#Caribbean Ancestry | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

manicato · 2 years ago

Text

Daka Taíno y estoy aquí.

I was the blogger Triguenaista/Inaruri who was stalked and harrassed for 10+ years, while homeless, by Keyla Rivera and her anti-indigenous group “This-is-not-taino". Keyla Rivera, of Florida and Orocovis, PR, a white Puerto Rican, was mostly responsible for this racist behavior.

Since in the last ten years, I have CONTINUED to see my name thrown around as a "validated pretendian/fraud" because of the now-exposed Keyla's behavior- We're just going to need to address it. And since I was doxxed by them, and my full name has been shared with you all, I'm going to go ahead and show you some documents that that hate-group wasn't willing to show.

Let's start with a family tree- ya?

Avelino, was born into slavery in Puerto Rico, approximately 1865, in Arecibo Puerto Rico. To the best of my knowledge (and factoring in the DNA test), he was Afro-Taíno, with strong Nigerian/Western Bantu roots. As noted on the last published Registro Central de Esclavos of 1872 (page 3, 9th person recorded), he was a natural-born Puerto Rican (Natural de Oto Rico).

After abolition in 1873, like many others, Avelino was forced to continue working for 3 to 5 more years. Do Barbara Balseiro (the indicated slave owner) had a working relationship with Felix Marengo y Poggi, and was known to send slaves to work at his plantations.

Through research (1910 census), I found that Maria Baerga y Rivera De Quiñones was a "Mulatto" housekeeper for the Felix Marengo y Poggi in the 1910’s. It is likely that this is where Avelino met her daughter Maria Quiñones Baerga and developed a relationship.

They had son Felix (recorded as negro on census documents, until adulthood/WW2, where he is then recorded as blanco/brown toned (on his Draft card), who married Carmen Martinez.

This is Carmen’s Acta de Nacimiento which indicates race as “Mestiza”, clearly indicating not only direct Taíno heritage/ancestry, but a connection to an existing community as that was the only circumstance in which this term was legally used in PR when they started to write Taínos out of the country. It was and is currently illegal to list someone's race/ethnicity in PR as indigenous. Mestiza and Trigeño is the ONLY exceptions for those with concrete connections.

A Close-up:

On the naciemnto form above her mother is cited as “Vincenta/Vincenda”, from/born in Jayuya. There is a note about her grandparents in part 3. “Ambos de raza mestiza”, Ajiubro Martinez and Juana Martinez from Morovis.

According to family oral history, Carmen Martinez came from a community/family that took care of the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial site of Utuado before the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña took over with formal protections in 1955.

There may be a relationship between her and one of the 60 Puerto Rican indigenous children taken to the Carlisle Indian School in 1901. Three Martinez children were enrolled there, Provindentia, Levia, and Miguel. My best-informed guess is Provindentia Martinez may be my 2nd great-grandmother as “Vincenta” could be a derivative of the name. If it was Provendentia, she would have been the right age to have a child, settling down in PR after traveling to NY for a few years after her time at the Carlisle School, as recorded in their records. Until better clarification can be obtained, this is just speculation.

Carmen would make and maintain small bohio-like structures in the backyard of the family Utuado home (many were destroyed after Hurricane George, and the rest after Hurricane Maria), to house Semisakis and Opias.

My grandfather, Luis Alfonso Quiñones Sr. was extremely proud and vocal of our rich Taíno heritage and culture. He made sure that we knew our roots and how precious our indigenous ancestry is, and taught us all he could remember.

In terms of direct lineage, my direct Taíno lineage can be traced from my 2nd great-grandfather Avelino, my great-grandmother Carmen Martinez (whom I had the honor of knowing and having a relationship with as a child living in Puerto Rico), and my own grandfather Luis Alfonso Quiñones Sr (who I grew up with).

If "cultural connection"/"growing up in a continuously connected family" was your issue with my indigenous status- clearly I did and have the documentation to show my family's continuous connection.

If it's blood quantum/documented indigenous status- I'm between 3/8th and 7/16th according to my DNA. With the documents I have here, if Tainos were a federally recognized tribe in the US, by the BIA standards, I'd be eligible for enrollment.

And this is all without discussing how history and the laws affect lineage recording or the "Whitening of PR". My family's oral history should have been believed to start with, but now the documentation can be found online. You have your "proof" on the two points yall bring up the most.

So you see why the younger me couldn't figure out why everyone just believed the lies being told? How even now that this hate group was exposed, I don't get why I am the scapegoat for people trying to make a point. Like, I wasn't and am not an educator, nor was I trying to make money in any way (and I was homeless- I needed money and yet DID NOT ASK). I was literally just existing on this hell site and became a target. But yall handed over your cash really quick to this hate group, validated them, and were so shocked when they ended up being frauds and provided yall with NOTHING.

