2nd Prayer Walk Held to Raise Awareness on Radioactive Roads Bill

Some of the participants of the walk held on September 9th

Florida (UCTP Taíno News) – A group of Indigenous Peoples and allies held a prayer walk to bring awareness to the so-called “Radioactive Roads Bill” and the Climate Crisis. The 8 mile walk was held on September 9th and was organized by Garrett Stuart and Betty Osceola of Miccosukee Tribe. The walk was supported by the United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP).

Commenting on the prayer walk, UCTP Florida Liaison Officer Robert Rosa stated, “It’s important to connect people with nature as well as to bring attention to the fact that we are only killing ourselves when we allow the destruction of the environment.”

The controversial “radioactive roads” bill was lobbied for by the fertilizer giant Mosaic and signed by Florida Republican Governor DeSantis in June 2023. The bill allows for roads across the State of Florida to be made with "radioactive" mining waste that has been linked to cancer. The measure allows phosphogypsum to be added to the list of "recyclable materials" used for road construction. Phosphogypsum are the remains left behind from mining phosphate, which is described by the EPA as being a "radioactive material" because it contains "small amounts" of uranium and radium. 

Phosphate is used to create fertilizer and as the leftover material, phosphogypsum, decays it produces radon, which is a potentially cancer-causing, radioactive gas. The Clean Air Act requires that phosphogypsum be managed in specialized process to prevent it from coming in contact with people and the environment. Because of the danger it poses, phosphogypsum, it is not stored in landfills. 

While the bill has been signed by DeSantis, the Florida Department of Transportation will need to conduct a study to "evaluate the suitability" of its use. This study will need to be completed by April 1, 2024.

UCTPTN 09.10.2023

Climate Change panel in Hialeah includes Taino representative

Participants of the City of Hialeah's Climate Change panel on December 6, 2015

Hialeah, Florida (UCTP Taino News) - CLIMA, an exhibition by world-renowned artist Xavier Cortada opened in the city of Hialeah on November 30 and will run until January 29, 2016 at the Milander Center for Arts and Entertainment. The exhibition uses art, performances and panels to address the issue of global climate change and sea level rise and how it impacts South Florida. A key component of the exhibit was 12 panel discussions on global climate change during the 12 days of the Paris Talks - from Nov 30 - Dec 11. Each panel concluded with a performance art piece addressing a topic presented in the panel. 

On Sunday, December 6, the guest panel entitled “Moral Nature: Faith in the face of a Global Climate Crisis” included Mildred Karaira Gandia (Taino) along with a diverse ecumenical group. The panelists discussed the faith community’s response to environmental degradation, and particularly its impact on the poor and generations not yet born. 

"The one thing that everyone on the panel agreed on was that in order to protect Atabei (Mother Earth) and our future generations, we all need to work together regardless of religion, color, etc." stated Gandia. 

She continued stressing that "we all have something to contribute and this crises cannot be solved by anyone alone". 

Gandia is a South Florida representative of the United Confederation of Taino People and an elder representative of the Bohio Atabei Caribbean Indigenous Women’s Circle. 

CLIMA is presented the City of Hialeah in partnership with FIU and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

UCTPTN 01.03.2016

AIA Pow Wow in Orlando, Florida

The AIA Pow Wow In Orlando will be held at The Central Florida Fairgrounds, starting Friday, November 1st (afternoon) through Sunday, November 3rd, 2013.

The United Confederation of Taíno People will have a booth. Join us for a beautiful inter-tribal weekend!

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Nuestras Raices Tainas II: Introducción al Lenguaje Taíno por Tai Pelli Hosted by Arte Borikua Galeria

Tambien en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/171984786337076/

Event in Orlando, Florida: Nuestras Raices Tainas

R. Mukaro Borrero Special Guest on Two Worlds Indigenous Radio Show

Tampa, Florida (UCTP Taíno News)  – Taíno artist, historian, and community leader, R. Múkaro Borrero is the scheduled featured guest on Alvon Griffon’s Two Worlds Indigenous Radio Show this Sunday, March 31, 2013. The hour long broadcast begins at 10pm at WMNF 88.5 FM or online live at WMNF.ORG.  This show will also be available online for one week at wmnf.org/programs/show/168. Every Sunday night, Two Worlds Indigenous Radio host Alvon Griffon shares the  finest collection of Native American music from traditional Pow Wow style to the latest from contemporary Native artists, NAMMY nominees and winners.  Two Worlds Indigenous Radio Show also features weekly Pow Wow reports, as well as news and views from across the continents. UCTPTN 03.30.2013

Decision Welcomed in Barrier Island Name Dispute

Brevard County, Florida (UCTP Taino News) - Earlier this year, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names received a proposal to name a Florida barrier island after the Spanish Conquistador, Juan Ponce de Leon. The proposal was opposed by local residents, local governments, Indigenous organizations such as the American Indian Association of Florida and the United Confederation of Taino People, and others. On November 8th, it was announced by the Domestic Names Committee that the island would remain unnamed. 

