Bobby Gonzalez

Native Peoples Retake the Bronx - For One Day.

Native Peoples Retake the Bronx – For One Day

by Bobby González

The pounding drum inspired the traditionally dressed dancers gathered in Pelham Bay Park at the annual Bronx Native American Festival. There were members of many tribes including the Seminole, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Navajo, Shinnecock, Lakota and many other Indigenous Nations. The host drum was the Silvercloud Singers, an intertribal Native American singing and dance troupe who weave the traditional with the contemporary of Native song & dance. The Siwanoy were the original inhabitants of this area of the Bronx, and their spirits might have been smiling down on the festivities celebrating the culture of the First Americans.

Tchin, a Blackfeett/Narragansett, performed a set of storytelling and music that included playing an Apache nose flute and a turtle shell rattle/shaker. He is a prize-winning metalsmith, author, flute maker and folklorist. Another performer on the program was Irka Mateo, a proud member of the Taino, the Natives of the Caribbean. Irka hails from the country today called the Dominican Republic. Her ancestors called it Kiskeya. Irka and her accompanists brought the crowd to its feet. Her heartfelt songs paid tribute to the ancient Tainos who are now a disapora that have spread up and down the Western Hemisphere.

One aim of the yearly event is to dispel stereotypes and educate the general public about the true history of Native Americans and how they live today. Overcoming many historical challenges, they are still here and a dynamic force in almost every country in North, South and Central America and the Caribbean. One of the participants was overheard saying, “It ain’t easy being Indian, but somebody’s gotta do it.” At one point all the folks in the audience were asked to come together in a circle, hold hands and begin to move clockwise while swinging their joined hands up and down.

Some of the participants were a long way from their reservation homeland. Others still lived in urban housing projects. Many lived in two worlds, the Native world and the dominant society. However, for one day, all who were present celebrated the wonderful culture of American Indians and also became much more aware of their common humanity.

Bobby Gonzalez is a multicultural lecturer, storyteller and poet. Visit his website at www.bobbygonzalez.com. He is the event coordinator and master of ceremonies for the Bronx Native American Festival at Pelham Bay Park.

The festival took place on Sunday, September 25, 2011 in partnership with New York City Parks & Recreation.

Poets Converge on South Bronx Urban Farm

Poets Converge on South Bronx Urban Farm
By Bobby Gonzalez

Chris Brandt, one of the founders of “Against the Tide: Poets for Peace” stepped up to the microphone and read the poem "Outside the Blue Nile" by Yusef Komunyakaa. This was but one of the magical moments that occurred during the Open Mic series “Farm Fresh” which took place at La Finca Del Sur/South Bronx Farmers, an urban farmer cooperative led by Latina and Black women and their allies. Poets & Writers co-sponsored the five literary events that helped create a new community of grassroots spoken word artists. The months of July and August, 2011 were seasonably hot. However, as the crowds gathered under a mulberry tree, they listened to their neighbors’ lyrical compositions and forgot the city heat.
Among the participants were versifiers from Turkey, Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and North Carolina. Before one session, the audience was regaled by the guitars and songs of Lonnie Harrington, a Seminole Native American tunesmith, and Ruben Gonzalez a South American musician.
The three acres of La Finca are wedged between an inter-state railroad and a constantly congested automobile highway. Still, urban farmers such as Nancy Surun-Ortiz are able to grow tomatoes, eggplant, habanero peppers and basil. School groups and local residents have an opportunity to come here and grow their own fruits and vegetables. Now, they are also able to listen to and share their own home-grown poetry.
At the final Open Mic, the heavens opened up and a skin-drenching rainstorm fell. Most of the folks rushed into the farm’s 8’ by 10’ greenhouse. At least twenty of us were crammed in that small space, reading and reciting poetry and eating sandwiches.
I have read at and MC’d many Open Mic’s, but “Farm Fresh” has been the most enjoyable and rewarding. It was an honor to listen to poetry by the people and for the people who are standing on good old fashioned dirt and surrounded by nature’s bounty in a South Bronx green space. Thank you, Poets & Writers.