You all believed a white puertorrican that BIPOC's could not be trusted to be indigenous (look at the list, it is EXCLUSIVELY Black and Brown peoples and anyone who stood up for them. It wasn't a "frauds list" until after we all left the platform. That was added AFTERWARDS. And yes, some of us are STILL friends because we were here for the community, not cash or fame). You continue to keep that belief every time you defend it. In the end, ya'll are just being racist and need to stop hurting an already small af community.

Taínos exists. We are here. We are NOT recognized by the US gov't yet. To imply our self-determination takes away from indigenous people is to fundamentally not understand what it is to be indigenous. And, it implies you see the indigenous status as money and not actually living people with complex needs and issues.

I'm glad the rest of the internet has unlearned what this group put into the world about Taínos, but now I'mma need yall on here to minimally stop throwing my name around. Stop it. I am exactly who I have been telling you all I am, whether you accept that or not is NOT my problem. I have the documentation, which is more than can be said about anyone yall have believed in the past.

At least I know who my people are, grew up knowing, and can live happily knowing there are people who disagree in our community because we aren't a monolithic group. Yall just need to treat us as humans.

For those reading for the history of it all- I'm glad to help. If you're trying to figure out your family's documentation- I got great info on how to find the information and who to contact. If you're looking for cultural resources- tainolibrary is LITERALLY the best source and it's free (Note: I have no affiliation with them. I genuinely believe they are a healthy and safe resource for those seeking reconnection/validation).

For those realizing they fucked up in believing my stalker- I accept my apologies in cash.

#inaruri #triguenaista #taino #tainos #caribbean indigenous #tumblr hate groups #this-is-not-taino #Since my name keeps coming up Im going to HAVE to serve some truths #the poll spoke and I posted #Taino ancestry #Indigenous recognition #indigenous #I am so sorry to have gone off like this but I have HAD it #puerto rico history #caribe indigena

13 notes · View notes

boricuacherry-blog · 11 months ago

Text

Rihanna's Scottish and Irish roots and why she wants to learn more

Rihanna reclaimed her surname in 2017, when she launched her cosmetics company.

People believe the surname Fenty originated from the Irish surname, Fenton, which is native to county Cork. It's common today for many biracial Barbadians to have Irish surnames.

Rihanna's father, Ronald Fenty, is a Bajan of African, Irish, English and Scottish descent. The likelihood of Rihanna's father's Irish ancestry can be traced back to the Cromwellian Conquest, when Oliver Cromwell invaded Ireland in the 1640's, rounding up people living on the land, and stealing their land.

Irish men, women and children were forcibly transported to work on sugar and tobacco plantations in the newly colonized Barbados, Jamaica and the smaller Caribbean islands including St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua and Montserrat. Many locations on the Caribbean islands share Irish place names, like Cork Hill, Kinsale and Roche's Mountain.

The Irish indentured servants transported to Barbados to work on sugar plantations in the 17th century were part of the Caribbean's poor white community known as Redlegs.

The Irish who arrived to the Islands lived in the same quarters and conditions as African slaves who were also sent to the Caribbean around that time. The culture, accents, and names bled between the two ethnicities, eventually resulting in a long line of people with a mixed ancestry from opposite sides of the globe.

Some experts believe that the Caribbean accent is actually the result of a fusion of multiple languages and accents, including Irish. Similarities in the Cork and Caribbean accent is most common.

A decade after Rihanna sang on Calvin Harris's track We Found Love, she told how the song changed her life and why she's now determined to find out more about her Scottish roots. The song was written and produced by Harris, a Scottish producer.

Rihanna, who revealed she was bullied when she was younger for being lighter than the other girls said, "I have Scottish and Irish roots, and I think it's really interesting to explore your roots and I would love to know more."

While she hasn't released an album since Anti, Rihanna said her new album, R9, will be worth the wait. "The album will be on a different level," she said.

#rihanna #article #biracial #ancestry #history #barbados #caribbean #ronald fenty #irish #ireland #scotland #scottish #celtic #ethnicity #rih article #genealogy

3 notes · View notes

hoodreader · 1 month ago

Text

𝒲𝐼𝐿𝒟 𝒞𝐻𝐼𝐿𝒟 ♡ ྀིྀིྀིྀིྀིྀིྀིྀི

in sidereal, it’s the mercury (ashlesha, jyeshtha, revati) & jupiter (punarvasu, vishakha, pbp) naks. i can also see mrigashira because that’s the “wanderer” nakshatra.

