Posted on 10/14/2016 9:40:29 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Residents in the nations northernmost community have voted to change the name of the Alaska town to its traditional Inupiat Eskimo name.
A slight majority of voters in the largely Inupiat city of Barrow approved efforts to change the communitys name to Utqiagvik (oot-GHAR-vik) in their local election Oct. 4. The vote was tight, with 381 in favor of the name change and 375 against it.
Basically, it reinforces the cultural identity of the people, said Mayor Bob Harcharek, who is not Native. He noted that early day missionaries set up schools in the area where students were forbidden to speak in their native language and were punished if they did so. It caused some social psychological problems.
Barrow City Council member Qaiyaan Harcharek, the mayors son, introduced a local ordinance in August that began the process ratified by voters. The younger Harcharek is Inupiat on his mothers side.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
I didn't realize that Inuit was older, per se, than English. Can you cite any sources to support that assertion?
You do realize that bilingualism is not a handicap, right? That bilinguals actually use more of their brain?
Are you opposed to teaching Ancient Greek in schools?
Regards,
So what are they after here? Oblivion?
Its on the Arctic Ocean. Its as far north as you can live on the earth.
You have a perpetual midnight sun in the summer and near astronomical night in the winter.
Not a tourist destination.
When Quinn-the-Eskimo get here, everybody’s going to jump for joy.
So, are they gonna rip up the airstrip and revert to their previous way of life?
I don't get this. I don't.
Peking
Bombay
Saigon
Ceylon
Burma
Barrow
Rhodesia
The only people not allowed to have a cultural identity are white people.
The new name means, ‘Someone hit keyboard while blindfolded.’
"It'll always be Barrow to me".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.