In 1492, We the Taino people found Christopher Columbus wandering lost at sea. Since then, as indigenous
 people living on Turtle Island, we all know the struggles that we face of becoming or being declared extinct by the newly
established government and its education system. We say newly established because our tribal governments have been in
existence for thousands of years. For example the American constitution is based on the Iroquois Nations Great Laws of
Peace which was the oldest living democracy on the earth. The Great Laws of Peace date back as far as the 15^th century
 while oral tradition takes it back a few more centuries.[1] 

When Columbus came to our island shores he saw many large yucayeques (villages). Throughout Boriken
(Great Land of the Valiant Noble Lord-Puerto Rico) each village was governed by a Cacique (chief) who oversaw numerous
Areitos (social gatherings) and political functions. Political power was equally evidenced by men and women who could become
chiefs. As of today we have yet to see a woman president in this country. There were districts that were ruled by one of the village
chiefs called cacigazcos. These districts were organized into groups of regional chiefdoms headed by the most prominent chief of
 that district. This structure of Taino government is similar to the political system of the United States with a president, state governors,
 and town mayors. One exception is that slavery and forced labor were not found in the Taino society. This is a small example of
how the Taino of Boriken (Puerto Rico) were already highly advanced in politics long before Columbus blundered his way onto
our shores. Then a strange thing happened that has baffled our people for centuries.

Within a time span of 50 years, the nearly 8-15 million indigenous people of the Caribbean had dwindled down to
200 in 1546.[2] Was this a mass physical genocide or deliberate killing with words on paper? The Spanish could not have been
so disease ridden that we were “wiped out” in such a short amount of time. Weapons of biological warfare were not used so how
could it be that we went extinct at the 2^nd highest rate of speed compared to the dinosaurs? The answer is simple. It is easier on the
conscious to take away land and resources from a people who no longer exist.

This is where our people face a frustrating uphill battle. We know that we still exist because it is who we are. It is found in
 our Taino language which was recently taken off the extinct list due to the efforts of Cacique Pedro "Guanikeyu" Torres and the elders of the Jatibonicu  Taino Nation of Boriken. We find it in our customs and traditions like never taking without giving something in return. It is found in
how we respectfully work the earth and when we offer tobacco to the four directions. It is found when we look at our aracoels
(grandparents and elders) and we see their smooth brown skin and their Indian faces. Then we hear their stories of the times of
the guacara’s(The ancient days, the days of the caves). I asked my grandfather when I was a teenager “Are we Taino?”, “Yes,”
he replied” Taino Arawaka.” He was not a man who would lie, he was very respected in his community and fought hard to protect
 the abuse of our Jibaro (People of the Mountains) during the early 1900’s. He served in the government to further his goal to protect
 the indigenous people who lived in the mountains. People who could be found in bohios (thatched roof huts) until the 1930’s.

Taino mother and daughter in front of their bohio

But wait a minute, the Taino’s are extinct! We hear this so many times that it no longer hurts our ears or our hearts. It only
 makes us fight harder to ensure that the world knows that we are not a remnant of the past. We live in an age of seeking truth and
 it is all around us waiting to be found. On the island of Boriken a census by Spain in 1799 clearly labeled Indian as a race with over
 2,000 having been counted. The other races were negro, white, mixed and free-colored. In 1799 the census shows over 34,000
free-colored registrants who were not black, white or mixed blood. That leaves only one other race of people unless there was a large
 Viking settlement on our island as well. We were given our freedom in 1516 by a crown-order from Spain because of Father
Bartolomé de las Casas, who transcribed the atrocities that were being committed against our people. The Taino is who the
free-colored people registered were in that census.

Dona Varin Cheverez-Cheverez, a full blood Taino Indian woman from the mountain town of Morovis in Puerto Rico.

 If we look at the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation in 1838 and where they are now we can see a great parallel.
 The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians started with roughly 1,000 people after the Trail of Tears in 1838. Now they number
over 240,000. [3] For some inexplicable reason we apparently do not follow the same rules of life and procreation as other races
do. It is also interesting to note that when Spain gave up the island to America after the Spanish/American war in 1898, the
government single-handedly wiped us off the census by eliminating Indian as a choice. This comes as no surprise considering the
policy of forced removal of the native people of America was still fresh in the minds of its death march enforcing politicians.

Wait! It gets better as we look deeper into this web of deceit that is being unwoven right before our eyes. Even though
the United States government removed Indian as a choice from the census in Boriken something very unusual happened. Between
the years of 1879-1918 there was an assimilation program at the most infamous Indian boarding school in America. This school
was called The Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Amazingly there are 66 Taino Indians from “Porto Rico”, students who were
forcibly removed from Boriken and then sent to American to go to school alongside young Native American students from many
 nations across the land.[4] Can someone please tell me how can this be if my Taino people are extinct?

Taino Indian Students at Carlisle Indian Industrial School and group shot of Native American students at Carlisle

Recent DNA studies have proven that we are still here with 61% of Puerto Ricans still carrying our Taino bloodlines. In the
 central mountain regions of Boriken, also known as the Indian Zones, and in the United States we are still singing our songs, dancing
 at our Areitos, reclaiming our language, playing our ball games, and fanning the sacred flame of our people into the heart and spirit
of our next generation of guazabaras (warriors) There is a rallying call that is sounding from our guamo’s (seashell horns) that is
being heard throughout the Taino island nations and by the Nations here in the United States who are joining us in a spirit of brotherhood
 and Nation to Nation relationship. We, the Jatibonicu Taino and our brothers and sisters from the other island nations are still here
 and there is nothing that will stop us from letting the world know that we live and we carry within us the unconquered spirit of our ancestors.