and in general (both tropical and sidereal), the mercurials, jovials, and lunarians. always on the move. a lot like birds, cats, or snakes. these planets are most associated with change and fluidity

for women, it can induce a vibe similar to Esmeralda from the hunchback of notre dame. charming, witty, sensual, fluid, highly intelligent, and perceptive. *these women may be exotified or exceptionalized, which makes sense because i’m pretty sure Esmeralda’s character is derived from a fetishistic caricature?

another example of this wild woman trope in media is:

chel (el dorado) punarvasu mars

merida (brave) jyestha moon, mrigashira mars

pocahontas (disney) no asc :[

isabella madrigal (encanto) vishakha ascendant

𝒯𝒪𝒰𝒞𝐻𝐼𝒩𝒢 𝒪𝒩 𝐸𝒳𝒪𝒯𝐼𝐹𝐼𝒞𝒜𝒯𝐼𝒪𝒩. . .

sade ~ revati moon

exotified for her mixed heritage

she also has this quote that’s always ascribed to her even though she never said it, but i find it funny that it’s so associated with her: “I like my hair messy. My love wild. And my sex aggressive. But I’m still a sensitive woman, just with passion.”

she literally never said that lmao

beyoncé ~ vishakha moon and i believe asc (edit: i kinda feel like she’s swati now)

her creole heritage has been exotified by herself and others

i think the cowgirl aesthetic she does also evokes a vibe of being a wild woman, because the “old west” is a time where the country was viewed as untamed or free

then she is globally inspired. she will make an afro beats song with arabic melismas in the background

interesting bc this doesn’t happen to her sister, who has the exact same ancestry! solange isn’t really exotified. instead, she’s viewed as a Super Nigga

shakira ~ revati asc, punarvasu sun.

she literally has a song called “Gitana” - which is spanish for gypsy, a derogatory term used on romani people

she calls herself one to basically assert that she’s free spirited, nomadic, & liberated (and she uses stereotypes in the lyrics as she does so)

she’s also exotified by the western world for being both colombian and lebanese, and she partakes in this by exotifying herself too . . . no shade

rihanna ~ revati asc & moon

being bajan/caribbean in the western market automatically exotified her, especially with her vibrant cat-like green hazel eyes

her accent! people tend to talk about her accent bc how clearly caribbean she is lmao

so yeah, that’s just something i noticed.

if u a black girl and u ever been asked/told:

what u mixed with?

are u mixed?

ur pretty for a [black girl, darkskin, etc]

u have “good hair” (👎🏾)

asked if u were african

niggas talked about how y’all would make “pretty babies” because of mixing

non-black men fetishizing u for being black

etc

check ur chart to see if u have those nakshatras or if u have mercury/jupiter/lunar influence in tropical/sidereal. these are more forms of exotification that are common

and disclaimer, exotification obviously isn’t good lmao. there’s no such thing as being “pretty for a ___” and there’s no such thing as a good hair texture. that’s some slave minded bullshit. and ANYBODY who fetishizes u - black or non black - doesn’t deserve to be with u. period 🙏🏾

#astrology #astro observations #astro community #astro notes

172 notes · View notes

literaryvein-reblogs · 3 months ago

Note

I love your writing tips 🫶🫶🫶tysm.....I wanted to ask how you write a black character

Writing Notes: Black Characters

What terms to use? Terms used to refer to racial and ethnic groups continue to change over time.

One reason for this is simply personal preference; preferred designations are as varied as the people they name.

Another reason is that designations can become dated over time and may hold negative connotations.

When describing racial and ethnic groups, be appropriately specific and sensitive to issues of labeling.

Race - physical differences that groups and cultures consider socially significant. For example, people might identify their race as Aboriginal, African American or Black, Asian, European American or White, Native American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Māori, or some other race.

Ethnicity - shared cultural characteristics such as language, ancestry, practices, and beliefs. For example, people might identify as Latino or another ethnicity.

Be clear about whether you are referring to a racial group or to an ethnic group.

Race is a social construct that is not universal, so one must be careful not to impose racial labels on ethnic groups.

Whenever possible, use the racial and/or ethnic terms that your participants themselves use. Be sure that the racial and ethnic categories you use are as clear and specific as possible.

For example, instead of categorizing participants as Asian American or Hispanic American, you could use more specific labels that identify their nation or region of origin, such as Japanese American or Cuban American.

Use commonly accepted designations (e.g., census categories) while being sensitive to participants’ preferred designation.

People of African origin. When writing about people of African ancestry, several factors inform the appropriate terms to use. People of African descent have widely varied cultural backgrounds, family histories, and family experiences.

Some will be from Caribbean islands, Latin America, various regions in the United States, countries in Africa, or elsewhere.

Some American people of African ancestry prefer “Black,” and others prefer “African American”; both terms are acceptable.