Bobby Gonzalez is a poet, storyteller and motivational speaker based in the Bronx, New York. He is the author of “The Last Puerto Rican Indian: A Collection of Dangerous Poetry.” Visit his website at http://www.bobbygonzalez.com/

My book, The Last Puerto Rican Indian a collection of dangerous poetry...Now on sale at in the Bronx at Books-In-The-Hood, 815 Westchester Ave. (near Prospect Ave.) in the Bronx, NY or get it online: http://www.thelastpuertoricanindian.com/

Why Latinos Are Not "Spanish"

The following article was written by Geraldine Gonzalez and published in the October 3, 2010 issue of "The Greyhound," the student newspaper of Loyola University of Maryland. ALANA Services (ALAS) and Student for Life hosted this year's Latino Heritage Month keynote speaker, Bobby Gonzalez, presenting on "Why We Are Not ‘Spanish': The Rich Cultural Diversity of Latinos." Embracing his Native American and Latino and African roots, Gonzalez offered a unique collection of information that celebrates his heritage. The presentation began with Gonzalez recalling a recent interview where the interviewer said, "I love Spanish food, music, etc." and he quickly stopped him by simply saying, "We are not Spanish". The most common misconception about Latinos is that they all speak the same Spanish, eat the same food, enjoy the same music and have the same political views. The reality is that the Latino culture consists of European, Native American, Jewish and Arabic ancestry, which is seen through the different dialects, foods, and culture in Latin America. Jen Burt, '13, who attended the lecture and works in the Center for Community Service and Justice (CCSJ) admits that she, too, is guilty of using the word Spanish to define all Latinos. "You don't realize how much variety there is in Latin America, a lot of people generalize, and by doing that, we miss out on what each individual country has to offer." Gonzalez began to show pictures of different people; some of the faces displayed features that could not be defined by one culture because these people were not just Mexican or Native American, but Afro-Colombian or Peruvian-Japanese. The combinations were endless proving the diversity within the word "Latino." "Ancestry, struggle, and embracing," were all words that Gonzalez used throughout his presentation, not just directed at the Latino population of Loyola, but everyone in the audience. Everyone's ancestry had a struggle, whether it be Latinos, Irish or Italian; they all came to America and experienced difficulties. He urged everyone to embrace his or her culture. There was a time in Gonzalez's life where he thought being Caucasian would just be easier but realized that the pride of his culture that was instilled in him was much greater than that easy life. "We are our ancestors, let us succeed but not forget who we are," said Gonzalez. Joyce Arias, '13, vice president of ALAS, felt he fit perfectly with this year's Latino Heritage Month's theme, "Find the Latino in You," "Bobby spoke about everywhere, he touched on all different races and how we are all connected," said Arias. He ended his presentation with advice for everyone: "Great change is happening in this world, to survive we must come together honoring each other's differences," said Gonzalez.

