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Feminists Around the World: Women of The Taino Nation · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told your prediction by her.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Radio And y'all welcome to another episode of Activists around
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: the World or Feminists around the World.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: We've been we still interchanged the segment, I guess a
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: little bit, but you know that's what it is.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: And recently I was on the show Cool People Who
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Did Cool Stuff with Margaret Kiljoy. I think I've already
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: mentioned this, and we talked about one specific librarian that
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: really helped shape the library system as well as her
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: work in preserving stories from her culture in Puerto Rico,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: which led me down a path of learning about an
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: indigenous community that I didn't know much about. I wanted
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: to talk about a couple of the women in the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: community and how they are fighting to preserve their community
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: as well as advocate for so much more, because we
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: know when it comes to indigenous activist it's intersectional, like
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: they are the core of intersectional almost. So let's talk
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: about the Tano nation and a couple of the women
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: who are hard at work to preserve their legacy as
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: well as saving the land around them. Go ahead and
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: put this warning. A lot of the names in here,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I could not find. I don't know if it's my algorithm.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I don't know if like, if the Internet's like, screw you,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: we're gonna go ahead and quit before twenty twenty five.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know what because I was only finding like
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Instagram videos, which if you know anything about that, is
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: not helpful. So when it comes to pronunciations of names
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: and such, it's hard for me to get. I am
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: gonna try my best. There's a little bit of guessing happening.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: If those of you who are very familiar with the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Teano culture as well as their language, please send us
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: information on how to say correctly, because I have a
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: feeling we're gonna talk a little more about them and
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: what they're working on and what they're doing, because they're
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: doing a lot right now and they're having to fight
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: for their own legacy. So you know, we love to
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: talk about people who who are just trying to establish
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: their identity. So with that, there you go.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Be pre warned.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry for butchering things in advance. So the Teano
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: community is a community of people who were the first
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  Speaker 2: peoples of places now known as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti,
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  Speaker 2: the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and parts of Lesser Antilles. And
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: there's a chunk of people in Puerto Rico today who
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: have identified Taino as part of their heritage. In fact,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: up to ninety two thousand Puerto Ricans have self identified
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: as an indigenous ads of twenty twenty, and according to
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: a National Geographic report in twenty sixteen, genetic research showed
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  Speaker 2: that around sixty one percent of Puerto Ricans do have
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: indigenous DNA, and according to an article from Brown Political Review,
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  Speaker 2: other scholars were able to reconstruct the complete Teano genome
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: and were able to establish the similarities of Puerto Ricans
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: today with those from the original Taino peoples. So this
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: discovery only validated that many of the indigenous people who
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: knew the death of their genealogy, even with some saying
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: that said, hey, you know people were extinct, literally declaring
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: them extinct. And this happened a long time ago, by
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: the way. So going back to the episode with Margaret
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: which I just mentioned, we talked specifically about Pura belt Prey,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: a woman of Afro Puerto Rican descent and most likely
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: of tain No nation. Obviously, no one ever really claims
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: that and no one ever not. I don't think she
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: ever really said that, but she knew about the legend
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: of her marriage and her ancestors, and they were of
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Tano based. So we're gonna go ahead and assume that
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: she was the first known Puerto Rican librarian at the
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: New York Public Library, and she became well known for
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: her storytelling and continuing of keeping the stories of the
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Tan community alive and written.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: She did poppetry Annie, it was really, oh my god, Yeah,
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: she did, Petry. I love it.
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  Speaker 2: And her legacy is imprinted within the library systems as well.
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  Speaker 2: You should go take a listen to that episode on
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: the show show. It taught me so much, and honestly,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: it's still kind of like it warms my heart thinking
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: about the stuff that we talked about, because it's so
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: encouraging to hear about those who made such impact. And
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: of course, go ahead and put that caveat of like
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: the first, as we've said for many of our episodes,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: that's the first known, so that's the one to be acclaimed.
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  Speaker 2: There may have been more, and there may have been
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: others around the same time. I think our sister was
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: actually a part of this movement too. In opening up
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  Speaker 2: the public libraries because that was a whole revolution in itself,
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  Speaker 2: which again I love, and this is why we will
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: always go to bat for public libraries.
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  Speaker 3: Just an fyi and also a great part of the
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  Speaker 3: resistance as twenty twenty five comes up.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, just to put it out there by coming
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  Speaker 2: back to the legacy of the tanne of community, which
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  Speaker 2: has continued even with the colonization by Christopher Columbus dot
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  Speaker 2: dot dot and many other entities, the community remains. Here's
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  Speaker 2: a bit from that Brown Political Review, which by the way,
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  Speaker 2: was written by a Teano community member, Guado Kau Bautista Cuonhart,
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  Speaker 2: and they write. Many modern heritage rescue groups such as
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  Speaker 2: the Teano Dati Bonuku type of Borikan, the Teano Nation
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  Speaker 2: of the Antilles, the United Confederation of the Teano People,
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  Speaker 2: the Gutumaku Abarak and Puerto Rico People, and Hagueya Kuwe
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  Speaker 2: are actively working to foster and protect the Tyranno culture.
