And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Reply-To: "Office of Taino Tribal Affairs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: "Office of Taino Tribal Affairs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
PRESS RELEASE: OCTOBER 12, 1999
Letter From The Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Nation, To: All Native American
Tribes And Nations.
: The Taino Tribal Council of Jatibonicu'
: US Regional Tribal Affairs Office
: 703 South Eight Street
: Vineland New Jersey 08360
:
:
October 12,1999
Tau Ah Taiguey Adanatiao,
Hello and Good Day to All Our Relatives,
We bid you a warm greeting from The Jatibonicu Taino Tribe, its
Telcesta Florida Tribal Band, the Taino People, and its' Nation. I will
speak my heart so that all of my relatives will understand that I, Guanikeyu
(Noble Bird of The White Earth), Principal Chief of The Taino Tribe speaks
the truth in the eyes of our Creator the Great Spirit.
It has been 507 years since our Taino National Homeland of the
Caribbean, Bahama Islands and Florida were invaded and overthrown by the
Spanish Europeans in 1493. As peaceful people, we stood by and observed the
destruction of our Atabey (Mother Earth) and our ancestral ceremonial
grounds. With chains on our hands and feet, we stood alone without the
power to protect ourselves. The souls of the Taino people cried out in pain
and anguish as our daughters were being raped and our people became the
victims of mass genocide. A conservative estimate of three to six million
Tainos died due to the intentional introduction of many new European
diseases. Our ancestral blood fell upon our land like rain drops into a red
river of blood, that was caused by the Spaniard's Bull Mastiff hunting dogs
and their bloody Toledo swords.
Many of our relatives of other Native American Nations do not remember our
Taino People, the first nation to encounter Columbus on the morning of
October 12, 1492, in the Caribbean Bahama Island of Guanahani (San
Salvador). We have been waiting patiently for the completion of our Taino
500 year prophecy. The prophecy states that we the Taino people would
reemerge after 500 years as a proud and noble Nation. This would come to
pass within our traditional homelands in the sixth generation of our
Arocoels (Elders or grandparents) in the year 1993.
Presently, The Taino Jatibonicu (Great People of the Sacred High
Waters) Tribe and its Tekesta (People of the Good Earth) Tribal Band of
Bimini (Mother of Many Waters, the original name of Florida in the Taino
language) must beg to our relatives of the other Tribes and Nations to come
to our aid. Our Taino ceremonial grounds in Bimini has fallen into the
hands of a group of private business people. We have been in a struggle to
reaffirm and preserve our traditional Taino cultural heritage within our
Bimini and Circum- Caribbean Island homeland. Our Tekesta Taino Tribal
Band of Bimini Florida, currently is struggling to help gather the needed
funding of 8.7 million dollars to buy back one of the most sacred and
ancient ceremonial grounds found within North America. This site is better
known in the local Florida newspapers, as
The Miami Circle.
It seems that a local business person, insensitive to our native
spirituality, would like to destroy our sacred ceremonial center. He plans
to built a new high rise apartment complex upon the bones of our ancestors.
The Miami Circle is known to our people as the Navel of Amikekia (name of
Turtle Island or America in the Taino language). This Taino ancestral
ceremonial site belongs to all the indigenous people of the Americas.
According to The Taino Book of Prophecies, the destruction of this
sacred site by the Guamikena (The Covered People, name give by the Tainos to
the Europeans) would come to trigger a natural disaster as never seen on
Turtle Island since the dawn of its creation. This is prophesied to happen
in the seventh generation on or about the year 2005. We can humbly say that
our Taino Jatibonicu Tribe and its two tribal Bands are the poorest of the
Tribal Nations of Turtle Island. As you already know, all our tribal
homelands were lost to the past European colonial powers. We, further, must
inform our brothers and sisters that within sixty days we must find a way to
buy back our land from this Guamikena business man located in Dade County
southern Florida. Our Tribe has never begged nor asked anything from our
relatives of Turtle Island. We must stress upon our relatives the
importance of preserving this sacred site. The destruction of this site will
effect all our families here on Turtle Island.
We ask that you open your hearts to the pleas of our Tribe and its Band
here in Florida. We ask that you share, in the matum (generosity) Native
American way, of sharing whatever money your Tribes and Nations can spare to
aid us in this most noble struggle to preserve our past indigenous heritage.
It is sad to see in this day and age that what is sacred to the indigenous
people is not respected by some people. It is unfortunate that the value of
our ancestral heritage and indigenous spirituality is not respected by some.
The only value these people seem to have in their hearts is money and power.
It seems that, they enjoy running over, native people, fish and foul and
breaking up the Sacred Wheel of our Native American way of life.
It is also sad to note that we as Native Americans, must now be forced
to buy back our own lands and sacred sites. We hope and pray to the Creator
that our brothers and sisters of Turtle Island will not abandon us in this
time of need. We are all one Nation of Amikekia also known as The Caguama
(The Great Mother Sea Turtle).
Respectfully Yours,
Pedro Guanikeyu Torres
Cacike/ Principal Chief of the Jatibonicu Taino Tribe of Boriken Puerto
Rico
Taino Tribal Council of Jatibonicu Boriken
PO Box #253
Orocovis, Puerto Rico 00720-0253
Karlos Rodriquez
Nitayno/ Sub-Chief of The Tekesta Taino Tribal Band of Bimini Florida
Tekesta Taino Tribal Band of Bimini Florida
PO Box #6080
Deltona, Florida 32728-06080
(C) Copyright: Jatibonicu Taino Tribe of Boriken
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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