When I was in 7th grade I had to do a project on an Indigenous community for school. I’m sure the project was assigned to me sometime between Columbus Day and Thanksgiving the way these projects tend to be. I chose the Tainos, the indigenous people of the Caribbean and specifically what is now Puerto Rico. I chose the Tainos not because I identified as Taina or even as Rican at the time but because growing up I can remember Puerto Rican coloring books telling me of my Indigenous heritage and I remember being told that my great great grandmother was a Taina. I remember feeling shocked and angry when in my research I read over and over how the Taino were extinct. How could that be? It didn’t make sense to me historically. I thought of stories I was told of people hiding from the Spanish in the mountains and intermarriage. Does intermarriage/mestisaje = extinction?

It would be for another 5 or 6 years until I really thought about it again. As I claimed my Puerto Rican identity and became an activist I wold come into contact with Ricans claiming Taino. My new found political identity made this complicated for me and now, settled nicely into my identity as Rican via Queens, NYC, it’s an issue I struggle with. There is a resurgent movement of Ricans claiming Taino. As the mother of an Indigenous daughter I think about self-identification and when it crosses the lines into appropriation. Can a colonized person appropriate from their own history/bloodline? I know I don’t feel comfortable claiming Indigenous Taina, even if I can pull the stereotypical great great grandmother that many people do.

I would love to hear people’s thoughts on this.

Via / Literanista