Do Native Caribbeans Exist Or Is It Just Mere Exaggeration?
By: Akapa Supay
Owner of A.S Creative Studio and Blogger from New York City.
In 2024 there has been more Borikwa’no (Taino) identifying as Taino than the previous years. The 2020 census in New York City alone has stated there are 26,030 Taino in this city alone. New York City is also acknowledged as having the 10th largest Native American population through out the U.S. You can view the source for that here. The true question everyone should be asking is, but how true is that? How true is it that this many Taino exist? Are there that many Taino? or are people simply just self identifying as such. To identify is to have a choice vs truly being Native. As indigenous people we know there is a difference between being actively Native vs being a Descendant. Being Indigenous is not simply just waking up one day and identifying as Native.
It’s important to point out the complexities of the Indigenous identity in Puerto Rico because there is such a strong sense of Nationalism, not to mention Taino integrated into society which made them detribalized. The issue with Puerto Rican Nationalism is that it makes anyone “Puerto Rican” think that they are Taino when in fact this is not true. There are people who begin to do their family tree and find out their great grandparents, or 2nd great grandparents were not even from the island of Puerto Rico. To be Borikwa means to be indigenous which means your lineage for hundreds of years and even thousands, would be on the Island.
The truth about indigeneity among Borikwa’no (Taino)
Actual Indigenous people in Puerto Rico simply refer to themselves as Borikwa spelled (Boricua now) or simply Indian. They never referred to themselves as Taino which was a mistranslation from Nitaino and later re-introduce as a way to identify in the mid 1900’s. [
There has always been Indigenous people in Puerto Rico from different villages or campos since the myth of extinction.
When people refer to the “Taino community” they are not referring to communities on the island or in the campo they are simply referring to communities that were revitalized and retribalized during the Taino Resurgence Era.
Taino are not just found in PR but if we are speaking in regards to Blood Quantum, there are Borikwa that have up to 35% Taino Blood. Juan Carlos Cruzado the geneticist who launched the study for 61% of Puerto Ricans having SOME type of Taino DNA, when he changed his methods in detecting DNA among his subjects they shot up to about 35%. This means there are in fact people alive almost full blood or have a mother or grandmother who is. Mind you the subjects did not equate everyone on the island, only a small amount.
There has been Puerto Rican academics debate about the existence of Taino, however it usually has to deal with viewing indigeneity with a Eurocentric lens. Most Puerto Ricans view being Native as being “full blood” like the Spanish did, therefore they will say Taino are “extinct”. So its important to understand the nuances in the Caribbean. The irony though is that people like Ramon Pane and Bartholomew de las casas who documented Taino, would always expose Columbus’ exaggerations about claims of extinction. They often referred to Columbus as exaggerative. Even in the book called “Report on the census of Porto Rico” on page 29 a man named Captain W.S Schuyler says Taino were clearly alive and thriving in 1899.
“While work was being done on the roads, I had the occasion to watch crowds of 700 to 800 men gathered about the pay tables at Las Marias, La Vega (San Sebastian), and Añasco. The frequency of the aboriginal type was VERY noticeable. While it is almost certain that there is today no single individual in Puerto Rico of pure aboriginal stock, it is EQUALLY SURE that the type can be seen EVERYWHERE in the mountain settlements. At San German, I noticed a woman whose color, hair, and features were TRUE INDIAN as seen in the Southwest United States.””
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It’s important to note that after the Spanish American war in 1898. a census was taken by Spain of the island of Puerto Rico. 40,000 full-blooded “Indio’s or indians” were counted in the mountains and Vieques Island. There was even an entire military unit made up of all Taino Indians in San German. The undeniable truth is compared to other islands you can simply go to Puerto Rico and see people who clearly are indigenous with indigenous phenotypes regardless if they identify as indigenous or not. Obviously being indigenous is not simply just “looking” indigenous, but we know phenotype is a clear indicator of race as well, because it undeniably dictates your experience as a person.
Types of Taino You Will Encounter
Indigenous: People who are from the island who always knew they are indigenous their entire life but want to revive their ancestors ways to its purist form. Also people who have family in the campo who still live and eat in the traditional ways of their ancestors. They may looked mixed, or may look strictly Native.
The Descendant: The average Puerto Rican who believes in the three race theory (Puerto Rican Nationalist history of being mixed with African, Spaniard, and Taino). Doesn’t know if they are Taino but assumes they are due to Puerto Rican history books.
