The Word

"In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was ..."- John 1:1

The English language is a composite of many different languages. Most words in the English language have at least 4-5 definitions. With so many different definitions, of course, so many ideas are being conveyed depending of which words you chose to express your self. While it is in man's divine intelligence, derived from the depths of the universe, that endows him with the ability to shape and mold, define and transform, to create and destroy the world around him. This same intelligence is what enables us to communicate in various forms. Communication is the ultimate result of language. The utilization of language is how we, culturally, seek to make sense of and provide an explanation for the phenomenon around us. Verbal language, words, are a result of an idea. They are symbolic and it is this symbolism that has stigmatized us for the last 514 years as we have continued to internalize ideas about ourselves that were incorrect. Ideas that were someone else's view of who we are. And as I have stated previously, using these terms perpetuates the colonial mindset, culture shackles placed on our brains and our tongues. Below are a few of the most common terms of self-definition used amongst our people. Please take a moment to read over them and seriously contemplate the consequences and effect they have had on our re-development of self-determination and sovereignty.
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Spanish (or Castilian)- is an Iberian Romance language, and the second (perhaps third or fourth) most spoken language in the world (aside from French, Italian and German). It is spoken as a first language in most of Spain and the countries colonized by Spain. It is not our Native language. Before the conquest, before the last 514 years of oppression, we spoke in the many dialects found amongst the Original Nations of North and South "America".

Hispanic-as used in the United States, is one of several terms used to categorize native and naturalized U.S. citizens, permanent residents and temporary immigrants, whose background hail either from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America or the original settlers of the traditionally Spanish-held Southwestern United States. However, the issue is that the commonality of all of these people is the language and the oppressor. The majority of so-called Latin Americans have as well a very strong Indigenous and African influence and prescence, both biological and culturally. The definition of 'hispanic' ties our existance solely to who "oppressed" us, configuring 'Spain' as the 'motherland', within the colonial ideology. According to Pan-Africanist or African centered thought, many so-called Latin Americans are blatantly 'African' in appearance (again, both biologically and culturally) and are considered apart of the African diaspora and likewise for the Pan-Indigenous worldview (of the Native American diaspora). Both of these are too often discredited by elitist/colonial scholars and intellectuals. The miscontrued 'authenticity' of the term 'hispanic' is an attempt to continue to institution of white supremacy. Hispanics are Spaniards, white people from Spain.

Latin- Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It was the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc) are descended from Latin, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. It is said that 80 percent of scholarly English words are derived from Latin (in a large number of cases by way of French).

America- from modern Latin-Americanus, after the Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) who made two trips to the "New World" (1499 and 1502)as a navigator and cartographer. His published works, Mundus Novus ("New World"-1503), put forward the idea that it was a new continent and not "Asia", after learning that South America has extended further south than previously thought. In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the new continent "America." However, a similar name- 'Amikekia', was used by the Taino Indians, first peoples to greet the murderer,Christopher Columbus and welcome all who entered into the Caribbean towards the "New World".

"The Americas" refers collectively to North and South America, as a relatively recent and less ambiguous alternative to the name 'America', which may refer to either the Americas (typically in languages other than English, where it is often considered a single continent) or to the United States (in English and colloquially in other languages).

Now let us examine some other terms...

Indigenous- Having originated in a land or region; being native to a geographical or cultural group.

Original- first or preceding all others in time; origin; "...the original inhabitants of the Americas."

Native-characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning; person who was born in a particular place; an indigenous person.

Indian- of or relating to or characteristic of India or the East Indies or their peoples or languages or cultures. It has been used commonly to pertain to Native Americans or their culture or languages. Considered a misnomer by historians, cultural activists and the like, because of the supposed assumption by Christopher Columbus that he had reached Indian. Thus, reference in European literature to the inhabitants of the 'New World' was a reference to the 'Indians'. Again, while largely debating the political incorrectness of the term, it is still in use amongst many Native Americans themselves and used throughout the spanish-speaking world, in reference to the first people's of the Americas. Both the Nation of Gods and Earths and the Nation of Islam hold the idea that the Native Americas migrated here from Asia. While there have been a total of 'four' migrations documented at the present, stemming from different locations in Asia, there is strong anthropological and biochemical (DNA) evidence that one of those migrations left from India or a nearby area. More on this subject in the future.

So, who are you?....

DECOLONIZE YOUR MINDSET