Taino Continue to use the U.S. Census to say “We are Still Here.”

 

UCTP President, R. Mukaro Agueibaná Borrero (center) with 
Robert L. Santos (at left), Director, U.S. Census Bureau, and Leila Dickerson (at right), 
NY Regional Director, U.S. Census Bureau (UCTP Photo)

New York, NY (UCTP Taíno News) – The U.S. Census Bureau recently released the 2020 data sets on American racial and ethnic origins in a report entitled “Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A.” The reporting is the culmination of an analysis of 350 million detailed responses to the race and ethnicity questions that were collected in the 2020 Census. A significant population increase is noted, 85% from 2010, among American Indians including the Indigenous Taíno. The overall number of Americans claiming Indigenous heritage increased from 5.2 million in 2010 to 9.6 million in 2020. 

The increase is significant, especially for the Taíno whose total recorded population number in 2022 is 112,682. This means that according to the U.S. Census, the Taino are the 10th largest American Indian population of all the recorded American Indian groups. In Borikén (Puerto Rico) 50,114 identified themselves in the Census as Taíno, while over 26,000 identified themselves as Taíno in New York. Other large Taíno population areas on the U.S. mainland include Florida and Connecticut. 

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The United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP) has maintained an official partnership with the U.S. Census for the last 3 Census counts. One of the UCTP’s principal request to the U.S. Census Bureau was that they highlight “Taíno” as a separate Tribal Category in lieu of more ambiguous terms such as "Spanish Indians.” The UCTP also requested that search options for “Taíno” be as accessible as it is for other Indigenous Nations. 

“The new report from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that they have finally taken our continuous requests seriously” stated R. Mukaro Agueibaná Borrero, the current President of the UCTP and a kasike (chief) of the Guainía Taíno Tribe. Borrero continued stating “We presented what we view as the past discriminatory interpretations of the Census data to the highest level of the Bureau. We also indicated our serious concerns with continued reports of field officers – Census data collectors – in Borikén (Puerto Rico) who allegedly urged community members to identify themselves as White or told individuals that they could not identify as American Indian on the Census.” 

On behalf of the UCTP, President Borrero met with Robert L. Santos, Director, U.S. Census Bureau, and Leila Dickerson, NY Regional Director, U.S. Census Bureau, and other Bureau officials earlier this year.

Roger Guaiakan Hernandez, a board member of the UCTP, noted that "In 2010, the UCTP’s Liaison Office in Borikén launched a campaign to increase Taíno participation in the Census. The campaign resulted in the local Census Officials on the island recognizing our work during a special event held at the Tibes Ceremonial Center in Ponce. This had a positive effect on our Census-related efforts in both Puerto Rico and the Diaspora.” 

Hernandez continued stating “Our efforts and the significant increase in the number of people who identified as Taíno in 2010, is connected to the recent increase that we see in the report results of the 2022 Census. That means that our strategies as the UCTP are working.” 

UCTPTN 11/04/2023

Census Data Continues to Shed Light on Boricua Identity

Borikén/Puerto Rico (UCTP Taino News) - Puerto Rico's Institute of Culture, a governmental agency, has historically promoted the island's demographic heritage as a blending of three cultures – American Indian, Spanish, and African – forming one a national identity. Many Puerto Rican scholars continue to highlight 'cultural' blending as officially they have erroneously claimed the local indigenous population was exterminated in the first 50 years of colonization. Data released from the 2010 U.S. Census documents a different perspective as more “Puerto Ricans” are defining themselves as American Indians.

See the full article at UCTP Taino News:
http://www.uctp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=655&Itemid=2

PRico sees increase in blacks, American Indians

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—The number of Puerto Ricans identifying themselves solely as black or American Indian jumped about 50 percent in the last decade, according to new census figures that have surprised experts and islanders alike.

The increase suggests a sense of racial identity may be growing among the various ethnic groups that have long been viewed as a blurred racial mosaic on the U.S. territory, although experts say it is too soon to say what caused the shift.

"It truly breaks with a historic pattern," said Jorge Duany, an anthropology professor at the University of Puerto Rico.

The growth in those calling themselves black or American Indian reduced the population share of Puerto Ricans who identify themselves solely as white. That group dropped nearly 8 percentage points to about 76 percent of the island's 3.7 million people.

More than 461,000 islanders identified themselves solely as black, a 52 percent increase, while nearly 20,000 said they were solely American Indian, an almost 49 percent increase.

Experts said several factors could have influenced the rise in the number of people who identify themselves as black.

Duany said the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president might have influenced some to call themselves black as the high-profile leader dispelled negative stereotypes about their race.

The jump in numbers of blacks also coincided with a push to highlight Puerto Rico's black population, with the Department of Education offering for the first time a high school book that deals solely with their history.

In addition, there was a grassroots effort to target dark-skinned Puerto Ricans through social media websites including Facebook that urged them to identify themselves as "Afro-Puerto Rican" in the 2010 census.

It was an option that appealed to Barbara Abadia-Rexach, a 30-year-old sociology and anthropology professor at the University of Puerto Rico.

On the 2000 census form, she and several relatives had reluctantly identified themselves as black or African-American.

"I don't identify with that although we are black Puerto Ricans," she said. "But it is a formal structure, and we have to live with it."

The island's population is a fusion of races where phrases such as "coffee with milk" abound to identify various varieties of skin color.

"There is no authentic or pure race," Abadia-Rexach said. "We are all mixed."

Puerto Ricans are known as "boricuas," a name derived from the Taino Indian word for the island's indigenous people who were colonized by the Spaniards.

One possible reason for the increase in Puerto Ricans who identify themselves as American Indian is that the U.S. Census Bureau allowed responders to write down their tribe.

That was enough to get Naniki Reyes Ocasio to check the American Indian designation.

In previous censuses, the 63-year-old member of the United Confederation of Taino People refrained from picking that category. She didn't identify with being an American Indian since it did not include the word "Caribbean" in its description.

With the change, she traveled around with other Taino confederation members to show people how to complete the form and teach them about the new option.

"We can rewrite ourselves within history," she said. "I used to check 'Other' because there was nowhere else I could place myself."

Author: Danica Coto
Source: Associated Press