Blog

Mail letters to:  El Capitolio  *  Ponce de Leon Avenue  *  San Juan, PR 00901  *  Attn:  Representative David Bonilla

Dear Sir

It has come to our intention that you are seeking to have a gigantic statue of Christopher Columbus erected on an island off the coast of Puerto Rico. We believe this to be a gross error in judgment based on the history of the region.

Many people are unaware of the true legacy of Christopher Columbus. We are taught that he was a courageous sailor who set out to find a new route to India as well as gold and spices. Some people even think his dispelled the myth that the world was flat, although that had been disproved long before Columbus was born.

Columbus is giving credit for ‘discovering America’ although his exploration was mostly limited to the Caribbean islands.

Times were different then… Columbus was Catholic and the Catholic Church allowed for the enslavement of ‘heathens’ and the taking of their land. Everyone knows that upon Columbus’s arrival in the ’New World’, he was greeted by locals who brought him gifts and food. Who were these people? When Columbus got off his ship and was greeted by them, and then planted his flag, did they understand the significance of that act? Did Columbus ever stop to consider those lands weren’t vacant and available for the taking?

Did those people (the Taino) just lay down and allow Columbus and his crews to take/have their land, or when they realized Columbus’s intentions, did they fight to keep their ancestral homeland?

Columbus had written in his journal that the Taino were strong, well-built people and that with his weapons and 50 men he could enslave the entire population. His intention was always to take the land by force. In the journal that Columbus meticulously kept, he mentions gold repeatedly… always asking the locals where it can be found and bragging when he traded worthless little items such as beads and bells for gold.

If you knew the history of Columbus in the islands you would know that his ship, the famous Santa Maria, crashed on Christmas Day in 1492. The Taino helped him retrieve his goods and all the wood used in the construction of the ship, which was later used to build a fort, La Navidad, on the island now known as Hispaniola.

Columbus went back to Spain, told of his great discovery and returned with 17 ships, 1,200 armed men, cannons and livestock with the intention of colonizing the island and looking for gold.

The Taino resisted and the two groups fought, one to keep their ancestral homeland and culture, the other to conquer and profit.

The methods used to conquer the Taino were atrocious. The Taino were tortured, starved and worked to death. They were killed in the most horrific ways… cut in half with swords, hung in groups of 13 representing the Savior and the Apostles, roasted alive over fires, while others were chased down by starved attack dogs who were trained to brutally kill. Columbus forced the Taino to mine for gold for him. Those who refused were killed, those who did not meet their quotas had their hands cut off and were left to bleed to death.

When Columbus failed to meet his financial goals, he took shiploads of Taino back to Seville, Spain to be sold at the slave market for profit. Columbus was the very first slave trader in the Americas. Many Taino died on those voyages and their bodies were thrown overboard. The scribes of the time said it was possible to find your way to the New World by following the trail of bodies in the ocean. Millions died as greed and brutality brought slavery, death and destruction to the Taino people.

Columbus was eventually arrested on his 3rd voyage and returned to Spain in chains for being a ‘poor governor’ of the island.

Sadly, many people don’t know the truth about Columbus although it is there if you look, and the myth continues that he was some kind of hero. Worldwide there is only one person with more statues than Columbus and that is Jesus Christ.

But, times are changing and seventeen US states no longer celebrate Columbus Day. It is the only disputed federal holiday. There will be a day when it is no longer a holiday.

A study done at the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez showed that 61% of all Puerto Rican people have indigenous mtdna. What kind of ‘indio’ blood do you think that is? Taino of course.

Now that you know the truth about the history of Columbus and the effect it had on the original inhabitants of the island whose DNA still runs in the bloodlines of 61% of the population, can you still justify putting up a statue to honor a man who was a greedy, land-stealing, murderer?

Please, we beg you Congressman Bonilla, be on the right side of history.

Sincerely,

LA VOZ DE AZTLAN
Los Angeles, Alta California
December 20, 2007

 

Lakota Nation secedes from the USA

 

Tohono O’Odham Nation and 19 others may follow

The Lakota Nation has withdrawn from all treaties with the United States, national leaders said Wednesday. “We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,” Indian leader Russell Means told reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy at a Washington news conference.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the US State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States.

They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.

The Lakota Nation includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driver's licenses. Also, living in the new independent and sovereign nation will be tax-free, provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Russell Means said.

In addition, the Tohono O’Odham Nation and 19 other Indigenous nations declared similar proclamations at the Indigenous Peoples' Border Summit of the Americas that took place last month at the San Xavier District of Arizona. One of the principal resolutions declared at the summit was, "To create and use Indian Nations/tribal passports, identifications, and immigration documents for travel across imposed borders, specifically tribes along settler borders along Mexico and the U.S. and the U.S. and Canada, and to fully reinstate their traditional border crossing rights and abilities."

 

Lakota-Sioux National Leader
Russell Means

Approximate borders of the Lakota Nation

Russell Means Speaks

 

Get Your Own Shirt Here - UnKauInoa.org

Hau'oli La Hanau e Lili'uokalani celebration! Friday Sept 2 from 4 pm to 8 pm @ the ahu, 'Iolani Palace.
Music by Palani Vaughn, Ikaika Hussey, Imaikalani Kalahele, Tane, Steve Akana,
Noa Helela (slam). Speakers: Ka'anohi Kaleikini, Summer Kaimalia
and Laulani Teale. Queen's Puppet Show and Queen's Display.
Ho'okupu, chants, fun and food..if can, bring a dish to share.
Questions? ph 783-2313 Keoki

Pray for Mauna Kea: TMT Contested Case begins this week

Aloha kakou!

The big day is upon us! Tomorrow is the first day of the contested case hearing on the construction permit for the Thirty-Meter Telescope, the new 18-story, 5-acre telescope proposed for the conservation district of Mauna Kea.  The Mauna Kea hui -- an informal group of concerned community members -- is making the case for why the TMT cannot be legally granted this construction permit.  (View our opening brief here) If you support protecting Mauna Kea from industrialization, then the hui could use your support. (View a quick fact sheet on the impacts of the proposed TMT)

Please send the hui members positive vibes today and throughout the week.  And if can, try stop by -- for any length of time.  The hearing will be held from 9 am to 4 pm, August 15-18th -- additional hearing dates may be announced. The hearing will be held at conference rooms A and B at the Hilo State Building (75 Aupuni St.) everyday except on Tuesday, August 16th, when it will be at Hilo Community College (1175 Manono St), Building 388, Rm. 101. Invite others to come, shirts and signs are great--if you know how to livetweet or facebook from the hearing room, please do so!

If you cannot come to the hearing, then please keep the hui in your thoughts as they proceed through this difficult process.  Although this is the second contested case hearing that this hui has had to engage in (they won the last one in 2007 when the 6 Keck Telescopes were proposed for Mauna Kea), we still appreciate the moral support of those who would like to see the mountain protected from industrialization.

To learn more about the hearing and some of the petitioners that make up the Mauna Kea hui, click here. If you scroll to the bottom of the blog, there are links to meet other hui members.

It has been a long journey to this point. Mahalo pumehana to all who have come along on this path, to fight for what is pono, what is sacred, and what is true -- a future where this and other wahi pana are respected and protected into perpetuity.

Eo Mauna Kea!

See Behind The Scenes Shots Of Our Shows

Click HERE To Become A Fan