The Dormant Language of Love

The Cherokee language is deeply tied to Cherokee identity; yet generations of assimilation efforts by the U.S. government and anti-Indigenous stigmas have forced the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes to declare a State of Emergency for the language in 2019. While there are 430,000 Cherokee citizens in the three federally recognized tribes, fewer than an estimated 2,000 fluent speakers remain—the majority of whom are elderly. The covid pandemic has unfortunately hastened the course. Language activists, artists, and the youth must now lead the charge of urgent radical revitalization efforts to help save the language from the brink of extinction.

At the annual Congreso in South Los Angeles, a group of Latine clowns come together to teach enthusiastic attendees the complex and joyful art of clowning. Their vibrant optimism is powerfully juxtaposed with their stories of resilience and sacrifice having immigrated to the U.S.—demonstrating how the arts, community and chosen family can forge a path to healing.

Fifty years ago, Tim McDermit fell 40 feet from his college dorm roof. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and was diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder which left him unable to speak. Though 2 million others in the U.S. suffer from aphasia, few have even heard of it. Over the past five decades, Tim has struggled with relearning how to communicate all over again, navigating the social stigmas that come with broken speech, and finally letting go of the life that was snatched away from him.

Each day at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, the hypnotic chants of cattle auctioneers fill the exchange floor from dawn into the night. Livestock buyers gather from all around the country to outbid each other in a time-honored ritual that is just as much spectacle as it is a monument to competitive commerce.