promoting intercultural communication.
Congressional Acknowledgment of Iroquois Influence
"America owes to the Iroquois Confederacy and other Indian Nations for their demonstration of enlightened, democratic principles of government and their example of a free association of independent Indian nations."
This resolution contains one of the most significant congressional acknowledgments of indigenous contributions to American democracy. Congress also:
- (2) Reaffirms the constitutionally recognized government-to-government relationship with Indian Tribes, which has historically been the cornerstone of this nation's official Indian policy
- (3) Acknowledges the trust responsibility and obligation of the United States Government to Indian Tribes, including Alaska Natives, for preservation, protection and enhancement, including the provision of health, education, social and economic assistance programs
- (4) Acknowledges the need to exercise utmost good faith in upholding its treaties with the various Tribes, as the Tribes understood them to be, and the duty of a Great Nation to uphold its legal and moral obligations for the benefit of all of its citizens
Resolved — The Policy
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That —
(1) It shall be the policy of the United States to preserve, protect, and promote the rights of indigenous Americans, including Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native American Pacific Islanders, to use, practice, and develop Native American languages, including the right to use Native American languages as the media of instruction in State and Federal institutions of compulsory education and as the official language in their traditional territories.
(2) The Federal Government supports the granting of proficiency in an indigenous language the same academic credit as proficiency in a foreign language.
(3) The Federal Government strongly recommends that all institutions of elementary, secondary, and higher education include indigenous languages in the curriculum in the same manner as foreign languages are and that competency in the indigenous language be granted the same full academic credit.
Significance for Tribal Nations
S.J. Res. 379 is foundational for tribal sovereignty arguments because it:
- Establishes that suppression of Native American languages was incompatible with self-determination policy — Congress explicitly recognized that past federal actions against indigenous languages violated the government's own stated principles
- Formally acknowledges the Iroquois Confederacy's influence on the U.S. Constitution — tribal governance traditions are not merely historical curiosities but the foundations of American democracy itself
- Reaffirms the government-to-government relationship — Congress treats Indian Tribes as sovereign entities, not as subordinate populations
- Supports tribal language use in education and governance — tribes have the right to use their languages as official languages in their traditional territories
- Recognizes indigenous languages as full members of the world's linguistic community — rejecting the colonial premise that Native American languages were "non-valid"
For ATN, this resolution supports the argument that tribal governments have the inherent right to operate in their traditional languages and that tribal governance traditions predate and influenced the American system of government.