Language lives on for tribes in Oklahoma despite determined erasure attempts

KOSU by Sarah Liese (Twilla), April 15, 2025.

More than a century after U.S. Indian boarding schools attempted to erase Indigenous cultures and languages, tribal nations in Oklahoma are working to reclaim and teach their languages to the youth. Despite research showing how language learning can improve mental health outcomes, world language credits are not required for graduation following recent state legislation.

In a public school district in Lawton, a city of about 90,000 residents situated on the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache reservation, high school students have the option to enroll in three Native American language courses relevant to the nearby tribes: Comanche I, Comanche II and Kiowa I.

Dry plains and rolling hills make up most of the land in Lawton, located in southwest Oklahoma, and the history of that land is complicated. A Comanche County District judge recently ruled that the reservation, also referred to as the KCA, was disestablished in 2021; however, all the tribes affiliated with the KCA recognize the reservation as still intact due to a violation of a key treaty and the federal government’s broken promises.

The languages, much like the area’s jurisdiction, carry a story of desecration and a community fight to reclaim what was once rightfully theirs.

Inside a Comanche language course at the Lawton Public Schools’ Life Ready Center, more than a half a dozen Lawton high school students sit in a circle, repeating after their teacher, Martie Woothtakewahbitty.

“Soobesʉ Nʉmʉnʉʉ sʉmʉoyetʉ̠ Nʉmʉ niwʉnʉʔeetʉ,” she said. “Ʉkitsi nʉnʉ tʉasʉ Nʉmʉ niwʉnʉ̠hutuʔi.Ubʉ̠nitu tʉasʉ Nʉmʉ niwʉnʉ̠hutuʔinʉ.”

Woothtakewahbitty asks her students for an English translation, and they reply, “We spoke Comanche. We speak Comanche now, and we will speak Comanche in the future.”

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