do you think the dna test helps? - right. i had had a feeling. - ah. - mixed race people are one major side effect of colonization. and being latino means that you are intrinsically of mixed blood. but who gets to decide how much of your dna makes you part of any one community? if indigenous blood is measured as proof of tribal membership, then depending on who sets the standard membership could also be denied. for bebe naniki and pluma, measuring dna alone is not as valuable as the stories and traditions passed down from their families.
[all singing in spanish] - walking towards the batey, the ceremonial space, is an emotional experience. and it s easy to see how this community has kept bomba alive. [all singing in spanish] - by continuing to pass it down to future generations. [all singing in spanish] - but it s when you join in that you really start to get it. - [singing in spanish]
the government has basically said it s theirs. and there s no more native people here. so they are the ones to take care. they see this as a dead place. those stones that you re going to see are live beings. they re not just stones. you know, every part of this area is sacred. - incrreíble. it s the same fight of indigenous people - all over the world. - all up and down north, and south, and central america to protect their lands, to get respect, to protect what was theirs, and and to get something back from what was stolen. so how many taíno are living and existing today? smithsonian magazine has reported that 61% of all puerto ricans have trace taíno dna. but here s the thing, the puerto rican government does not recognize the existing members of the taíno community as an active tribe because the percentage of taíno dna in their blood isn t high enough to qualify. without representation and, at the very least, acknowledgment, what chance do the taíno people have of getting
Transcripts for MSNBC Leguizamo Does America 20240604 02:14:15 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
we have an economical crisis. - right. - so it s not just the port. it s old puerto rico. it s finance. it s economics. and it s psychology. - so how do we guide puerto rico out of this situation that puerto rico is in? because it gets hit by hurricane. and then it gets hit by an earthquake. i mean, all these things are devastating. - i think identity, community, and culture are the foundation for us in order to to rebuild into the future. - and what what do you mean by that? - when when we go back to the days after those disasters, when there is no satellite, when there s no internet, when there s no tv, all we had, it was community, culture, and our identity. - right. because you didn t get the fema funding. - it s a very long process in order to to get the reconstruction done. - who could forget the infamous paper towel incident when donald trump thought he was greeting fans and passing out swag in the aftermath of a disastrous hurricane maria?