they've been declassified since the Carter administration, i thought?
RMD, I went to the codetalkers museum in Kayenta, AZ, which was hosted at the time in a McDonalds. I think I burst out crying, it was amazing and generous and humbling.
earlier than that -- they were declassified in 1968.
i'm particularly stunned at both the code talkers and the army 442nd infantry regiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)), given that both groups were staggeringly heroic and both were pretty oppressed at the time -- some of the 442nd enlisted straight out of the california concentration camps, and it had been only 80 years since "the long walk" forced resettlement of the navajo people.
SRSLY - both groups make me want to continue to fight to make this the country our founders dreamt about, for _everyone_, not just white european men. :)
When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time on my grandparents' cattle ranch in north-central Arizona, about midway between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon. We only got one TV station, the local NBC affiliate in Flagstaff (Channel 2). Every weekday at lunchtime, they aired the "Navajo Nation Report", which was a 30 minute news program, broadcast in Navajo. It really is a unique language, unlike any other I've ever heard.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 06:19 pm (UTC)Glad they're marching.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 07:57 pm (UTC)RMD, I went to the codetalkers museum in Kayenta, AZ, which was hosted at the time in a McDonalds. I think I burst out crying, it was amazing and generous and humbling.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 08:08 pm (UTC)i'm particularly stunned at both the code talkers and the army 442nd infantry regiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)), given that both groups were staggeringly heroic and both were pretty oppressed at the time -- some of the 442nd enlisted straight out of the california concentration camps, and it had been only 80 years since "the long walk" forced resettlement of the navajo people.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 08:24 pm (UTC)SRSLY - both groups make me want to continue to fight to make this the country our founders dreamt about, for _everyone_, not just white european men. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 08:22 pm (UTC)