( CNN ) -- Chester Nez , the former Marine and last of the original 29 Navajo code talkers , passed away June 4 at age 93 . When an elder dies in Indian country -- especially someone as revered and decorated as Nez , the World War II veteran -- we , Native Americans , feel it , all of us , regardless of tribe or nation . We are also reminded that , not long ago , in the 19th and 20th centuries , Native American culture , including our languages , was considered a threat to U.S. national security . Then , the government worked in collusion with Christian institutions to stamp out Native American languages , including Navajo . `` A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one , '' Capt . Richard Pratt famously read from a paper at an 1892 convention . `` In a sense , I agree with the sentiment , but only in this : that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead . Kill the Indian in him , and save the man . '' Pratt was the founder of the Indian boarding schools , institutions charged with turning the `` red Indian '' into the `` noble savage . '' Native Americans : We 're not your mascots . Chester Nez attended one of these schools as a child , and was punished when he spoke Navajo . One ca n't help but think that , had it not been for the resilience of the Navajo people and their resistance to these early oppressive American policies , it 's quite possible that World War II could have ended differently . Without the use of the Navajo language that was once discouraged by American policy , the U.S. military could have lost a distinct advantage over its enemy . Nez 's death is a reminder that America 's strength lies in its diversity . Native Americans , who have not always been included in the American story , should be remembered and honored for their contributions . Before the arrival of the Europeans , there were between 300 and 500 unique languages spoken throughout what is now the United States and Canada . Today , there are fewer than 200 , and that number will continue to decrease if North American indigenous language revitalization efforts are n't considered paramount to the continuity of Native American communities by the United States . Opinion : NFL may throw flag on N-word , but what about the ' R-word ' ? Recently , a neighbor and I were discussing Native American languages . He was curious why more Native American elders `` do n't just pass on the language to the next generation . '' I told him that many of said elders still suffer from the trauma they experienced in the Christian boarding school system , and remembered what Ruby Left Hand Bull told me recently . `` They 'd pierce your tongue if you spoke your language ! '' my elder recalled . `` Or they 'd make you stand in front of the classroom and they 'd tell you to stick your tongue out and then they 'd whip it with a wooden ruler , just for speaking our language . '' Ruby knew our Lakota language growing up , she said , and very well . But she has lost it , she said . She understands it , but it 's all but left her , courtesy of the boarding schools . I told my neighbor , who said he was a third-generation Italian-American , that his people 's language could die in New York , but there is no threat that it will become an extinct language any time soon . `` There are more Italians speaking Italian every day right across the Atlantic , '' I said . `` You could board a plane or hop a ship today and travel to your home country and hear your people 's language reverberating off Italian walls . We , Native Americans , do n't share in that luxury . This is it . This is our home country . Our languages are invariably on the brink of extinction , especially since we are 1 % of the population . So when a Native American language dies , it 's forever gone . '' Our elders tell us that when a language dies , so , too , does the culture . But all is not lost . There are various campaigns to revitalize Native American languages . The state of Colorado , for example , passed a law stating that Native Americans who speak their language can teach it to students for credit at secondary schools under the category `` World Languages . '' Maybe one day all Native Americans will , again , be fluent speakers of their language -- just like Chester Nez , the warrior . Indeed , the world would be a richer place for it . My hope is that when President Barack Obama visits with our Native American leaders this month at Standing Rock , North Dakota , he will be reminded of the significant contributions of Native American peoples like Chester Nez . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Simon Moya-Smith .
Simon Moya-Smith : The death of original code talker Chester Nez is a significant cultural loss . Nez attended boarding schools that discouraged the use of his Navajo language . Author : Native American elders say when a language dies , so does the culture . Without the use of the Navajo language , the U.S. military could have lost a war , author says .