Tainos fight to keep their culture alive

The Caribbean is a beautiful place, and that beauty comes at a high price as luxury developers try to claim control over a piece of paradise. But long ago, before fancy hotels and casinos became the norm, the Caribbean islands were home to the Taíno people. History books tell us that the arrival of Europeans brought about the downfall of that chief, and the Taíno people slowly drifted toward extinction. However, there are many who disagree with that idea. Kacike Roberto Mukaro Agüeybana Borrero, President of the United Confederation of Taino Peoples and member of the Guainía tribeis one.

“At this time, the Taíno people would be considered the tenth largest tribe or nation in the United States and its territories,” says Kacike Mukaro.

Yet the Taíno Nation is not recognized by the U.S. federal government. In fact, the only government organization that currently recognizes a tribe of the Taíno people as an indigenous group is the Government of the US Virgin Islands.

But why is this? And why is there still so much debate about whether the Taínos still exist and who can claim this ancestry? Well, a lot of it stems from the way the colonial powers imposed their policies on the indigenous population, something the tribe is still seeing the consequences of hundreds of years later.

The impact of colonialism on the Taíno nation

“Over the years, the way we understand race, people and community connections has been influenced by colonialism,” says Kacike Mukaro. This is evident in the way the U.S. government treats indigenous peoples. A number of criteria must be met before a tribe is federally recognized. These “imposed” criteria make it extremely difficult for tribal peoples to be recognized.

One of those obstacles is the blood quantum system in the US. Blood quantum is a way to track an individual’s amount of Native American blood. While this may seem well-intentioned at first glance, Kacike Mukaro says there is a darker underlying truth.

“(In the 18th century) … there was a general consensus that if they put a limit, (the tribes) would cease to exist because more people from outside the community would come in and then eventually there would be no ‘blood’ would be. left,” he says.

While this idea of ​​”no more blood” is something that never came to fruition, the idea that there is no longer any substantial Taíno blood among the islanders is still used by individuals and governments to challenge the recognition and existence of a modern Taíno nationhood.

Spain, Trujillo and the paper genocide of indigenous peoples

Ramona Ferreyra, known in the community as Guatuke Ini Inaru, is the founder of Ojala threadsa brand focused on reclaiming Taíno heritage. She is also a “tekina”, based in the Bronx, and faces resistance to the idea of ​​a living Taíno nation. With roots in the Kiskeya region, today known as the Dominican Republic, Ferreyra says the idea of ​​Taíno extinction is deeply ingrained in the Dominican community, despite the island being the historical seat of power of the Taíno nation.

“I have always preferred to organize events in the Puerto Rican community because when I enter the Dominican territories, I must be ready to defend my existence,” says Fereyra.

But while she describes being denied existence and having her regalia called a “costume” as hurtful, Fereyra sees it as a byproduct of the island’s detachment from its indigenous roots. She believes that this, like many other misconceptions about indigenous peoples, stems from a colonialist mentality, one that persisted under dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, who ruled from 1930 until his extinction in 1961.

As she explains, “For Trujillo to rebrand himself as Western and white, he must deny that there is an indigenous identity on our island. (In the past you could choose ‘indio’ (as your variety) in the cedula. Trujillo undoes that.”

In DR, the “cedula” is the national identity card that contains details such as the card holder’s profession, blood type and, until 2014, their race. This kind of “paper genocide” is a real phenomenon that makes it difficult or even impossible for many indigenous descendants to trace their ancestry.

Kacike Mukaro recalls a similar paper genocide that took place in Puerto Rico, where the Spanish removed the category “indio” in 1800 and added a new classification called “color pardos libres,” or “free people of color.”

“In that category, someone could have been Indian, Indian mixed with (another race), African, African mixed with another race, all kinds of mixtures,” Kacike Mukaro explains. “So it’s not just that the indigenous population has become extinct. It’s also that the government has removed this option.”

However, according to Ferreyra, the Trujillo government’s actions went further, fundamentally changing the way the population was educated.

“The Dominican is told that ‘el indio does not exist.’ Trujillo has filled every cabinet with his allies. So Dominican education is (overseen) by people who agree with him,” says Ferreyra “It is a curriculum designed to erase.”

Returning to extermination and preserving a culture

Ironically, censuses have brought the modern Taíno nation back to the brink of destruction. “One of the elders in our community had said, ‘The same way they took us out of history, we can write ourselves back into it,’” Kacike Mukaro explains.

Members of the Guainia Taíno Nation have become involved with the US Census in an effort to create engagement and increase visibility around its importance. This, coupled with the right to self-determination allowed by the indigenous peoples the Indian Self-Determination and Education Acthas seen the number of self-identified Taínos increase over the past thirty years, a total of 112,682 people in the US and its territories as of 2022.

But ancestry is just one aspect of what it means to be Taíno: what it means to walk the path of Indigenous people. Another aspect is culture: having spaces for the practice and development of language, art, song and religion. In Austin, Texas, Kacike Tekina-eirú has created such a space, rotating a Puerto Rican cultural center to the heart of a thriving Yucayeque.

“I started the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, (and) for years we had mountain traditions and bomba and plena, and bailes de salon… but I was always sad because I knew I couldn’t keep the heritage that meant the most to my heart send,” says Kacike Tekina-eirú.

Like many with Taíno ancestry, her journey began in the dark, with no idea how to connect to what she knew. Her grandmother, Marcela Serrano, was visibly Taíno, but aspects of the culture had not been passed on to her. So she found a teacher.

That teacher, Kacike Cacibaopil Martin Veguillam, passed away last year, but Kacike Tekina-eirú continues his legacy. In addition to composing plenas and other forms of folkloric Puerto Rican music, Tekina-eirú Taíno composes “areytos”, ceremonial dances with important spiritual connotations. She also clarifies that the “yucayeque” that has developed around the cultural center is not just an eclectic educational offshoot. It is also an example of Taíno people not just preserving their culture as an object in a museum, but actually living it. It is a space where they can connect with their cemis and strengthen their connection with nature, the land and each other.

“For me, the beauty of a yucayeque is the personal time and being together,” says Kacike Tekina-eirú.

The Indigenous Path and Its Implications for the Modern World

For Taínos like Mukaro Agueybana, Guaktuke Ini Inaru and Tekina-eirú, indigenous roots are more than just heritage. It’s the path they walk, one that has real-world consequences.

For example, what happens to Taíno bones and artifacts when they are uncovered? How should we deal with sacred caves in the Dominican Republic? Tribe members like Kacike Mukaro and Guatuke Ini Inaru are trying to ensure that Taínos have a say in these matters. However, the Indigenous mindset extends beyond just Indigenous issues to many of the hot-button issues at the forefront of modern politics.

Whether it concerns public lands privatized throughout the Caribbeanthe impact of factory farming and processed foods on our health and the environment, or the lack of affordable housing, members of the Taíno tribe see these as problems caused by the same kind of colonial capitalism that tried to erase them from history delete. They see these as problems that cannot be solved through a colonial mentality, but only through greater connection to the land and each other – a tenet of Indigenous identity.

Indigenous identity is not monolithic. It is a mosaic of which the Taíno people have always been an important part. And they will continue to be so as they fight for their recognition and lead us to a world where we are more one with nature, ourselves and each other.