However, “African American” should not be used as an umbrella term for people of African ancestry worldwide because it obscures other ethnicities or national origins, such as Nigerian, Kenyan, Jamaican, or Bahamian; in these cases use “Black.”

The terms “Negro” and “Afro-American” are outdated; therefore, their use is generally inappropriate.

Example of bias-free language. Description of African American or Black people.

Problematic: "We interviewed 25 Afro-American people living in rural Louisiana."

Preferred: "We interviewed 25 Black people living in rural Louisiana." or "We interviewed 25 African Americans living in rural Louisiana."

Comment: “Afro-American” and “Negro” have become dated; therefore, usage of these terms generally is inappropriate. Specify region or nation of origin when possible to avoid the impression that all people of African descent have the same cultural background, family history, or family experiences. Note that “Black” is appropriate rather than “African American” to describe people of African descent from various national origins (e.g., Haitian, Nigerian).

How to Write Characters of Color Without Using Stereotypes

Creating characters that belong to a different racial group than you are can be down-right difficult.

You don't want to rely on stereotypes to describe them that can be offensive, harmful, or cliche.

In response to that apprehension, authors often avoid it; they take the easy way out and you don't describe them at all, but is that what's best?

Example. A basic and rudimentary physical descriptions of primary or secondary black characters:

she had chocolate brown skin and big, round eyes

By itself, there is nothing wrong with this description.

It's not necessary for every character to have a full, detailed description.

It's only problematic when this description is compared to the description of a primary or secondary white character:

his brown hair was in a military crew cut and he had icy blue eyes and pale skin

The white character is described more richly and the reader can form a picture in their mind, the black character's description is incomplete in comparison, therefore, the reader is forced to fill in the gaps.

Tips for writing deep character descriptions:

Find a picture of a real person who looks similar to your character (you may need more than one person) and use that as your guide.

Free write. Write out every single detail of the description. Whatever is in your mind just write it out.

Edit. Trim it down so it is more concise and note the words that you feel are stereotypical. Use a thesaurus to exchange those words for others.

You don't have to avoid all racial description. Yes it's ok for your black character to have an afro (some black people have afros).

Here's where the hard work comes in:

Remember that real person you were basing your character description on? Imagine reading your description to that person aloud. Try it. Pretend like that person is in front of you and read your description.

If you wouldn't feel comfortable saying it to that person's face then it shouldn't be on your page.

Finally, be creative and if it doesn't feel right keep editing and ask for help.

3 Warning Signs you can use for your work to determine if you should “avoid that Black character.” As in, rethink, reimagine, and rewrite.

If most of their scenes involve them giving a pep talk because they understand the main character or MC’s struggles better than anyone else due to their “unique” identity, you should avoid that Black character.

If the character has an aggressive, angry, or hypersexual* personality that constantly has to be tempered or simmered down, usually by a fairer-skinned, ‘morally superior’ individual, you should avoid that Black character.

If the character is either (A) the MC’s moral compass because they are especially good or (B) so morally corrupt that they eventually lead to their own demise, you should avoid that Black character.

*On top of Black characters often being depicted as hypersexual, there is a related issue that is almost the inverse of this: Black characters being hypersexualized, or turned into something to be observed and objectified. Sexual thoughts and actions are thrust upon them even if they are doing nothing to provoke it. In this way, their mere existence is turned into something sexual just because they are a Black person in a Black body. Descriptions associated with their body will—for absolutely no perceivable reason—begin to be described with animalistic language. For example, let’s say, in a book, that every other character smiled or smirked. But then when it gets to the Black character, it’s suddenly, “He grinned wide with his canines showing.”

In media, Black characters seem to live at the extremes of the moral spectrum.

They either live on a holy pedestal or are so far in the trenches of depravity that, at some point in the book, they have to be “put down like an animal” for the greater good of the world (which is so harmful).

In other cases, the MC has to cut all ties with them, showing that the MC has “risen above” their lowliness and corruption (usually in the form of breaking out of an abusive friendship or relationship, breaking a drug addiction, leaving ‘the hood,’ cutting ties with a gang, choosing peace over revenge, etc.).

Regardless of which extreme the Black character exists at, both serve the function of dehumanizing the character. They are pushed into the margins of humanity, either morally above or below the common person. Either way, they have reached a place beyond humanity, somewhere that is usually painted in these cases as hard to sympathize or empathize with. It often makes them two-dimensional and rigid.

Consider the moral compass Black character who will, more often than not, preach forgiveness and love at the most inappropriate times, and is ready to help wash the MC clean of their sins or warn them about what lies ahead on the “dark path” if they so choose it. And for the morally corrupt Black character, they typically spit every negative stereotype about the Black community back into readers’ faces without context, compassion, or tenderness, which is uncomfortable and heartbreaking.

