In January 2022, I was visiting my then 98 year old grandma (as of this writing she’s 99). We were talking about ancestors and her experience growing up on a farm in southern, rural, Puerto Rico. She related that she always wanted to know where her mother’s last name came from. As our conversation evolved from sharing into teachings, I remembered I did a DNA test from 23 and me. I took my computer and showed her my DNA test results. To her amazement, she was like,”I can do that?” Fortunately, I had sent her two DNA tests from Ancestry, many months prior to my visit. Miraculously, they were right there next to the table where we were sitting, still unopened and fully intact. I pulled out the DNA tests and we both did the whole thing- the tube, the packaging and the registration.
A few weeks later, our results came in. I was already back in the states and was able to share with her her DNA origins. She was thrilled to learn her ancestral lineage and asked, “y my mama?” Without knowing our tree, I couldn’t answer her and at 98yo time is of the essence to get her such potent information.
I got to work on our tree and found out all sorts of stunning realities. One struck me in such a way, even though I tried to manipulate the tree to show a different result, the lineage was there.
My 14th Great Grandfather is Ponce De Leon.
The reality that I have his blood in my veins was practically an existential crisis.
For those of you who don’t know my work, I am a known activist that brings awareness to the legacy of harm colonialism brought from Europe and forayed into our modern existence. The irony in that is definitely not lost. At first it made sense that I would be such a fierce voice against the legacy of harm from colonialism, as one who descends from the originators of it. Then the gravity of my ancestry hit.
What do I do with this information? How do I show up in integrity? How can I speak as a Boricua woman against colonialism while still honoring my ancestors at the same time. It was difficult to reconcile that I—someone who speaks out against racism and the horrors of enslaving, am of a major bloodline responsible for the legacy of atrocities on humans during the early days of the European invasion of the Caribbean, South America, the United States…
I grieved deeply. And when my grieving grew from shame to curiosity, I sought to uncover exactly what was going on in the world of Ponce De Leon that gave him the justification of enacting atrocities on whole humans. Humans who had established culture, language, ceremonies, families, social structures. Humans that were deemed unsophisticated solely from a lack of drinking the jesus juice.
I began to voraciously read as much as I could about what really happened and found one of the most moving books I’ve seen to date that goes deep into the initial Caribbean invasion called “7 Myths of the Spanish Conquest” by Matthew Renstal. That book changed my whole outlook on the origins of colonialism and what struck me deep was when I read many of my ancestors’ names in the pages of his book.
I learned that conquistadors were a specific title to denote someone who possessed land and enslaved people to cultivate said lands. The misnomer of calling all the people who came over during that time, “conquistador” is a part of the dearth of misinformation about what really happened during the time of the initial invasion. I hasten to say conquest as nothing was ever actually “conquered.” Invaded yes- conquered no. We see that in the many indigenenous tribes that exist in our modern day with ceremonies, protocols, medicines, and families intact.
It was a learning that was fast and furious, one that will be a lifetime of uncovering truths that were meant to never be revealed due to maintaining the idea of “conquest” in order to maintain domination and marginalization of native born peoples and the society that was created from the invasion itself.
How can I reconcile the reality of my world today with what happened 600 years ago was something that vexed me deeply. I felt responsible for my great grandfather’s actions. Even though I consciously know I had nothing to do with what he and his crew did to my Boricua and enslaved African ancestors who were brutalized by him and the reconquistas (the army of people who invaded).
I began to see the activism I’m doing today as a result of unpacking the legacy of harm, and of course it would make sense that I would be connected to one of the most egregious offenders of colonialism in living history, this side of the world. I began to ask myself questions about my own brutality, asking myself, “Am I capable of enacting similar atrocities?” This question I asked myself- someone who grabs mosquitos by the leg and takes them outside when they land on me.
Have I evolved out of enacting such atrocities? Yes. Absolutely. Am I capable of enacting them? Yes, absolutely.
That truth scared the shit out of me.
I then opened up to the reality of how many people, by necessity, enacted atrocities for the pure survival of tribes, cities, and regions.
I opened up to the reality of when the invaders came, they first love-bombed the Indians, found out all the gossip of what tribe is warring against who and opened my eyes to the disturbing reality — the biggest armies formed during the invasion wasn’t made up of Spanish and Portuguese invaders only. Some of the biggest armies were made up of warring indigenous tribes with the promise of gold, weaponry, land grabs and slaves.
That’s one of the things Hernan Cortez was so famous for. Finding the divide between tribes and exploiting them. When tribal leaders woke up to the divide and conquer tactic, was at the expense of the tribes who fought with the invaders as they too became subjugated if they did not bow down to the queen or convert to christianity.
Divide and conquer.
So, what does any of this have to do with stereotypes?
Well, a lot actually. In order for the atrocities to be enacted, the people atrocities were enacted upon were dehumanized to justify the atrocities themselves. Dehumanization through religion, and papal bulls written to permiss inhumanity using religion as a justification to harm.
When someone dehumanizes a whole human, enacting atrocities or witnessing atrocities being enacted becomes justifiable through the methodology of dehumanization.
This unfortunately is still the reality of our humanity today. Yes, humanity as a whole is less brutal than 600 years ago. The narrative of dehumanization is still manifest in many of today’s political policy, environmental justice, and in our homes.
Women for instance, are survivors of a legacy of dehumanization that predates the initial invasion of the so-called new world by thousands of years. All fueled by religion and patriarchy. So as long as women were dehumanized, atrocities such as burning women at the stake, rape, and beating women to the death were socially acceptable. Tragically, in some regions of the globe, it is still a part of culture, led by religious doctrines that dehumanize women to maintain domination and control of a specific social structure.
Again, what does any of that have to do with stereotypes?
In one word- EVERYTHING.
One of the things I’ve seen written about the history of the inital invasion of the Caribbean, and how it’s portrayed, is typically from a third person perspective. A look into history from the outside in and nothing from what it might have been like from someone who put their humanity aside to enact atrocities on another human.
Yes, some people seem to be born without a “soul” and are vicious and brutal without regard to consequence.
This article is not about that.
It’s addressing the humanity of people who put their own humanity aside to enact atrocities during the times of invasion and the creation and evolution of what we know as the “new world.”
I’m talking about the slave owners daughters best friend who was also her “slave,” and the enslaver father making his daughter harm her best friend “or she’ll get it” to enact dominance. That child’s humanity was challenged by enacting harm to her best friend at her fathers demand. I’m talking about how as the two girls grew together and as harm shifted to atrocity, narratives of dehumanization became the sole justification to continue to enact atrocities.
I’m talking about how narratives of dehumanization became socially accepted narratives and embedded in social systems, structures, and psyches getting passed on to each generation, forgetting the original action that brought forth the narrative and carrying the narrative without question to the next generation. I’m talking about how those narratives based in dehumanization manifest as, unpacked, unaddressed, unhealed, generational trauma.
Recognizing stereotypes from the perspective of generational trauma has the power to heal legacies of harm.
Please note, in no way am I excusing or justifying atrocities that are still enacted in the essence of dehumanization we see in todays and yesterday’s world. The core of this article is to bring compassion-Compassion for what our ancestors did, both the colonized and the colonizers. And to inspire the idea in you, reading this article to go deep into healing this level of generational trauma so as to not perpetuate what your ancestors did by way of stereotypes.
We may not be responsible for the legacy of our ancestors, we are definitely responsible to not perpetuate it.