See full Story at UCTP Taino News:
http://www.uctp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=792&Itemid=2

Nuestros Raices Tainas

Come out and meet UCTP President, R. Mukaro Borrero and UCTP Liaison Officer, Tai Pelli at a special presentation at Arte Boricua in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, November 3, 2012.

AIA Native American Powwow: Happening Now...

UCTP representatives and friends have an information table on Taino culture at the American Indian Association Pow Wow in Orlando, Florida this weekend...

If you are in the area come down and say hello and enjoy the event!

You can get more information at this link:
http://www.uctp.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=234&year=2011&month=11&day=04&Itemid=58

In this photo is our brother Abawarucoel, Mamona, and AnaYuísa...
El Taino vive!

Source: UCTP Taino News

U.S. coral reefs under threat, report finds

By Michael Christie

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Reuters) - Half of U.S. coral reefs are in poor or fair condition, threatened by climate change and human activities like sports fishing, shipping and the release of untreated sewage, a U.S. government report said on Monday.

Reefs in the Caribbean, in particular, are under severe assault and coral in the U.S. Virgin Islands and off Puerto Rico had not recovered from 2005, when unusually warm waters that led to massive bleaching and disease killed up to 90 percent of the marine organisms on some reefs.

"The evidence is warning us that many of our coral reef ecosystems are imperiled and we as a community must act now," said Kacky Andrews, program manager of the Coral Reef Conservation program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The new NOAA report on the state of coral reefs in the United States and Pacific territories, including Palau and Guam, was presented at a meeting of coral reef scientists in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It was the third such report and the second to be based on actual monitoring of reefs. The reefs were classified as excellent, good, fair or poor based on such things as water quality, fish population and the threats they faced.

The last report was issued in 2005 when warm Atlantic waters killed off large swaths of coral through bleaching, a condition that occurs when environmental stresses, like heat, break down the symbiotic relationship between coral polyps and unicellular algae that give them color.

Half the coral reefs off the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were killed that year, said Jenny Waddell, a marine biologist at NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment. On some reefs, the fatality rate reached 90 percent, she said.

A series of powerful hurricanes also devastated coral reefs off the Florida Keys in 2005.

HUMAN EFFECTS

But scientists at NOAA said coral reefs had been suffering for much longer due to a warming climate and other "stressors," many due to human activity, such as overfishing and damage caused by ship anchors.

"It is important to note that these declines did not happen overnight, they did not happen during the last three years," said Andrews.

"The degradation has happened over the past several decades and recovery may require similar time frames. Although there are a number of measures that we can implement in order to promote conservation, there are no quick fixes."

The NOAA report was based on reef monitoring in 15 areas in the Atlantic and Pacific.

It said that reefs near populated areas tended to suffer more intense threats due to coastal development and recreational activities like boating, diving and fishing, but even remote reefs were affected by climate change.

Reefs in the vast Pacific Ocean tended to be more resilient, with a greater diversity of both coral and fish, NOAA scientists said. While Pacific reefs had been able to start recovering from worldwide bleaching in 1998, Caribbean reefs had not.

Human activity had not just left Caribbean reefs battered, but also pretty tame in terms of marine life, said Alan Friedlander, a NOAA marine biologist based in Hawaii.

"When you dive in remote parts of the Pacific you really feel like an intruder, like you don't belong there and the big guys let you know. You feel way down the food chain," he said.

Good News for Manatees

Florida (UCTP Taino News) - The Manatee or “sea cow” is a gentle sea creature that inhabits tropical waters from Florida through the Caribbean island chain, down to coastal South America. The word Manatee or Manati comes from the Taino Indian language and there is even a town in Puerto Rico that retains the name. The Manatee feeds only on aquatic plants and was an important part of Taino culture much like the buffalo was to some North American Tribal Nations. Today, the Manatee is still considered sacred to many Taino who are happy to note that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently voted to delay downgrading the manatee's status from endangered to “threatened.”

In a letter issued on Monday, September 10th, Florida Governor Charlie Crist called the manatee one of Florida’s “beloved natural resources.” The Governor urged the Commission to postpone their decision given the need for a better method to estimate the Manatee population and the record 417 manatee deaths in 2006.

