Tribal nations ramp up, reflect on language preservation efforts after American Rescue Plan allocation Nancy Marie Spears - Gaylord News Justin Neely, director of language for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, grew up among elders who told him that if the Potawatomi language is lost, so are the Potawatomi people. Now, the tribal elders who speak those Native American languages are dying from COVID-19 and COVID-complications at much higher rates than white populations. Neely compared the death of a speaker to a library burning down. He said there are seven unique tribes of Potawatomi in the United States, and among all Potawatomi there were fewer than 10 first-language speakers left going into the pandemic. Due to COVID-19, some of those might have died in the past year.