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  Speaker 2: While many aspects of Tyranno culture have been lost over
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  Speaker 2: time or mixed with Spanish and African cultures, our heritage
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  Speaker 2: remains unique and we all want to be heard and
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  Speaker 2: recognized for who we are. If you want to go
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  Speaker 2: back and look look up the author that we just
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: talked about, Batista Cuonhart in the Brown Political Review. They
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: do a great breakdown of what has happened over the
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  Speaker 2: centuries and how they were seen as eradicated even though
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  Speaker 2: that wasn't true, and what they're doing today to bring
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: back that identity, to bring that bring their tribe back
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  Speaker 2: as a recognized nation. So I think it's really important
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: to talk about. But yes, people within these organizations that
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: they mentioned and communities have been working hard to be
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  Speaker 2: recognized as well as save the land and resources of
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Puerto Rico. One specific activist as Naniki Reyes Ocassio. Acassio
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  Speaker 2: is an elder and member of the Tano people and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: have been fighting against the gentrification and destruction of their land.
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  Speaker 2: They also have like books and all kinds of resources
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  Speaker 2: if you want to check her out and their works out.
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  Speaker 2: She also did one with a little documentary with John Leguizamo,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: which was really important and really interesting. He was able
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  Speaker 2: to explore the land, go through some of the rituals
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  Speaker 2: because this is part of his heritage as well, and
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  Speaker 2: talking about the Titiano people. But she's been around and
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: doing some amazing things. In fact, in two thousand and five,
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  Speaker 2: she and six other taiano leaders were arrested for protesting
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  Speaker 2: against construction on their sacred sites. Acasio went on a
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  Speaker 2: hunger strike in order to have a meeting with the
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  Speaker 2: government at the time to talk about the lands. During
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: this time, the government did not recognize the people of Taianum.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: They still don't as an official indigenous group due to
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: the percentage of DNA for the people who have tested
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  Speaker 2: as a part of that lineage. So I don't know
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  Speaker 2: if we've talked much about this, but people who know
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to indigenous peoples as well, you know
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: the Native Americans, they have to have a certain percentage
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  Speaker 2: of DNA in order to be accounted for within a tribe,
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  Speaker 2: which makes sense, but some of those standards are obviously
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  Speaker 2: very racist standards, very political standards, in order to eradicate
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  Speaker 2: a community of people so that they can't claim an
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  Speaker 2: area which.
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  Speaker 3: Was theirs and is theirs.
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  Speaker 2: So just as a caveat so, Cassio has been a
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  Speaker 2: force in keeping the cultural practices alive as well as
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  Speaker 2: protecting the sacred lands. She co founded El Caney and
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: here's some information about the organization from their side of
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Canne del Quento Mundo. The Taianau Longhouse Learning Center Inc.
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  Speaker 2: Or el Caney, a not for profit organization in Orakova's
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  Speaker 2: Puerto Rico, was founded in nineteen ninety three to provide
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  Speaker 2: a local and international forum on the Taiano earth teachings, culture,
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  Speaker 2: and spiritual traditions. Educate and disseminate information to local and
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  Speaker 2: international communities about the concerns and issues facing Taino and
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  Speaker 2: Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.
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  Speaker 1: And here's their mission. Teach, learn and practice traditional methods
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  Speaker 1: of stewardship of the land, its use, and the conservation
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  Speaker 1: of our forest, natural resources and habitats. Foster, promote, vitalize,
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  Speaker 1: and enriched the Taiano indigenous culture, language, and spiritual tradition
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  Speaker 1: of the Caribbean. Educate the local and international community about
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  Speaker 1: the concerns and issues facing Taiano and Indigenous peoples from
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  Speaker 1: a historical, traditional and contemporary perspective. Rectify chronicled historical distortions
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  Speaker 1: and stereotypes about Taiano and Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.
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  Speaker 1: Develop local and international campaigns to address the concerns and
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  Speaker 1: issues confronting contemporary Taiano and Indigenous peoples. Of the Caribbean
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  Speaker 1: provide an environmentally safe place where people from all nations
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  Speaker 1: can come together to share and contribute their skills and
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: gifts for the collective benefit and welfare of humanity. Modeling
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the process of nature provide skills training to people of
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: all ages and abilities in the arts, earth teaching and
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: other disciplines to promote community pride, identity, self esteem, self sufficiency, interdependence, productivity, honor, respect,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: and caretaking the Earth Mother Teach, learn and practice living
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: skills based on honoring, sharing, and respect for all life cultures, traditions,
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  Speaker 1: and spiritual diversity to promote a better understandings among all
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  Speaker 1: peoples and develop faculties of observation and listening to expand
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  Speaker 1: our perception and awareness of the interdependence of all things.
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  Speaker 2: And obviously Acassio and others from that organization and even
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  Speaker 2: the other organizations that we mentioned before have been following
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  Speaker 2: this mission for a while now. And another one of
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  Speaker 2: the Teiano activists as sociologists and environmentalists, Aldia Maleeve Marrero,
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  Speaker 2: I'm so sorry.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: If I did that wrong, because I could not find
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: her name.
