At First Wary Of Vaccine, Cherokee Speaker Says It Safeguards Language, Culture

Cherokees, based in eastern Oklahoma, have directed some of their early doses of vaccine to frontline medical workers and the elderly — and have reserved some doses for Cherokee language speakers. The Cherokee Nation has had more than 11,000 positive cases of COVID-19 and 63 deaths, including at least 20 Cherokee speakers.

Only around 2,000 people are thought to be fluent speakers of the centuries-old language, which is central to the identity of a once-powerful nation. One of those speakers is Meda Nix, 72, who teaches Cherokee to fifth graders.

She says that by preserving her language, she is really preserving "everything. Our culture. Our beliefs. Our ways."

Nix says some aspects of Cherokee simply don't translate. She recalls a pastor in her hometown who told a funny story in Cherokee and declined to translate it because "it's not funny in English."