Multicultural Motivational Speaker at Assumption College, MA

The following was published on Sept. 29, 2010 in Assumption College's student newspaper "Le Procateur." The author is Lisa Capozzo. Assumption College is a school that prides itself on establishing a multicultural environment. On Monday, September 20, ALANA hosted a guest presentation entitled "Natives of Latin America." Speaking at this event was multicultural motivational speaker Bobby Gonzalez. Born and raised in South Bronx, Gonzalez resided in bi-cultural surroundings. Apart from being a motivational speaker, Gonzalez is a storyteller and a poet. He has presented stories at Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Television & Radio and the Detroit Institute of Arts. As a poet, Gonzalez has performed at the National Museum of the American Indian, the University of North Dakota and the Nuyorican Poets Café. One of his current poetry books, The Last Puerto Rican Indian: A Collection of Dangerous Poetry, includes centuries worth of striking disturbances and brave achievements of Native People from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The knowledgeable presenter has spoken at many institutions across the country. From Yale University to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Gonzalez has shared his knowledge about the Native custom of Latinos. By learning about various cultures and being a motivational presenter, Gonzalez hopes to persuade people to take into account their culture and employ this awareness to produce a vibrant future. From the beginning to the conclusion of the presentation, Gonzalez explained many interesting and surprising facts about native people. When many people hear about "Native Americans," they typically think of the Cherokee, Apache, and Navajo tribes. However what most people don't distinguish is that more than 90 percent of indigenous people originated from Central and South America and the Caribbean. What is also surprising to people is that in Mexico there are more than fifty languages in existence. The most common language is obviously modern Spanish. The remainder of the languages are all Native. Native American homelands range from Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. What is very engaging is that the natives of the Aztec, Maya, Inca, Taino and many other various groups constructed nations that have made many contributions to our contemporary civilization. From corn and chewing gum to tomatoes and chocolate, some of the most desirable foods in today's society stem from the Mayan and Aztec civilizations. Another important concept is that the Mayans and Aztecs had very intellectual people who provided us with the idea of the number zero. They understood this concept countless centuries before the Europeans. Another significant achievement of these people is that in Tenochtitlan (present day Mexico City); there was highly developed architecture and engineering. Just like the Aztecs and Mayans, the Incan civilization made many wondrous contributions to society today. Existing in South America, the Incan Empire extended approximately as long as the Roman Empire. This empire consists of the modern-day countries of Peru and Ecuador and parts of Bolivia, Columbia, Chile and Argentina. From completing brain surgery to making the biggest highway system in the world during that time period, the Incan empire has exceeded far beyond greatness. From the islands of the Caribbean, the Taino Empire was established. This empire showed other cultures rubber, the very first experience of consuming peanuts and pineapples, to people's first ever experience with tobacco. The Taino culture was the original civilization that gave us many key words that we use now. Some of these words include hurricane, canoe, barbeque, savanna and hammock. These cultures have definitely contributed to today's society. Acceptance of other cultures is definitely important to changing our outlook on past and present society. Many students enjoyed the presentation and couldn't believe how much these cultures are still affecting people positively today, "We need to embrace our culture and where we come from," said Carolina Correa a sophomore at Assumption. Some historians claim that the Taino people don't even exist today. However, they do exist and are still embracing the world every day. Bobby Gonzalez taught the audience to accept every culture. "Embrace diversity within you and without you, labels belong to boxes and not people."

History of the Americas From an Indigenous Perspective. A suggested reading list.

 

Compiled by Bobby González

The titles in this short list present history from the Native point of view and are not scholarly books and, therefore, can be read by the general public.

Deloria, Vine, Jr. The World We Used to Live in: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing, 2006.

Galeano, Eduardo. The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. New York: Monthly Press Review. 1997.

Weatherford, Jack. Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World. New York: Fawcett Columbine. 1988.

Minges, Patrick, ed. Black Indian Slave Narratives. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair. 2004.

Stannard, David E.  American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World. New York: Oxford University Press. 1992.

Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003.

Moore, Marijo, ed. Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: Breaking the Great Silence of the American Indian Holocaust. New York: Thunder Mouth’s Press. 2006.

Marshall, Joseph M., The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living: Native American Wisdom on Ethics and Character. New York: Penguin Compass.

Leon-Portilla, Miguel,ed. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Boston: Beacon Press. 1992.

Marmon Silko, Leslie. Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today. New York: Simon and Shuster. 1997.

Ross, John. Rebellion from the Roots: Indian Uprising in Chiapas. Monroe: Common Courage Press. 1995.

Johnson, Sandy and Dan Budnick (photographer). Book of Elders: The Life Stories and Wisdom of Great American Indians as Told to Sandy Johnson. San Francisco: Harper Collins. 1994.