The FWC decided to defer the decision on down-listing manatees until at least the Dec. 5-6 meeting in Key Largo, FL.

UCTP Representative Mildred Caraira Gandia, a Boriken Taino who lives in Miami welcomed the decision as “good news for Manatees.” She and other community members plan to continue to monitor the situation.

=================

See also: http://taino-facts.blogspot.com/2007/01/manatee-or-manati.html

Of Pearls and Doing the Right Thing…

To: Blue Water Ventures

Greetings,

I read with great interest the Internet article about your Margarita shipwreck pearl find. My wife, Rose Powhatan (Pamunkey/Tauxenent ), and I gave a lecture at the Natural History Museum of New York on Powhatan and Caribbean Pearls. I would like you to consider the following:

The pearls found in this shipwrecked galleon's site were probably from the Caribbean Peal Trade located in the pearl beds off the Venezuelan island of Margarita . The sunken ship had the appropriate name since it was from its namesake island's waters that the pearls (that came to rival the old Eastern pearl trade) were harvested.

Lucayan Taínos (conch divers from the Bahama Islands) were among the first unfortunate souls used in this deplorable enterprise that helped to deplete the Bahamas of its indigenous people and the Caribbean of its ancient pearl beds. Aside from pearls found in conchs, Spanish explorers may have first encountered Indigenous American pearl trade among the mainland peoples of South America .

Father Bartholomew de las Casas reported the horrible conditions of these divers, "who once looked like men but now appeared as deformed dogs", and who were forced to dive at very deep depths from canoes by their cruel Spanish masters. He reported that if a diver surfaced too early he was pushed underwater by his master in the canoe. At the pearl diver's campsites they suffered from the bends, unhealed sores, starvation and diseases so that European royalty, nobility and merchants could have the luxury of wearing clothes dripping with excessive amounts of Caribbean pearls (See paintings of European royalty of this period). The only "positive" story to have come out of the Caribbean Pearl trade was that of an enslaved Caribbean "Indian" who was given his freedom by his master for finding the largest famous pearl named "La Peregrina" or "The Orphan" (So named because the diver found the pearl out of its shell).

The current owner of the re-hung "La Peregrena" is actress Elizabeth Taylor who was given the pearl by her late husband actor Richard Burton. La Peregrina was briefly lost in her rug; her poodle appeared with it in its mouth. Maybe both the pearls found at the Margarita's site and La Peregrina should be donated to a museum for display that would also acknowledge the holocaust-like history of the Caribbean Pearl Trade, the first European slave trade in the Americas and of the brutal early enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.

One Love,
Michael Auld (Yamaye Taino descendant)

------------------------------

Thousands of pearls found in shipwreck

KEY WEST, Fla. - Salvagers discovered thousands of pearls Friday in a small, lead box they said they found while searching for the wreckage of the 17th-century Spanish galleon Santa Margarita. Divers from Blue Water Ventures of Key West said they found the sealed box, measuring 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches, along with a gold bar, eight gold chains and hundreds of other artifacts earlier this week.

They were apparently buried beneath the ocean floor in approximately 18 feet of water about 40 miles west of Key West.

"There are several thousand pearls starting from an eighth of an inch to three-quarters of an inch," said Duncan Mathewson, marine archaeologist and partner in Blue Water Ventures.

James Sinclair, archaeologist and conservator consulting with Mel Fisher's Treasures, Blue Water's joint-venture partners, said the pearls are very rare because of their antiquity and condition. Sinclair said pearls don't normally survive the ocean water once they are out of the oyster that makes them.

"In this instance, we had a lead box and the silt that had sifted into the box from the site of the Margarita, which preserved the pearls in a fairly pristine state," he said.

An initial cache of treasure and artifacts from the Santa Margarita was discovered in 1980 by pioneering shipwreck salvor Mel Fisher.

The ship was bound for Spain when it sank in a hurricane in 1622. The pearls will be conserved, documented and photographed in an archaeological laboratory above the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West.

"Until they're properly cleaned and conserved we don't know their value, but it would seem they would be worth upwards of a million dollars," Mathewson said.

Taino Artist Featured at Tampa Museum of Art

Tampa, Florida (UCTP Taino News) - Selected master works of Taino Artist John Brown Ayes are appearing in an important group exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art. The opening was May 18, 2007 and the exhibition runs through June 24, 2007.

Ayes has written a small page in the history books because he is the first documented Taino to exhibit at the museum as well as the first Puerto Rican. The Ayes works featured are Don Quijote de la Mancha, An Altar to Dali and PHI.

