Nanas and Beans and Heads, oh my!

Further Afrocentric criticism dissected… Again, I received a response regarding my thoughts on the topic of Afrocentrism.  These were posted in the comment section of the essay titled They came before Columbus…and what?!? . Because these questions are valid and others may have them as well, I sought to respond via email as well as [...]

In the spirit of Hatuey

It has come to my attention that my words have caused a flurry of confusion, anger, criticism and gossip regarding the thoughts and feelings I have shared about the UCTP and the behavior of its president, Roberto Borrero.

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?~ Segregation in Native American Spirituality

With the recent deaths occurring in an Arizona sweat lodge, three so far, many Indigenous Americans are rabidly repeating the mantras “That’s what you get when you mess with things you have no right to mess with”, “Non-natives have no right to participate, let alone conduct sacred native ceremonies” and “The spirits are clearly expressing [...]

Van Sertima’s Mummies or The Fruits of Careless Research…

…Reply to a Critic Recently, I received a response to the book review I posted on Ivan Van Sertima’s, They Came Before Columbus.  This person was very passionate about defending the Afrocentric version of alternative history and emailed me an excerpt from his later book, Early America Revisited, in which Van Sertima replies to his [...]

Nostalgia Taína

I was thinking about Taíno identity and politics and my mind started to wander to my childhood… I grew up traveling the boricua pow wow trail and I remember…

A “Voice of Authority”… Part Deux

Although at the present moment we have no Authority on the Taino language, let’s pretend we do.  Imagine  we have a group of people who are recognized as the Authority on the Taino language by a great majority of the Taino people and organizations.  And that this Authority has created the ultimate Taino Dictionary…

Seeking a leader; the need for a “Voice of Authority” for our dead language

Wisegeek.com states “A dead language is a language which is no longer learned as a native language.“  Wikipedia says that a dead language has no competent speakers and that an extinct language is one that has no speakers at all, be that by language replacement or language evolution.  Examples of these are Modern English having [...]

Why not the Chamorro? A possible peer in Taino cultural revival….

The  discussion I was participating in on the UCTP forum regarding the Taino language, inspired me to further research other indigenous peoples who may be like us;  folks struggling with their own individual decolonization while trying to help heal that of  their people, reviving the culture and those things that are important to it, making [...]

“Tau” as religious infiltration?

The thought of “Tau” being a religious corruption was a very interesting element added to the “Tau” discussion… Some folks believe that “tau” is of christian origin because of the tau cross used by the Franciscan monks,  as a mark of those who accept Christ as their savior, and maybe even the mark painted in [...]

Who’s example can we follow? Are the Maori a good choice?

In a recent discussion on the UCTP forum regarding the matter of the Taino language, it’s development and evolution came up.  The particular word being discussed was “Tau” which has been used for several years now as a greeting among Taino online.   No one seems to know where the word came from, nor how [...]