To Live and Die Indigenous

There is so much power in self-identification. This has been proven throughout the course of history. Haitian slaves revolted against colonizers in 1791 with one tool: Voodoo. An ancient religion and practice that has been passed down for centuries. The practice of Voodoo gave Haitians a self-belief and identity. It allowed them to have psychological freedom even though they were enslaved in harsh, violent conditions. The library of Brown University wrote “it gave them a sense of human dignity and enabled them to survive”. Jews celebrated Hanukkah while being held in concentration camps although Jewish holidays and traditions were banned.

Take a second to imagine: What is left after you are stripped of everything you are? You have no identity. You have no clue what your true purpose is. Your whole ideology and belief system has been wiped away. You are now only identified by what others choose to label you. You are told who you are, what you do, where you’re from and you adopt these lies as your belief system.

That is exactly how it feels to be “Black” in America. Feeling misunderstood, but not truly understanding yourself enough to find the root of the issue. Having to adapt to uncomfortable environments that don’t resonate with you just to survive. Being judged by the world simply by the color of your skin. We have been judged for so long we started to stereotype ourselves. No, all black people do not like chicken and Kool-Aid. In fact, Kool-Aid was invented by a white man by the name of Edwin Perkins.

So why do we feel the need to accept European ways of life as our own? Well, it all started with slavery (but not the way we were taught in our systemically racist history books). Long before the arrival of European colonists, there were millions of Native Americans living in the Americas. All throughout the continent indigenous tribes were being enslaved by other tribes. Although slavery looked differently between native tribes and Europeans, they both shared the same view of superiority based on ethnicity.

Pre-colonial slavery consisted of indigenous men, women, and children who were captured during raids or wars. These slaves were used for a variety of purposes from hostage negotiations to ritual sacrifices. Some tribes adopted slaves into as their own tribesmen after a period of time. When St. Augustine, Florida was established in 1565, the area already had indigenous slaves. But, it wasn’t common for slaves to be sold as wholesale property until Europeans arrived.

Cristobal Colon, known in present day as Christopher Columbus, arrived in the Americas (Hispaniola to be exact) in August 1492 with a mission to spread Christianity, find resources, and conquer the land. His first encountered with the present-day Haitians in his journal states “they would make fine servants”. He left Hispaniola around January 1493, but left a few dozen of his crew members in a settlement they built to look for gold until he returned. The remaining crew members raped, pillaged, and committed violent acts on the Taino people.

Columbus returned in September 1493 with 1200 men to the site of their settlement abandoned and burned to the ground. Christopher would leave again with his brothers in charge of rebuilding the land alongside hundreds of indigenous slaves. He used indigenous slaves as payment for his debts in Spain. This was the beginning of what we know now as modern European slavery and the true Trans-Atlantic slave trade that occurred over a century before Africans arrived in America.

The Requiremento was written in 1510 which gave Spain the “right” to take control of the New World and all of their assets. Native Americans were determined to be part of the land. Under this requirement, indigenous people were conquered in the name of Christianity. Those who resisted were said to be against God’s plan and were murdered. Those who surrendered peacefully were given repentance while those who fought back were enslaved under harsher conditions. Some of these indigenous slaves were shipped to the Bahamas to work in the sugar and tobacco plantations.

During the same time frame, the Moorish people of Granada in Spain were forced by the Spanish government to either convert to Christianity or leave the land. Those who didn’t leave were killed. The goal was to establish a one-religion New World. This was the beginning of the true “New World Order”. A mission to establish one universal religion and practice.

Spanish colonizers arrived in South Carolina in 1521 for the same purpose as Ponce De Leon in Florida in 1513: to look for gold, conquer the land in the name of Spain, and spread Christianity. After discovering there was no gold on the land they settled for the next abundant option: indigenous people. Indigenous people were plagued with diseases from Europeans, murdered, raped, enslaved, and traded across the Atlantic. By the 1720s, the Carolina census included 1500 enslaved American Indians out of an estimated total population in the colony of 17,000.

The European trade of indigenous Americans began with Columbus in 1493. Africans did not arrive to America until 1619. Within 60 years, only a few hundred of the Taino population survived on the land out of the original estimated 250,000. By the 1600s, slavery was an acceptable form of trade by Africans, Native Americans, and Europeans. From 1670 to 1720 more Native Americans were shipped from South Carolina, than Africans arrived as slaves.

Women were also seen as more valuable than men as opposed to the history we have been taught. There were three to five times more women than men on a plantation. The following is a cost estimate on setting up a plantation by a planter named John Norris:

“Imprimis; Fifteen good Negro Men at 45 lb each 675 lb.

Item: Fifteen Indian Women to work in the Field

at 18 lb each, comes to 270 lb.

Item, Three Indian Women as cooks for the Slaves

and other Household Business 55 lb”

According to a thesis written by the Department of History at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, “from the beginning of contact, Europeans differentiated between Indians and blacks, not only in their color but in their proper role in a white-dominated society”. Indians were enslaved for their savagery and misbehavior while Negroes were enslaved due to racial inferiority. Many of the people of Eastern and Southern-American tribes had African ancestry such as the Choctaw, Cherokee, and the Wampanoag.

“Black” people are true natives to America alongside Native Americans today. Much of American history speaks on the wars between Natives and Europeans, but hardly discusses the actions which led to the frustration of Natives. Similarly, history has barely adjusted to providing a true image of the savagery of Christopher Columbus, Ponce De Leon, and other European colonists.

Fortunately, Haitians were able to keep their traditions alive by using their ancient religion of Voodoo to guide them into a Revolution that lasted half a decade. Indigenous slaves had already succumbed to slavery long before the arrival of Europeans. With the knowledge of self-preservation being a key to Haitian victory, Europeans fought harder to disconnect the slave from their roots. History and traditions were long-lost with the force of Christianity. New systems such as the Barbadian Trade, Jim Crow Laws, Slave Codes and other forms of control were used to keep slaves from revolting. Most of these methods focused on the psychology of a slave and how to mentally enslave them. It was believed that if you controlled a slave’s mind, body, and soul then you could keep a slave in an inferior position.

If you observe American society close enough you can still see the aftermath of slavery. White people have created organization such as the KKK, Proud Boys, and Arian Nation to carry on the idea of White Supremacy. “Black” people are still the face of poverty even though they make up only 13% of the population. Race inequality is still a common theme after 150 years of abolishment. “Black” Americans are incarcerated at over 5 times the rate of white Americans. Studies show in 2018 there were 1500 arrests per 100,000 black adults vs 200 arrests of white adults while being roughly 1/10th of the population. Systemic racism is still very much alive and well.

Native Americans have never confessed about the true treatment of Indigenous Negro Natives or their role in creating the system that we now see. “Black” people were stripped of their titles as indigenous people and fed lies that they are strictly from Africa when their indigenous roots have now been populated throughout the world due to the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade that saw millions of slaves being shipped between the Americas, Bahamas, West Indies, Africa, and Europe. “Black” people are still fighting the US Government to reclaim their native identity. The Cherokee Nation also expelled several “Black” descendants of slaves who were freedmen in 2011.

The fight for identity and reclamation is an ongoing battle for “Black” Americans who understand their origin and ancestry. As more truth comes to light, more evils are also being shown throughout the course of history. The practice of modern Spiritualism has helped many reclaim their traditions and connect with their ancestry. Many are understanding through these deep connections just how much trauma, violence, and pain has been inflicted on “Black” Americans.