Florida's Earliest Residents...

Our first citizens: Florida's earliest residents developed their own societies to match their environments

By JOE CRANKSHAW
joe.crankshaw@scripps.com
Source: http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,,TCP_16736_5397248,00.html

The first people in Florida and the Treasure Coast were hunter-gatherers, existing on what they could kill or pick from trees and bushes. But their society evolved into a complex system of chiefdoms much like the European feudal system. People began to live in wooden-walled towns, engage in rudimentary agriculture, create mound complexes for political and religious purposes and trade inside and outside Florida.

The first people's ancestors had come from Asia more than 12,000 years ago, over the land bridge that is now the Aleutian Islands and across North America. The Florida and Treasure Coast those people found were much different from the ones in which we live.


Ais Indians as illustrated in Jonathan Dickinson's Journal.

Historian Jerald T. Milanich notes in his book, "Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present" that the Pleistocene or Great Ice Age was ending, and Florida was cooler and drier. It was also about twice its present size because the sea level was lower, as water was sealed up in huge glaciers. The land we now know as the Treasure Coast was 10 miles inland.

Here is a look at the tribes and their history.

THE TRIBES

The Calusa: Evolving from an earlier people, who lived on shell mounds in the swampy areas around Fort Myers, the Calusa took advantage of relatively plentiful food supplies. They built towns and large ceremonial mound complexes, some of which can be seen at Fort Center west of Lake Okeechobee. They dominated the east coast tribes.

The Tequesta: The Tequesta had much the same culture as the Calusa. There is evidence around their dwelling sites in Dade and Broward County that they engaged in trade by canoe with the Bahamas and Cuba. Their territory apparently extended into what is now Palm Beach County.

The Jeagas: The Jeagas were a more primitive tribe of hunters, fishermen and warriors, if the Quaker writer Jonathan Dickinson's description after his shipwreck among them in 1696, is correct. They inhabited the east coast from what is now mid-Palm Beach County to the Jupiter Inlet. They left an extensive collection of mounds including some for burial, but most for refuse such as shells and animal bones.

The Hobe and the Ais: The Hobe and the Ais or Ays, which may be different Spanish names for the same tribe, lived from the Jupiter Inlet north to the Cape Canaveral area. They lived on hunting and fishing. The Ays had a village on Hutchinson Island just north of the present House of Refuge plus other sites near present day Fort Pierce, Vero Beach and Sebastian. A large village once stood on the south side of what is now the St. Lucie Inlet, but erosion washed it into the sea. They built burial mounds and shell middens, one of the largest forms the base for the old Leach Mansion in Indian RiverSide Park, another supports the Jupiter Lighthouse, but the largest once stood in Sebastian. The latter was mined for shell for roads in the 1920s.

The Caribes and Taino: The Caribes and Taino were two tribes from the Caribbean Islands, who made long voyages between the islands in their long canoes. They were skillful navigators, tradesmen and warriors. They were the first of the native peoples met by Columbus in 1492. Some historians believe they settled in South Florida around the Miami River. They traded and raided along the Treasure Coast. In the late 1940s, a Caribe burial of about a dozen individuals was found on Hutchinson Island between Jensen Beach and Fort Pierce.

Timeline of Ancient Floridians

10,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C.

These people lived in a temperate climate hunting mastodons, bison and other large animals. They had no fixed dwellings. Historians be'lieve some of them came north through the Caribbean and Bahamas to settle in Florida.
8,000 B.C. to 750 B.C.

The Ice Age has ended and the glaciers are melting, causing the sea level to rise, changing Florida's environment. The discovery of an 8,000 year old cemetery at Windover Farms in Titusville in Brevard County, changed archaeologists views of the early people of our area. The burials revealed advanced skills in weaving, medical care, tool making, agriculture and social skills.

750 B.C. to 1500 A.D.

This is the period when native cultures developed. In the north, the St. Johns Culture eventually created the Timucuan and the Deptford Culture created the Apalachee. In south Florida it produced the Glad'es Culture, centered on the southwest coast among the Calusa Indians, but stretching east to include the tribes of our region. The native peoples of this period traded shells, fish bones and freshwater pearls for copper, iron ore and corn seeds from the people of the northern part of the continent.

Until the 1500s, the people of Florida had no contact with Europeans. They traveled among their tribes for purposes of trade and warfare, often venturing to sea either on purpose or by accident to make long canoe trips. Evidence, in the form of burials and trade items, of visits from people of the Caribe and Taino cultures has been found on Hutchinson Island.

But in 1513, their world changed forever when Europeans landed in Florida.