Gonzalez, Bobby. The Last Puerto Rican Indian: A Collection of Dangerous Poetry.

New York: Cemi Press. 2006.

Bobby González is multicultural lecturer, storyteller and poet based in New York City.

BronxTaino: Building Bridges Through Storytelling

Building Bridges Through
Storytelling
by Bobby González
 
     
Camden is a city in southern New Jersey where communities of color are
separated by attitudes of mistrust, misunderstanding and, occasionally, even
outright animosity. Yet, for four
days in a church basement in Camden, these negative attitudes were set
aside. Twelve adults of color sat
down to eat together, listen to each other’s stories and discover their common
humanity. Present were four African-Americans, two Native Americans and six
Latino immigrants. 

     The
talking circle was supplemented by two bilingual storytellers and a
translator. This pilot program was
organized by the Jamestown Project and funded by the Four Freedoms Fund. One
storyteller was a bilingual Black woman teacher from South Carolina. The
translator was a member of the staff of the Hispanic Family Center of Camden. I
was the second bilingual storyteller and the facilitator for the
workshops.
       Though the
organizers were altruistic in their intent, we were not completely certain if
there would be a positive outcome. 
At the first get-together, a couple of the participants expressed
trepidation and personal anxieties on different levels. And then the stories began to flow. They were asked to share stories of an
elder figure in their lives. Emotions that had sometimes been suppressed for
almost a lifetime burst forth. Every single day of this “retreat” was marked by
two or three of the participants breaking down and crying out their pain. The
following day they had been asked to provide a tale about “going back home”
which could mean returning to a faraway land, the old family homestead or to
visit estranged family members who did not desire reconciliation. The final requested narration was an
account of personally experienced incidents of discrimination. All had been subjected to acts of
prejudice because of color, language, or country of origin. One young man had
recently been pounced upon by several law enforcement officers. A gun had been
pointed at him, and he was menaced by a K-9 dog. 
     
The talking circle was a powerful magnet that created a family. We had
bonded and did not want it to end. At the conclusion we held hands and sang a
children’s song, “Adios, Mi Amigos/Goodbye My Friends.” There wasn't a dry eye in the
house. Storytelling had brought
these people together. Personal storytelling is a tool that can build bridges
and transform individuals and entire communities.
 
 

Notes from the South Bronx Reservation

 

Cherokee. Maya. Apache.  Seminole.  One by one, they’d walk in, just by chance.  Sometimes they knew who we were and needed to visit and chat or simply nod their heads. Their destination was my family’s bodega on the corner of 154^th Street and Courtlandt Avenue in the South Bronx.  We held the fort at that Mom-and -Pop grocery store for thirty years.

Mohawk. Yupik. Taino. Navajo. Indigenous peoples from indigenous nations from North, South, East and West.  Our mother was a curandera, a traditional Taino healer with some African thrown in. Counselor and medicine woman who could see your past, present and future.  She might lead them to the back room, light up a cigar, and tell them to part company with those who were dragging them down.

Quechua. Narragansett. Montauk. “Black Velvet Indian” from Louisiana. Proud of who they were. No wish to assimilate or change their ways.  Some had heard me at a poetry meeting or attended my lecture on ‘American History from the Perspective of a Puerto Rican Indian.’  One man expressed his gratitude with the gift of a hand-carved walking stick topped with the image of the face of Cotubanamá, ancient Haitian tribal prince.  A grandmother bestowed on me a secret name to be shared with no one except the ghosts who appeared in my dreams.

Papago. Kickapoo. Garífuna. Natchez. The store sign read “El Omnipotente.”  My folks figured that the establishment was a gift of the Great Spirit, so they dedicated the bodega to Him.  Some of the local Evangelicals took offense.  These weren’t Christian Indians seeking our connection. They were traditional Natives steeped in the ways of their most ancient ancestors.  Not easily understood by followers of contemporary mainstream faiths.  Most of the grocery store’s clientele were “Hispanic.” However, few were aware of the blood that flowed through their veins. They might have been detribalized and Hispanicized, but they were still Indian.

