“More than 90 percent of the native peoples of the Americas come
from Latin America,” he said. “So, in Central and South America
and the Caribbean, there are between 40 and 50 million
indigenous people.”
González
draws on his
Native American (Taino) and Latino (Puerto Rican)
roots to offer talks that celebrate his indigenous heritage. For
example, he pointed out Puerto Rico had one of the most advanced
civilizations in when the Spaniards landed there around 1492,
including its most influential leader being a woman and daily
communal baths, which led Europeans to question why island
dwellers bathed so often.
He also pointed out the Caribbean islands exposed Spaniards to
corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and the pineapple, which
originated there, not Hawaii.
González also
spoke of native islanders introducing their “European invaders”
to tobacco.
“When we burned the tobacco, we believed that the smoke would
carry our prayers up to the Creator,” he said. “For most of you,
the Creator was a man. But for my ancestors, the Creator was a
woman. More than 200 words in the Spanish language came from
Taino culture.”
González even drew a parallel with the Spaniards arrival in the
New World and the current coronavirus pandemic. He stated
disease is what killed most indigenous people following the
arrival of a “lost” Christopher Columbus, especially
“smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria, because we had lived in
total isolation for thousands of years.” He stated 90 percent of
the native peoples of the Western hemisphere perished, mostly
due to disease, in the next 200 years.
“Native people are accustomed to pandemics. The one today is
bad, but not as bad as smallpox,” he said, pointing out some
Caribbean tribes fled to southwest Florida to escape the
Spaniards. The Europeans also forcibly removed some tribes,
repatriating them to Central American countries such as
Nicaragua.
González stated many people confuse the Aztec and
Mayan empires, because history books contain many mistruths
about each native culture. He pointed out Aztecs hailed from
central Mexico, while Mayans called the Yucatan peninsula their
home.
The presentation by González served as a historical time machine
of sorts. He stated indigenous languages have survived the test
of time, explaining that 50 such languages are still spoken
throughout Mexico and another 20 are used in Guatemala—not just
Spanish.
The Incan empire stretched across modern-day Ecuador,
Perú, Bolivia and parts of several other nations.
González pointed out Egyptians weren’t the only ones to make
mummies of their leaders. Incans did the same with tribal
chiefs. However, occupying European forces wrote off the
cultural custom as “idol worship and ordered the mummies
destroyed,” according to González. He also stated the Incans
pioneered brain surgeries.
One common theme of the presentation is how Spanish
conquistadores destroyed much of the native traditions and
customs, infusing their own European influences, some of which
lasted.
For centuries, indigenous people in Latin America were
persecuted for their spiritual rituals. But
González described “a revival” of those practices in recent
years, as many native people “feel comfortable” participating in
both Christianity and indigenous rituals.
While historians pegged the 1500s for the extinction of native
people with a Taino background,
González stated DNA tests show 60 percent of the
populations of Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic still show
Taino roots. He added there has been a revival of indigenous
culture in the island territory, with the restoration of some
indigenous burial grounds and monuments. He also said the
language and pow wows are seeing a revival there as well.
As part of its month-long observance, UT officials issued a
“land acknowledgement statement,”
Recognizing the region of Ohio where the university sits “is
the ancestral homeland of the Odawa, Seneca, and Erie and as
well as places of trade of indigenous peoples, including the
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa, Potawatomi), Eel River, Lenape, Kaskaskia,
Kickapoo, Miami, Munsee, Peoria, Piankashaw, Shawnee, Wea
and Wyandot.”
“As a
steward of public lands, it is our responsibility to understand
the history of the land, the peoples who came before us and
their continuing ties to this place,” the statement read in
part. “We thank them for their strength and resilience in
protecting this land and aspire to uphold our responsibilities
according to their example.”
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