Ultimately, tread carefully—carefully—in your pursuit of diverse voices in your work. If you do not take this venture with deep consideration and caution, you will run into trouble achieving the rich representation you’re aiming for in your writing. However, just caring about having better representation is important in itself.

Representation is a powerful tool that can inspire communities and amplify the voices of marginalized groups across the globe.

Reading is a tool that allows us to expand our minds and explore the world through written word. When we see ourselves represented correctly in texts, it gives us the space to imagine our futures, learn new things about ourselves, and challenge how we view the world around us.

When we see characters like ourselves become the hero of their own stories, it can give us the power to find that courage and bravery within ourselves.

But just like healthy representation can make our dreams and sense of self flourish, inaccurate or incomplete representation can limit our imaginations and impair our ability to know where and with whom we may belong.

Black people have been excluded from and misrepresented in retellings of history for centuries.

Due to hateful societies and racist conditions throughout time, much of Black history has been forgotten, denied, or stolen.

Because of this, traditional methods of research may not always show the full picture.

Sometimes, a story can capture the truth better than a graph.

Alternative Ways to Write Characters and Plots

Write multiple characters from the same group, so there isn’t one token representative. Additionally, people are often friends with those whom they can relate to. So for instance, rather than having a single gay character in a group of straight characters, a friend group might be made up of multiple LGBTQ+ individuals.

Write BIPOC characters who have agency, complexity, and the ability to fight their own battles. Instead of having a white character advocate for, speak for, and fight for people of color, give characters of color the opportunity to speak and advocate for themselves.

Give BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals their own character arcs, with their own goals and desires, rather than making their entire lives revolve around white and straight characters.

Run your book by a sensitivity reader. Sensitivity readers will read unpublished manuscripts and give feedback on cultural inaccuracies, biases, and stereotypes.

Don’t make your villain the sole BIPOC person in the entire story. Similarly, don’t make your villain the sole gay character or sole disabled character.

Don’t kill every BIPOC, LGBTQ+, or disabled character. This sends the message that these characters—and by extension real-life people who are members of these groups— are unimportant.

Overall, make sure that your characters are complex, realistic individuals who are not defined by stereotype.

Should white people write about people of color? "If you’re thinking about writing outside your culture and you’re afraid to get it wrong, be honest with yourself. Ask yourself why you want to do it. That’s where you start." (author Malinda Lo).

It takes much more consideration than omitting obvious, familiar stereotypes. Instead of focusing on the fact that you need to ensure that your audience knows the character is not white, focus on their inner lives.

Think of their humanity beyond the constrictions of race as a complete signifier, not as the driving force behind the character’s existence, but a puzzle piece.

If you’re not ready to acknowledge and confront your white privilege, it will certainly cloud the creation of your character.

If you are a white writer and you wish to inhabit the consciousness of a POC, do not base their narrative around noble suffering. Sometimes it’s the seemingly mundane details that make a character feel alive.

When whiteness is the standard in literature, “Otherness” becomes defined by easily available tropes and cliches. When race is involved, many writers cling to the mantra “write what you know.”

More excerpts from Malinda Lo's answer:

Anyone who wants to write outside of their culture has to remember this: Books are personal, and one person’s reaction does not mean that everybody is going to react the same way. In fact, it’s likely that every single reader will have a different reaction.

This doesn’t mean that it’s okay to blithely write whatever the hell you want about a culture that isn’t yours. Writers who are writing outside of their culture do have to work extra hard to research that culture, because they have much farther to go to get to the kind of instinctual knowledge of it that allows someone to hear my Chinese name and feel that it sounds poetic.

Writing outside your culture is a complicated endeavor that requires extensive research, being aware of your own biases and limitations, and a commitment to delving deeply into the story. However, writing any fiction requires this. There are no shortcuts to writing fiction truthfully and well. There really aren’t. The writer must put in the time so that they become confident in their decisions, and there are a million and one decisions to make when writing a novel.

If you’re a white writer who wants to write about a culture not your own, go for it. There’s no reason you shouldn’t do it. Some people will prefer that you don’t, but those people don’t speak for everyone. On the other hand, if you’re terrified of writing outside your culture, you don’t have to. There’s not necessarily any reason for you to do something that makes you that uncomfortable. I believe that writing is a personal thing, and you should write what you personally want to write.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Thank you for your lovely words. I'm not exactly the best person for this question, so here are some references I found for you. Learned a lot from these as well, so thanks for the request. Hope this helps with your writing!

