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By Eduardo Diaz, Director, Smithsonian Latino Center

In 1662, William Sanderoft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, approved the Jamaican coat of arms, depicting an “Arawak” couple: she holding a food basket, he holding a bow. Below the couple, the inscription: INDVS VTEQVE SERVIET VNI, “The two Indians will serve as one,” perfect for implying the collective servitude the British expected of the Natives and, later, African slaves. As we know, the Native populations of Jamaica, derived from the Taíno words yamaye and xaymaca (land abounding with springs), were devastated by the arrival of European colonists.

Last summer, I attended a presentation by Lesley-Gail Atkinson, an archaeologist from the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, who was in Washington, D.C. for a workshop exploring indigenous legacies of the Caribbean, co-hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and Latino Center. A portion of the presentation, based on her seminal work, The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of Jamaican Taíno, focused on Afro-Indigenous miscegenation — from how Taíno communities protected Maroon* leaders Nanny and Cudjoe, to the indispensability of Taíno ingredients, ají (native hot pepper) among them, in Jamaica’s famous jerk barbeque (from the Taíno, barbacoa.) A fascinating part of Dr. Atkinson’s presentation detailed the stunning failure of a plebiscite to change the Jamaican coat of arms. Proponents advocated the replacement of the Native pair with an African couple, owing to the island’s overwhelming African-descended population, but they underestimated Jamaicans’ own identification with the island’s First Nation.

Also participating in the same work session was Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique, a Haitian scholar, who explained how traditional Vodou practice incorporates Taíno objects and religious cosmology. It is significant that in Haiti (from the Taíno Ayiti, land of high mountains), as in Jamaica, reverence for indigenous past and contributions is vigorously acknowledged and preserved.

In addition to the above-mentioned scholars, we also invited experts from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Belize, the latter acknowledging the cultural, particularly linguistic, connection between the Taínos and contemporary Garífuna peoples. Importantly, cultural workers involved in recovering Caribbean indigenous identity also participated in this workshop, some of whom identify as Afro-Indigenous. Their participation was important for two reasons: 1) in addition to researching their indigeneity, they strive to live it, actively practicing rituals and gathering as community; and 2) researching Afro-Indigenous miscegenation is important in comprehending Caribbean indigenous histories.

Exploring indigenous legacies of the Caribbean is a sensitive endeavor, because of the presumed extinction theories subscribed to in some academic and community quarters. The Smithsonian has custody of over 9,000 objects of Taíno derivation, and in preparing to responsibly share the collection with the public we are doing our homework, aided by a diversity of scholarship and manifestations of lived experience. The Smithsonian’s mission is to increase and diffuse knowledge, and to tell, not spin, stories.

I recently returned from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where a Smithsonian team conducted a consultation with leading Taíno scholars, activists, and collectors. We were amazed by the focused, enthusiastic response to our initiative, and were enriched by their perspectives and ideas. Later, our research leaders conducted consultations in San Juan de la Maguana and Altos de Chavón, where the sense of Taíno community is more present. I’m told the response was more powerful and personal. My sense is that our initiative is touching a deep chord, one that goes to essence of identity and being.

When last in Chicago, I went to a bombazo, a community performance of traditional Puerto Ricanbomba, a percussive music and dance genre born in African slave quarters. One of the young musicians proudly sported a t-shirt that read, “Taíno Strong.” This memory surfaced as I listened to the presentations of our invited Caribbean scholars and activists and took in the feedback in Santo Domingo, reminding me of the miscegenation of peoples and cultures that have shaped the American continent since First Contact. I think it is important to follow the beat, and the storyline, no matter where they lead.

*Maroon: derived from the Spanish Cimarrón (living on the mountaintops), is a name given to fugitive African slaves. The British seized Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655. Rather than be re-enslaved by the British, groups of runaway slaves formed and rebelled, clearing an initial path for independence. Nanny and Cudjoe were two prominent Maroons, considered national heroes.

Eduardo Díaz is the director of the Smithsonian Latino Center and a 30-year veteran of arts administration. The Latino Center works to increase and enhance Latino presence, research and scholarship at the Smithsonian Institution by sponsoring, developing and promoting exhibitions, collections, research and public programs that focus on the Latino experience. Díaz is an advisor to the Smithsonian’s Secretary and Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture as well as to Congress and other government agencies on a range of cultural development issues related to Latino communities in the United States and their impact on diverse countries of origin.

[Photo courtesy National Museum of the American Indian]

By Tia Tenopia

Mario Picayo is the editor and publisher of the Editorial Campana literary publishing company based in New York.  He is also the author of children’s books published through Campanita Books.

His children’s alphabet book  “A Caribbean Journey from A to Y (Read and discover what happened to the Z)” has received wide acclaim and was given as a gift to Michelle Obama for her daughters to read by the First Lady of the Virgin Islands, Cecile deJongh.

Mario Picayo reads from his book the letters “S” and “J.”

Data recently released by the Pew Hispanic Center allows us to draw two conclusions about Latinos in the U.S.. First, the myth that Mexicans are “flooding America” is proven to be that — there is no Mexican “enjambre,” despite what people like to pretend — rather there is a very diverse fabric being weaved of Hispanics within America.

We can also roughly assume that Asian immigrants are going to be the next wave of immigrants to America. However, compared to the Hispanic immigration numbers, we simply can’t place these immigrants to one origin country or region, yet, due to how the Center’s data is broken down.

The Pew Hispanic Center released a set of data on foreign-born population estimations from 2009-2010 showing that the estimated number of foreign-born persons living in the country was overestimated by the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey. The ACS estimated that the U.S. foreign-born population in 2010 was at 39.9 Million, a 4% increase from the survey’s 2009 estimate of 38.5 Million.

Analysis by the Pew Center suggests that the increase from 2009 to 2010 is a much smaller 1.6%. 

The Center categorizes the incoming population by geographical region. Out of the 616,000 that came between 2009 and 2010, the majority of them (by a very slim amount) do not come from Latin America; 317,000 come from the rest of the world, with South and East Asia leading the way. This suggests that an Asian immigrant tide in the U.S. might occur in the future.

Meanwhile, immigration from the Americas — not including Canada  — shows some interesting numbers as well. Mexico and Central America are the source of very, very, few immigrants these days: 220,000 of the Latin American immigrants are from the Caribbean; 65,000 from South America.

The decline in Mexican immigrants is relatively easy to explain. However, the Caribbean shift, and the question of why Asian immigration to America is rising is another question to be answered in the future. Multiple countries are defined as “Caribbean,” and requires each nation’s economic situation to be examined to try to draw some conclusions.

With the Pew Center merging South Asia and East Asia into one category, we are left to guess. South Korea and Japan are relatively prosperous, is an influx of Chinese immigrants to America next?

[Image Created With This And This]

Mun2 TV created a very compelling video filled with interviews from afro-Latinos discussing their trials and tribulations with living in a world that tries to force them to “choose” between being Latino or black.

The 10-minute video includes interviews with: Tatyana Ali (“Fresh Prince of Bel Air”), Gina Torres (“Suits, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”) and Judy Reyes (“Scrubs”), musicians Christina Milian (“Dip it Low”) and Kat DeLuna (“Whine Up”), and journalist Soledad O’Brien (CNN).

Most interviewees said the same thing: they had no problem with their identity — it seems to be everyone else who does. The video is definitely worth a watch and there’s bound to be a chance for you either to relate or learn something new.

Click on the photo or here to see the video in its entirety, plus extras.