The DNA Taino: Takes fake commercial DNA tests to use it to validate their indigeneity. They are often looked at as the Pretendian (Race shifters) of the three. They also are known to be pan indigenous, and typically are the ones spreading false information about Taino and the Community, but yet have extremely large platforms.
There are some problems Taino are facing In The U.S. Many of these Yukayakes (Tribes) are attempting to emulate North American tribal structures without knowing how to do that. The reality is Taino had two routes they could have went when it came to recognition. They could have went (what I call) The South American Indian rout or they could have went the North American Indian rout.
Indigeneity in South America
Tribes in South America are federally recognized and in fact have different rights than hispanics. There are pueblos or villages acknowledged as Indian villages which in fact dictates those rights. It’s either having family that belong to that village or you being born there.
Indigeneity in North America
Tribes in North America are federally recognized and have treaties with the United States. There are also other nuances such as fake tribes getting recognized. What dictates if a tribe is fake, is if elders from neighboring nations can not confirm the continuation of those people. Not to mention, the fact they have zero treaties with the U.S. There has been stories of Tribes gaining recognition and being unrecognized through out history as well. Indigeneity in North America is sometimes based off of Blood Quantum, ancestry, or both.
The Problem Today For Taino
The structures of North American tribes are very different and is something Taino are trying to emulate without having a clue as to how things are structured such as having chiefs, enrollment, a council, etc. I’ve noticed many do not know the function of being a chief or on council nor understand their roles in other tribes in the U.S. I’ve seen Many Yukayekes try and have enrollment, but having a band card doesn’t necessarily do anything for Taino. The other issue with these yukayekes is they do not want to create a distinction as to who is and isnt Taino. The problem with this is it allows pretendians to obtain knowledge of Taino and then capitalize on it, which has happened multiple times already since Taino have revitalized. The reality is for a Yukayeke to act as a Nation they need to make hard decisions such as dictating who is and isnt Taino. In short, they are emulating a North American Indigenous structure with zero purpose. In my personal opinion as someone mixed tribe, it would make more sense that Taino especially in Puerto Rico fight for land rights etc. The closest they have come to being acknowledged was in 2005 where a proclamation states indigenous Boricua have the right to protect sacred sites. I would say this makes more sense than emulating the North American structure. The emulation, makes no sense unless they want federal recognition. And if this happens Taino will face other issues such as taking land or resources from other tribes unless they fight to be acknowledged as a landless tribe in the U.S. Taino do in fact have history in South America, The Caribbean, and some parts of the United States. Taino were nomadic and this is the only option I see for the future of Taino.
Right now, among many yukayekes language has been something that has been enforced, which is great and is in a step in the right direction. However, we still lack many artists reviving the ways to recreate our ancestral art and even reinforcing the ways we hunted or fish more. Focusing in those aspects will bring back true revitalization. There are people on the island who do these things but not many, and this is something that needs to be taught more in my personal opinion. To finally answer the question,
Do Taino Really Exist?
Yes, Taino or indigenous people have always existed in Puerto Rico. It does not matter if they identified as Taino or not, because Taino was not an actual identifier by “Taino”. In the Taino community and in Academia they tend to play semantics on whether someone was Taino simply if they identified as such, and if that’s the case nobody was because our ancestors never identified as that. Our families simply identified as Borikwa, Indio, or Jibaro. As a Native person I can call myself Spaniard and nobody would believe that simply by looking at me. A great example of this is the debate on Puerto Ricans being in Carlisle Boarding Schools. A rebuttal I have seen is that they were listed as “Porto Rican” Indians but they also had a choice to go and were not forced like other Native people. That statement is not entirely true. Also its worth noting “Taino” would be the first tribe and people to assimilate into the settler nation that is “Puerto Rico” and the first to do so in the Americas in general. So there are also documents that show those who were labeled “Porto Rican Indian”, would claim that people were fascinated by them because they were seen as savages but a little less than other natives (obviously because they were already colonized). Another thing to note before 1970 all Spanish speaking countries were referred to as their Race, and if you were indigenous you were looked at as such. There has always been indigenous people in Puerto Rico and there has always been families living the way of our ancestors despite the many aspects that were lost due to colonization. Are there indigenous people in Puerto Rico? Obviously there is, but not as many as people are claiming today. Taino has became the new cherokee where now people are just assuming they are taino because they maybe Puerto Rican and the reality is that’s not always the case.