#anonymous #writing reference #character development #writeblr #dark academia #literature #writers on tumblr #writing prompt #spilled ink #creative writing #writing inspiration #writing ideas #writing tips #on writing #writing advice #writing resources

113 notes · View notes

starrmarr · 3 months ago

Text

With family members who never learned to read or write and had no birth certificates as a direct consequence of slavery and sharecropping thereafter, I realized I’m never going to find out about my genealogy unless I did an ancestry test. It is with great pride that I can affirm the overwhelming predominance of Sub-Saharan African ancestry present in my DNA, despite all the white washing and coon chip politics typically present in the Caribbean. Ain’t no such thing as “half Black”, at least not for me. I have never been one to call myself mixed or biracial, anyway, even if I exist as an obviously light-skinned, “what’s your ethnicity” looking ass shawty, lol. I just always knew Africa prevails and overrides everything else, every time. The rest was completely obliterated, diluted, weakened. Let us not be strangers to ourselves.

This is a big deal to me, idgaf. We’re the ones.

111 notes · View notes

incognitopolls · 1 year ago

Text

Indigenous here is a political designation which describes a people groups relationship with colonialism - ie. Saami people are an indigenous group but Finnish/Swedish/Norwegian/Russian people are not, even though they are both genetically from the same countries- because of the groups different relationships with colonialism.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

#polls #incognito polls #anonymous #tumblr polls #tumblr users #questions #polls about the world #submitted dec 18 #demographics #indigenous #indigenous peoples #first nations #geography #ancestry

362 notes · View notes

ghostsprobably · 7 months ago

Text

Winx Rewrite Character Nationalities!

Here's my winx redesigns and the earth equivalent nationalities/ethnicities I envision them as!

(featuring lots of random people from google images)

Bloom: Self Insert lol (white person from long island, earth)

-----

Stella: Moroccan! She is very tan because she spends so much time soaking up the sun, but if she went a long time indoors her skin would lighten a bit.

-----

Flora: Mexican Indigenous! She also spends quite a lot of time outside tending to the Garden

-----

Tecna: Irish, and she does not get any sun lol (i like the idea that she has an accent bc Faragonda has one and she's spent so much time with her)

-----

Musa: Chinese of course

-----

Aisha: Barbadian! She's from an island nation, so I always imagined her being from somewhere in the Caribbean. rn I have her voice claim as Ayo Edebiri so Barbados felt right!

-----

Icy: Russian, it's cold there

-----

Darcy: Her family moved around a lot to get away from their connection to Liliss so her ancestry is quite diverse, but I think she would identify as Pakistani, as that is where her more recent family is from.

-----

Stormy: South African, Zulu! Her family has a very strong appreciation for their ancestry and wikipedia says "Zulu" means heaven or weather, which I think is fun.

-----

I'll be back later with the guys!

#you can only add so many pics #winx #winx club #winx rewrite #winx au #winx redesign #winx bloom #winx stella #winx flora #winx tecna #winx musa #winx aisha #winx layla #the trix #winx icy #winx darcy #winx stormy

175 notes · View notes

brujadepinarrio · 2 months ago

Note

What makes a practice a closed practice? I have seen people say “this is a closed practice” or “doing this is a closed practice” but I never understood it once, what does a practice being closed mean and how does a practice become closed?

a closed practice refers to a spiritual or cultural tradition restricted to a specific group of people, often tied to ancestry, heritage, or initiation. These practices are protected to preserve their sacredness and cultural identity, and participation is typically limited to those within the originating group or who have received formal permission or training.

What makes a practice labeled as a closed practice?

1) Cultural and Historical Significance: The practice is integral to the identity of a specific cultural group, often stemming from a history of colonization or marginalization.

2) Sacred Knowledge: These practices include teachings, rituals, or symbols considered sacred and guarded against misuse or misrepresentation.

3) Initiation or Ancestral Connection: Some practices require a direct cultural connection, ancestral ties, or formal initiation from someone within the tradition. (This can be founded in a lot of African diaspora religions and African traditional religions, as well with many rites of Hinduism & Buddhism)

4) Protection from Cultural Appropriation: Many closed practices have been historically exploited or commodified by outsiders, leading to their communities enforcing strict boundaries.

Examples of Closed Practices:

1) Santería (Regla de Ocha): A syncretic Afro-Caribbean religion originating in Cuba. Participation requires formal initiation, and the practice is deeply tied to the descendants of enslaved Africans and their connection to the Orishas, many people are also born into this practice and taught within it, so it’s basically initiation

2) Palo Monte (Palo Mayombe): An Afro-Cuban spiritual tradition with Bantu roots. It involves working with spirits(mpungus), sacred cauldrons (ngangas), and ancestral veneration(nfumbes also called nfumbis). Only those initiated into the practice can properly perform its rituals.