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  Speaker 2: She, along with activists like Acasio, joined in taking down
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  Speaker 2: the blocking of a public access area or a beach
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  Speaker 2: in Aercibo, Puerto Rico, in twenty twenty two. But this
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: wasn't her first experience in such activism. She actually started
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: organizing around two thousand and five. So here's a bit
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: from an article written by in Acla dot org or
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: the North American Congress of Latin America about her love.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Morrero has long advocated for protecting and preserving her country's
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  Speaker 2: natural resources, delicate ecosystems, and indigenous heritage. From organizing grass
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: group efforts demanding the demolition of an illegal construction in
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Puerto Rico's northwestern coastal town of Aguadilla, to testifying at
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: legislative hearings, to camping out for a week to protest
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: private construction on public land. Her mission is clear to
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: stop rampant development that is destroying Puerto Rico's marine and
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: nature reserves, and it continues.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Formally.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Trained as a socio spatial planner focusing on land use
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: based on ample citizen participation and sociological knowledge applied with
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: an urban context, Malave Morrero uses her knowledge of Puerto
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Rican regulatory policy to educate communities about illegal land use
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: and the threats posed to agriculture and natural resources. She
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: does so against the backdrop of current Governor Petro Perro
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Luisi's pro state administration, one that prioritizes the interest of
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: private investors. In this interview, Malave Morrero shares insights on
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: the current political climate she describes as quote a threat
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: not only to those of us living in Porto Rican,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Puerto Rico's indigen's name, but also to all of the
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: natural species of marine life that call this their home.
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  Speaker 2: So in the last few years she's done a lot
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: of work fighting against the gentrification and shipping off the land. Again,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: she had that interview with the NACLA about her work
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: and how she's been seeing local authorities and police trying
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: to use a legal force in order to fight against
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: activists in Puerto Rico. Quote, I and others are in
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: the struggle because we are fighting for this country we
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: love so much. Being passionate about our heritage, natural resources,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: and the environment moves us to do what we do.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Trained as a sociologist, I'm well attuned to the dynamics
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: of protests. As activist cultural advocates, our emotions are irrestricably
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: tied to this work. As I discussed earlier potential dangers exist.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: That's why when I'm present at these manifestations, I watch
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: over the physical and emotional safety of those in my group. Further,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: as a daughter of a nurse, our collective well being
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: is one of my priorities. So she has talked a
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: lot about what they've had to go through in order
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: to try to protect these lands. So in two thousand
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: and five, which is when she really began organizing, is
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: when we saw a lot of detane on leaders coming
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: after organizations that were trying to do construction on sacred lands,
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: stripping the land of all of its resources again, blocking
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: off public access areas that are sacred land for these
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: people in order to make it privatized as well as
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: trying to sell it off. So we know what it
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: looks like for those who are truly fighting to keep
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: what is theirs and to keep not only just to
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: keep it, but to preserve it, which is that other
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: key point of like why are we not okay with
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: preserving historical land like that? That's the bigger conversation. And
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: when it comes to Puerto Rico, the legacies and historical
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: contexts and it being the territory of the US is
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: really really gross. We already know how it went with
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: the political campaigns this year. I think this is a
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: bigger conversation we need to have and looking at what
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: a territory looks like and the limited amount of rights,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: and how we are destroying history and a group of
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: people for the sake of territory.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Ownership and making money. Stupid capitalism.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: I'm fine, but yeah, with that, we are excited to
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: learn more about these activists and these women who continue
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: to work so hard and have been working so hard
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: to preserve that history, to preserve their culture as well
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: as to be recognized as a culture that I don't
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: understand why we shouldn't be thankful and grateful that they
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: still exist instead of them being eradicated.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: As a group. I'm not really sure why that's a problem.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: But hey, okay, again, there's so many others that have
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: been working for both recognition again as a community.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: And to preserve their lands.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: I'm sure we're going to come back to revisit this
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: because I think this is such a big topic. This
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: is such a big conversation, and it's an implication of
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: so many other things when it comes to climate change,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: when it comes to protecting of a group of people
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: as well as protecting of resources. It's a lot and
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: they know people are an example of what it looks
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: like to truly, truly fight, I think when it comes
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: to not just for their own community, but for the
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: greater good.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure we'll be back for a
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: revisit as well. And uh yeah, listeners, if you have
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: any suggestions, pronunciation corrections, corrections, we do, We do try,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: but apologies if we messed it up. But yeah, you
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: can contact us in many ways. You can email us
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: a Stephani your mom Stuff at ihartmedia dot com. You
• 15:31
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• 15:33
  Speaker 1: on Instagram and TikTok at stuff When Never Told You.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: We're also on YouTube. We have a tea public store,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: and we have a book we can get where you
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: get in your books. Thanks as always too, our producer Christina,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: our executive producer Maya, and our contribute Joey. Thank you
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. Stuff One Ever Told
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: You is Protection by Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah,