Arawak Tainos

We are still here. We are still alive.
We simply assimilated in order to fit into a new society that was developing much like how every generation, in your memory, has had to evolve and get use to new things, so did we. And because we assimilated how we dressed, spoke and worshiped changed. What others ate and drank and listened to was also influenced by us, namely Barbecue, Sugar, Rum and Hip Hop.

Many of us Arawaks and Mayans and Olmec and so on “Insert Your Indigenous Tribe Name” did what we had to do to NOT get killed, to partake in the modern tech, modern knowledge and acquire funds to get the modern goods being created and traded around us. Think about getting indoor plumbing in the 1900s or a smart phone in to 2000 aka our modern tech. Acquiring new things of the 15th, 16th and 17th century also meant participating in the system that maded ownership possible. To this day people of color in the Americas aka Indigenous People can not resist the acquisition of a new brightly colored outfit, new jewelry or new kicks. That culture didn’t start with Jordans or Zoot Suits as noted by our festival feathers, gems and beaded regalia.

Learning English, French, Portuguese and/or Spanish was one way of keeping us out of insane asylums. Those who refused to assimilate either went on in silence — speaking native only at home when strangers were not around and keeping silent when their oppressors were present. More than survival, humanity of yester-years and today have always explored cross cultural curiosity. The U.S.A. and South Africa might have made blood mixing illegal but those racist laws were made to control natural, normal human biology for reasons I won’t begin to rehash.

My Arawak Great Grandmother had a fancy for all things white and bright. She was not a slave, she was not raped. She did not give up who she was she simply chose to explore Irish and Portuguese men because they interested her. Not mixing with other races or classes was a Eurocentric ideal us Taino / Arawaks did not share. In fact since the Spanish were not against mixing as the English were they crafted an entire social caste system based on the natural mixing that was going on. And if social climbing was culturally accepted by mass social agreement, naturally mothers pushed their daughters to marry “up” as we still see happening today.

Mixing was outlawed in the U.S.A. in the early 1900s, thus, when my Arawak/Taino family moved to the States in the 1970 with our mix of Arawak American, Irish European and Tamil Asian Indian, they were looked at as weird aliens because people in Queens, NY could neither peg them as “white” nor “black” which are meaningless color race names specific to U.S. racism. Yet we existed and still do.

When taking into account the written history of a group of people who banned reading and writing of those they oppressed and who robbed and looted our artifacts and art and historical collections you have to question every facet of their story. They had to take from us to appear superior. Who does that but a bullies?

Taino bloodlines are strong. We are still alive. We are still here and our culture has permeated the world. Just look at all the top artists of color they Arawak/Taino to de bone! What we bring to the world stage isn’t small. Our ancestors our culture our ways have influenced much of what we are able to experience today. And not just Tainos but other American tribespeople who have shaped music, art, inventions, food, fashion and revolutions after revolutions.

Tulsa OK, aka Black Wall street was Indigenous American excellence until the U.S. Government bombed their progress. Malcolm X and Shirley Chisholm were Taino. Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Biggie Smalls, Foxy Brown, JayZ, CardiB also all Tainos. Chaka Khan, James Brown, Pam Grier, Snoop Dogg and More are all American Indians descended through generations of assimilation not just for the sake of survival but simply because you can’t catch us all.

I dear you to question any text that claims total genocide. They can no longer hold up as truth because we the descendants of Tainos are no longer afraid to say we are here and tell our family stories; to tell the tales of our survival. We once had no control of the books being written about us until now. The internet has freed us from requirement of male European approval to publish our truth. So, Tainos everywhere, please speak up, tell your family stories. Write down your grandparents victories and publish them!

We understand and respect what our ancestors had to do to make our reality one where we can live free, take our minds to the highest heights, beat oppression with intelligence and see the world not from servant quarters but from the multifaceted opportunities we have access to.

The time is now because year after year we are coming out and speaking up for our bloodlines.

Here are a limited selection of amazing Tainos doing the work today to bring our culture forward:

https://www.youtube.com/@CasaAreyt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyox4qVTukg

This list will be updated as new information is published on behalf of all Indigenous Americans.