3) Curanderismo Rituals (Specific Forms): While some elements of Curanderismo (a Latin American healing tradition) are open, certain rituals—such as those tied to family lineages or Indigenous practices—are closed and not meant to be shared or practiced outside of the culture.

4) Mesoamerican Indigenous practices: A sacred sweat lodge ritual originating with Indigenous peoples like the Nahua and Maya. It’s intended for spiritual and physical cleansing and requires knowledge of traditional protocols.

5) Hoodoo: A syncretic African American spiritual tradition with roots in African, Indigenous, and European practices. Its rituals, especially those involving ancestral veneration and spiritual guidance, are deeply personal and should be approached with respect and understanding of their origins.

6) Brujería(no not in as the Spanish word but the folk magic of Latin America) A Latin American spiritual tradition that incorporates witchcraft, healing, and ancestral worship. Participation in Brujería often requires Latin American heritage, particularly in practices tied to familial and cultural heritage since most of it is passed down

7) Candomblé: A syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion with roots in Yoruba, Fon, and Bantu traditions. Like Santería, it requires formal initiation to participate in rituals and interact with the Orishas.

8) Amazigh Practices: Spiritual traditions of the Amazigh people in North Africa, particularly in regions of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. These practices involve sacred rituals, herbal healing, and ancestral worship, often passed down through generations and typically reserved for those with a direct cultural connection.

Why Are These Practices Closed?(not limited)

1) They serve as a means of preserving cultural identity and resilience, especially in the face of colonization and erasure.

2) Misuse or commodification by outsiders often distorts their meaning, disrespects their sacredness, and exploits the communities they come from.

Respecting closed practices involves honoring the boundaries set by the communities that hold them sacred and engaging only when invited or trained by members of the tradition.

115 notes · View notes

fatehbaz · 1 year ago

Text

In fact, far more Asian workers moved to the Americas in the 19th century to make sugar than to build the transcontinental railroad [...]. [T]housands of Chinese migrants were recruited to work [...] on Louisiana’s sugar plantations after the Civil War. [...] Recruited and reviled as "coolies," their presence in sugar production helped justify racial exclusion after the abolition of slavery.

In places where sugar cane is grown, such as Mauritius, Fiji, Hawaii, Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname, there is usually a sizable population of Asians who can trace their ancestry to India, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere. They are descendants of sugar plantation workers, whose migration and labor embodied the limitations and contradictions of chattel slavery’s slow death in the 19th century. [...]

---

Mass consumption of sugar in industrializing Europe and North America rested on mass production of sugar by enslaved Africans in the colonies. The whip, the market, and the law institutionalized slavery across the Americas, including in the U.S. When the Haitian Revolution erupted in 1791 and Napoleon Bonaparte’s mission to reclaim Saint-Domingue, France’s most prized colony, failed, slaveholding regimes around the world grew alarmed. In response to a series of slave rebellions in its own sugar colonies, especially in Jamaica, the British Empire formally abolished slavery in the 1830s. British emancipation included a payment of £20 million to slave owners, an immense sum of money that British taxpayers made loan payments on until 2015.

Importing indentured labor from Asia emerged as a potential way to maintain the British Empire’s sugar plantation system.

In 1838 John Gladstone, father of future prime minister William E. Gladstone, arranged for the shipment of 396 South Asian workers, bound to five years of indentured labor, to his sugar estates in British Guiana. The experiment with “Gladstone coolies,” as those workers came to be known, inaugurated [...] “a new system of [...] [indentured servitude],” which would endure for nearly a century. [...]

---

Bonaparte [...] agreed to sell France's claims [...] to the U.S. [...] in 1803, in [...] the Louisiana Purchase. Plantation owners who escaped Saint-Domingue [Haiti] with their enslaved workers helped establish a booming sugar industry in southern Louisiana. On huge plantations surrounding New Orleans, home of the largest slave market in the antebellum South, sugar production took off in the first half of the 19th century. By 1853, Louisiana was producing nearly 25% of all exportable sugar in the world. [...] On the eve of the Civil War, Louisiana’s sugar industry was valued at US$200 million. More than half of that figure represented the valuation of the ownership of human beings – Black people who did the backbreaking labor [...]. By the war’s end, approximately $193 million of the sugar industry’s prewar value had vanished.

Desperate to regain power and authority after the war, Louisiana’s wealthiest planters studied and learned from their Caribbean counterparts. They, too, looked to Asian workers for their salvation, fantasizing that so-called “coolies” [...].

Thousands of Chinese workers landed in Louisiana between 1866 and 1870, recruited from the Caribbean, China and California. Bound to multiyear contracts, they symbolized Louisiana planters’ racial hope [...].