Choctaw. Lenape. Wampanoag. Miskito from Nicaragua. One young traveler shared a story about his vision quest in the northwest Yellowstone. Taught by an uncle, he spent four days alone in the woods seeking an answer to questions.  I explained that my Taino forebears did not practice sweat lodges or vision quests. However, modern day Tainos now were embracing these and other ceremonies of sister Native Nations.

That bodega no longer stands on that corner. My mother and father no longer walk the earth. But I am sure that every once in awhile a Chippewa, Ute, Aymara or Shawnee pilgrim stops and faces the boarded-up, vacant storefront.  They will be sure to understand that constant change is an inescapable law of the universe.  And they know we will meet elsewhere, at some other point in time in the South Bronx Reservation.

Bobby González is a multicultural motivational speaker and storyteller of Native American/Latino heritage. You can visit his website at www.BobbyGonzalez.com or write to him at BronxTaino@aol.com

The Native American Heritage of Latinos

by Bobby González

When most people hear the term ‘Native American’ they associate it with peoples of North America, i.e.  nations such as the Cherokee, Apache, Navajo, etc.  Most folks are stunned to learn that more than forty million indigenous peoples originate from Latin America. More than 90% of ‘Native Americans’ come from Central and South America and the Caribbean.  The majority of the populations of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Guatemala are aboriginal. In Mexico more than fifty languages are spoken. One of these languages happens to be Spanish. The remainder are Native.

The Aztec, Maya, Inca, Taino and many other groups built complex civilizations that have made major contributions to modern society.

The Aztecs of central Mexico constructed hospitals, courts of law, schools and libraries whose many volumes of scholarly writings and commercial records were tragically lost in a massive book burning.  The Maya and the Aztec (who called themselves Mexica) gave us the gifts of corn, chocolate, tomatoes and chewing gum.  They were brilliant mathematicians who developed the concept of zero many centuries before the Europeans.  The city of Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) was a marvel of advanced architecture and engineering.  There were a number of great urban centers in Central America with over 200,000 inhabitants.  Oral traditions indicate that that Mexican Native traders traveled as far north as Michigan in their economic enterprises.  In addition, they created a calendar that was more accurate than the one which guided their contemporaries in Europe.  Mayan and Aztec astronomers followed the movements of the stars and were able to forecast solar eclipses far into the future.

The Inca empire in South America was almost as long as the Roman empire.  It included the modern-day countries of Peru and Ecuador and parts of Bolivia, Columbia, Chile and Argentina.  They built the largest highway system in the world at the time. Inca surgeons performed successful brain surgery.  The agricultural technology may have been the most advanced in the world. They perfected terrace farming, inventing the process of freeze/drying potatoes and erected a network of aqueducts to provide water for irrigation and baths.

The Taino of the Caribbean islands gave the outside world their first glimpse of rubber, their first taste of pineapples and peanuts and their first experience with tobacco. Many words in English and Spanish are of Taino origin. These include hurricane, canoe, barbeque, savanna and hammock. Some of their ceremonial religious practices have merged with African and Christian elements to form what is today called Santeria and Espiritismo.  There has been a Taino cultural revival in the Caribbean and the United States.

  Pharmaceutical companies are sending scientists into the Amazon. These PhD’s literally sit at the feet of Native shamans to draw from their wealth of medical knowledge. These indigenous healers possess a profound insight in the healing properties of jungle plants that are rapidly disappearing every day.

  Latinos should be proud of their indigenous ancestry.  The accomplishments of our Native forebears should motivate us to reach heights of accomplishments in all fields of endeavors.   We should be proud and grateful.

Bobby González is a multicultural motivational speaker and storyteller of Native American/Latino heritage. You can visit his website at www.BobbyGonzalez.com or write to him at BronxTaino@aol.com