A guest spot

From time to time I skim through random blogs to get a feel for what other people think and feel. One I came across had an interesting point of view. A little later, the author posted an interesting response about why my off-hand comment about Puerto Rico having the potential to become a state. We had a brief conversation, and with her permission, here is an important look at something you probably did not read in your history books...but should have:

*******************************
My mom is fond of saying "Kid, within us flows the blood of the oppressor and the oppressed." I am the descendant of slave owners and slaves. Have you ever studied Boriqua history? Our own history mirrors NA history. Down to being shipped off our island. Except we were sent to Hawaii against our will as a source of cheap labor. Entire families separated. Our island was "discovered" before America was so by the time Colombus lost his way to America with the genocide of the Taino's on our island was in full swing. Few people even know that Colombus's adopted son Diego was actually a Taino Indian he had taken from our island. Thank God someone is going to teach a more balanced account of history! It's only now that we're learning that all Tainos were not killed off. That some remained on the island but were hidden from the count (Spanish census) in order to avoid having their Taino slaves detected. They didn't even to take the Tainos who'd escaped into the mountains and later we called "jibaros" (something akin to hillbillies) or included the Taino's who had been sentenced/fled to the island of Mona during the years Taino's revolted against the Spaniards. There's an on going study for NA DNA going on in Puerto Rico and it was proven that the majority of Boriquas carry Taino mtdna. One of my NA professors out here made a big deal of The Taino Nation being welcomed back into the fold by NA Nations a few years back. So now the theory that Tainos are extinct is being revised. I feel though they're not going to find anyone left who is a full blooded Taino. In my own family that last full blooded Tainos were my great great grandmother (paternal) and my great grandfather (maternal) and even they married people who were ½ Taino and ½ Spaniard. You know what they say history is always taught from the point of view of the conquerors. Records were even discovered that showed that when the Americans invaded Puerto Rico Gen Miles and his funky fresh crew had Tainos shipped off to the Indian school in the U.S. Let's not forget to add the years of forced sterilization, and medical experiments to the acts of kindness bestowed upon us by our savior the U.S. I am luckier than a lot of Boriquas in that my family has always made it a point to teach the younger ones our history, both sides of it. I know who in my family was a Taino and who was a Spaniard and all the other fun facts that goes along with that info. So there ya have it a lil' more information you can add to your files.lol
****************************

If you enjoyed this and/or learned something, please visit her at
http://marialsuarez.blogspot.com/

Thank you, Miss Suarez. Best of luck and lets hoep abominations such as the Indian Schools and the events referenced above never happen again.