prayer of resistance

prayer of resistance

NOTE: I needed to put this here, because I woke up thinking about this, and because there were Taino yahoo groups at the time that would not allow this to be posted. Only the American Indigenous Injustice group allowed it.... which is sad... Relatives of Life, Mon Dec 25, 2006 I hold a prayer of resistance on this day of cultural genocide of Indigenous People of Turtle Island, South, Central and the Caribbean. As A Taino I hold a prayer of resistance during this season where to a great extent, the winter solstice is dimmed in the minds and in the hearts of many Indigenous People today within Turtle Island, South, Central and the Caribbean. Among my people the Ceibe Tree was our Tree of Life. Today many of the children and the young people, if asked 'what is a Ceibe tree' cannot tell you of it, or its significance. But if you ask "what is a christmas tree", without hesitation there is a response immediately. It is culture genocide. I wish not to rain down on what people have adopted through the horrors of colonialism, but colonialism has injured, astronomically, our mental body. Colonialism has caused us to forget, once again to an astronomical extent, the atrocities of genocide that have taken place within Turtle Island, South, Central and the Caribbean. As I hold a strong prayer of resistance, I hold in my memory a story of a Taino Casique (Chief) within the Caribbean and that Casique name is Hatuey. Hatuey was organizing a resistance to the Castillian invaders of our Lands. The Spanish Conquistadors eventually captured him and tied him to the rubber tree to be burnt. With a cross (sword) and the black book (bible) they insisted that he be baptized so he could go to their heaven. He asked "do your people go to this heaven you speak about?" They replied "yes", he said, "Then I would prefer to go to your hell because if you are this cruel on Earth then I can only imagine your cruelty in your Heaven." With this statement he fixed his eyes upon the Sun and held his gaze there without a murmur while they burned him alive. As Indigenous People we cannot continue to forget the horror stories that the Old Ones experienced and the horror stories that we are experiencing in the here and now. Hatuey's example continues to vibrate and resonate, and in that example I hold myself in a prayer of resistance to the atrocities of Old and New. The trickery that has taken place and continues to take place is deep rooted and seated within our mental bodies, and we must liberate our mental body so that the Spirit may have direction in finding and creating solutions of thriving and sustainability for all of us alike. We cannot separate our limbs and claim that we are whole. We must stop the lie that takes place within our mental body. I will continue to hold a prayer of resistance until the Ancestors request my return back into their World. Ni Bon