today id like to tell you about my ancestors the taino people! if youve been following me for a while youll know ive briefly mentioned them before and how some even looked like pre reform vulcans!
the tainos are a subgroup of the arawak and they lived in the carribeans but specifically cuba, jamaica, the dominican republic, haiti, and puerto rico (where im from!). because they lived in the tropics, there was little necessity for clothing and it was used as a form of hierarchy. we are not federally recognized as a tribe as our people are believe to be extince but we are not!!!
the taino people are rich in culture and you even use some words by them! barbecue came from barbacoa, tobacco from tabacu’, hurricane from jurakan, canoes from canoas, hammock from jamaca, and many more words! so as you have barbecue today with your family and friends remember where that word and practice originated!
the taino people were among the first people to be affected by columbus. they were very friendly and offered gold, jewry, and parrots to columbus and his crew. but because of columbus’ greed and how he thought the tainos were primitive, he used their hospitality against them and soon what was a friendly relationship between the taino people and columbus and his men went very sour. columbus demanded from them more of the gold they had offered him through friendship and if they did not bring him the amount they wanted, he would cut their hands off or even kill them. (amongst countless other terrible things he and his men did)
one of the many memorable caciques (chiefs) was hatüey. he led a group of natives in a fight against the spaniards and became known as one of the first fighters against colonialism. learn more about him here
columbus brought with him slaves from africa so many if not most of us carribeans now are a mix of taino, african, and spanish heritage amongst other things as well
taino traditions and our people are very much alive today! this was a very small recap so if youd like to learn more about my ancestors please do some research about them!
thankyou for reading and here are some posts of masterlists of native owned businesses you can support! postpost
If you are part of or support neo-Mexica revisionism or any neo-indigenous revisionism you are supporting erasure and violence towards Indigenous peoples.
Whether it be the Mexica Movement (which is NOT the only neo-Mexica group), neo-Taino “tribes”, Mayanism, Rainbow Warriors or whatever else; it is all appropriative, silencing, full of erasure and violent.
You do not become Indigenous by yelling that you are Indigenous the loudest.
You do not become Indigenous by the popularity of your ideas among non-Indigenous majority populations or by misleading Indigenous folks who are not familiar with the Peoples you falsely claim.
You do not become Indigenous by propaganda.
You do not become Indigenous by defining indigeneity so that it suits you.
You do not become Indigenous by self-imposing rules based on your interpretation of non-indigenous scholarship.
You do not become Indigenous by silencing the Indigenous peoples you are most directly violent towards.
If you want to be “enlightened” if you want to find your People and learn more about heritage down your family lines you do that respectfully through your People/Nation and them alone. You cannot get this from books. You cannot get this from those who strong arm their way into Indigenous spaces.
