|| Loyalty To The Land Of Quisqueya ||

The Haitian Arawak Movement

The Haitian Arawak Movement is anything but new. On the contrary, it is quite old; more than 500 years old. It started on December 5, 1492, when one of the world's most wicked and evil man, Christopher Columbus, and his savage companions (the Spaniards) set foot on our shores, the beautiful island of Quisqueya/Haiti. Our ancestors quickly understood that those savages, to whom they had offered hospitality, given gold and diamonds, were here to steal their land and enslave them. Consequently, the fearless cacique Caonabo and his warriors yelled: Aya Bombay! (we'd rather die than live as slaves!). Our ancestors decided to fight to the death, and, thus, began the movement. In 1503, when the first Africans were brought to our land, although they came from different nations, different tribes, and practiced different religions, they knew that they had to unite in order to resist their oppressors. Soon, they joined with the Amerindians in a friendly alliance to fight a common enemy. As time went by, their alliance grew stronger (especially with intermarriages). Africans and Indians fought side by side against the Spaniards and the French. Unfortunately, today our people give no credit to our Arawak Indian ancestors. They prefer to believe in the lies told by the colonizers and their followers. They'd rather believe that the Arawaks/Tainos were completely exterminated. Sadly enough, they seem to have forgotten that the Arawaks were the first to be tortured, raped, enslaved, and to take up arms to defend the sovereignty of our land. Many seem to ignore that the Indians fought in every single war that ever took place on Quisqueyan soil. They even fought for our independence in 1804. If today our people do not understand the value of our Arawak ancestors, they do not deserve to call themselves Haitian patriots. For, the father of our independence, the great Jean Jacques Dessalines, understood their value and was so proud of them that he made sure he assembled them in Gonaives on January 1, 1804, to thank them for their bravery, leadership, and martyrdom. How can we claim to love and honor Dessalines and not love and honor those he so loved and proudly honored?

Yesterday, our ancestors fought for their survival and for their land. Today, we will make sure that they are honored and that their memories and history are well preserved. We will not let them die in vain! If we do, then we are as guilty as the colonizers and their proponents. Our forefathers once fought for us, now is the time to fight for them. Then, they fought for land, against marauders, now, we fight for honor, against lies and distortions. We proudly take the torch that they passed us and continue the fight for right.

We call upon all the citizens of Quisqueya/Haiti (Africans, Arawaks/Tainos, and Afro-Arawaks) to help us keep the legacy of our Arawak/Taino ancestors alive. We call upon the people of Afro-Amerindian (Arawak/Tanino) descent, who were born in Haiti, therefore are Haitians by nationality; the people of Afro-Amerindian descent who were born in the Dominican Republic, therefore are Dominicans by nationality, to join our movement because we are one and the same people, regardless of nationality. Help us keep our Native-American culture and traditions alive.

Long live the Arawak/Taino people!

Guanahata Ben Emmanuel