Rev. Dr. Richard A. Grounds is Yuchi and Seminole. He is the Executive Director of the Yuchi Language Project, Research Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tulsa, and Chair of the Global Indigenous Languages Caucus. Dr. Grounds was instrumental in seeing the United Nations declare 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages and served as the Indigenous language expert for the North American region at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2016. Dr. Grounds insists misuse and mockery of Indigenous images are directly tied to federal policy, forced removals, and stripping Indigenous peoples of their language, culture, and identity.
United Nations Document by Rev. Dr. Grounds