iinnii is the blackfeet word for buffalo. and we started having dialogues, meeting with elders, meeting with our young people, and just talking about the return of buffalo. (children shouting and laughing) (soft music) (speaking in blackfeet) - i really learned in my life that if we were to teach our young anything, it had to be hands-on, it couldn't be from a book, and it couldn't be from lecture. they had to participate in actively. you could prepare them, but they had to actually participate in it. so the students... in the grades from kindergarten to the 12th grade, there was many needs that the students had, and their tribal identity was one of the most strongest need there was. (chattering) and they... just took to it like a duck to water. they wanted to know everything. (laughing and chattering) - our sister tribes is kainai and siksika. and so none of them have a buffalo herd. so i started asking some of that elder ladies, who i thought would probably have known how to butcher a buffalo. and i said, "have you guys eve

drumming) (crowd cheering) (calm music) (wind billowing) - so we've brought buffalo back here at blackfeet. i think in 1974, we started to restore animals back to here. and there wasn't a real big... interest, and i guess because buffalo had been gone from our culture for so long, being almost hunted to near extinction. so the biggest part of why our people... have never seen them. so after they were killed to near extinction, making way for cattle for this country, things were lost. our language, our way of religion... losing land. these animals here are my passion, bringing these animals back and returning that part of our culture. my name is ervin carlson, and i'm a member of the blackfeet nation and president of the intertribal buffalo council. i'm here today to respectfully urge passage of h.r. 5153, the indian buffalo management act, to create a permanent tribal buffalo restoration and management program within the department of the interior. buffalo are sacred to american indians. historical records indicate that american indians relied heavily on buffalo for survival. buffalo provi

homicide in the march hit-and-run killing of mika westwolf, a 22-year-old woman and member of the blackfeet tribe. 28-year-old sunny white, whose children are named "aryan" and "nation," also faces drug possession and child endangerment charges. her children were reportedly in the car at the time she crashed into mika. white was released from jail on sunday after she posted bond. mika westwolf's mother, carissa heavy runner, called the arrest a bittersweet moment for the family and for the campaign for missing and murdered indigenous women after prosecutors took months to bring charges. >> we just want the system to administer justice, impartially, without favor or bias. people who commit crimes need to be punished in accordance with the laws they have broken. in this case, this person killed my daughter. she was only 22 years old. amy: to see our coverage of mika westwolf's killing, visit our website democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of o

. >> she grew up on the reservation of the blackfeet nation in montana. >> she brought so much to not. she was an amazing partner to have. >> aw, thanks, buddy. >> it seems like that's emotional for you to hear. >> i guess i could try to choke it down and put it somewhere else, but why? it is. it is. it's -- it's a big responsibility, and it's terrifying. it's hard being a native actor, having this sort of -- this much that you can audition for. yeah, marty showed me what's possible. [ speaking in a global language ] >> reporter: the film called for her to speak fluent osage. dicaprio and de niro had to master that language too. [ speaking in a global language ] >> the language itself, how hard was that? >> it was -- it was tough. >> it wasn't easy. >> i mean he has the benefit of like -- i mean you did an incredible job, and you also did an incredible job of doing it the way a white man would say it. >> that's my job. >> reporter: for hollywood trivia buffs, this is the first time that dicaprio has worked with de niro and scorsese on the same film as the same time. >> the two of them

. >> reporter: she grew up on the reservation of the blackfeet nation in montana. >> she brought so much she was an amazing partner to have. >> oh, thanks, buddy. >> seems like it's emotional four to hear? >> i mean, i guess i could try to choke it down, put it somewhere else, but why? it is. it is. it's a big responsibility and it's terrifying. it's hard being a native actor, having this sort of, this much that you can audition for. yeah, marty showed me what's possible. [ speaking in global language ] >> reporter: the film called for her to speak fluent osage. dicaprio and de niro had to master that language, too. >> the language itself, how hard was that? >> it was tough. i mean, he has the benefit of, like, you did an incredible jobnd a also did an incredible job of doing it the way a white man would say it. >> that's my job. >> reporter: for hollywood trivia buffs, this is the first time that dicaprio has worked with de niro and scorsese on the same film at the same time. >> the two of them are so incredible together. their shorthand, the way they communicate, it's almost through si