To great fanfare, Louisiana’s wealthiest planters spent thousands of dollars to recruit gangs of Chinese workers. When 140 Chinese laborers arrived on Millaudon plantation near New Orleans on July 4, 1870, at a cost of about $10,000 in recruitment fees, the New Orleans Times reported that they were “young, athletic, intelligent, sober and cleanly” and superior to “the vast majority of our African population.” [...] But [...] [w]hen they heard that other workers earned more, they demanded the same. When planters refused, they ran away. The Chinese recruits, the Planters’ Banner observed in 1871, were “fond of changing about, run away worse than [Black people], and … leave as soon as anybody offers them higher wages.”

When Congress debated excluding the Chinese from the United States in 1882, Rep. Horace F. Page of California argued that the United States could not allow the entry of “millions of cooly slaves and serfs.” That racial reasoning would justify a long series of anti-Asian laws and policies on immigration and naturalization for nearly a century.

---

All text above by: Moon-Ho Jung. "Making sugar, making 'coolies': Chinese laborers toiled alongside Black workers on 19th-century Louisiana plantations". The Conversation. 13 January 2022. [All bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

#abolition #tidalectics #caribbean #ecology #multispecies #imperial #colonial #plantation #landscape #indigenous #intimacies of four continents #geographic imaginaries #indigenous pedagogies #black methodologies

466 notes · View notes

thisbrilliantsky · 6 months ago

Text

When I was ten and visiting my abuelo in Utuado, he took my sisters and I to a recreated Taíno village. He had Taíno ancestry through his mother, and he wanted us to know something about his heritage. Papi Papi’s dark brown skin looked golden under the sun, and the tour guide gave me eucalyptus leaves to chew for my car sickness. They tasted bitter, green and medicinal. At some point my sisters and I were given necklaces. Each was a simple black cord upon which a clay pendant of a sun was clasped, a calm smile carved into its face. Theirs were each deep blue; mine was a pale, yellowy green. The tour guide told us the huts’ doorways were built low not because the Taíno were short, but so that any enemy entering the home would be at a momentary disadvantage. He mimed hitting someone on the head with a frying pan and we all laughed. I wore my necklace every day for almost two years. I liked how its smooth face and rounded edges felt between my fingers. I liked its peaceful smile. Then somehow without my noticing it, the clasp broke. It’s gone. In college, I learned that Columbus wrote to the Spanish King and Queen that the Taíno were “wondrously timorous,” “artless and generous.” He noted that they had no weapons at all and would give the Spanish anything they asked for without expecting payment; therefore, he promised the Spanish Crown “slaves as many as they shall order to be shipped.” The day we discussed the massacres and the rapes and the tortures in class, I felt ill. Of particular interest to the class was how the Spanish had demanded a gold tax from each Taíno person, and if they failed to bring it, their hands were cut off. Thousands died slow, painful deaths this way. I couldn’t get a word out. I sat there like a stone as my classmates tsked over the issue of the statues of Columbus all over the country. I knew what had happened. I had known beforehand. But this was the first time I realized that was my family. I left the classroom shaking. For centuries, everyone assumed the ten million Taíno who were alive in 1493 were completely wiped out. Now we know that is not the case. Sixty years after the murderer arrived, there were five hundred Taíno left. Today, thousands of people from the Caribbean can trace their ancestry to those last five hundred souls. I wish I still had my clay sun.

—excerpt from my lyric essay, Clay Sun: A Collection

#my writing #those are real quotes from columbus' letter jsyk #(and no that's not a typo we really call our abuelo papi papi)#(bc we call our dad papi and he's our papi's papi :| we started calling him that when we were little! and it stuck!! don't make fun of us!!

96 notes · View notes

ladiablesse · 11 days ago

Text

it like genuinely pisses me off the way libs will assert that white latinos aren’t actually white lol. those florida cubans are WHITE. they are directly descended from SPANIARDS. ethnically they are latino but racially they are WHITE. and their whiteness is important to note bc cuba has one of the largest black populations in latin america but that demographic largely isn’t reflected within cuban american communities bc they didn’t leave the island in droves like the white ones did during castros regime. and while yes there are lots of self hating dominicans that are in denial about their african ancestry, there are also white dominicans descended from spaniards who subscribed to white supremacist blanqueamiento ideology and contributed to the ethnic cleansing of black dominicans and haitians during trujillos regime. those dominicans are in fact WHITE. it’s so aggy the way these massive generalizations only serve to completely overshadow the complex racial hierarchies present in latam/the caribbean

34 notes · View notes

azhvne-blog · 4 months ago

Text

Foundational Black American

(FBA)

Foundational Black American (FBA) is not an organization, a movement, or group.

Foundational Black American is a LINEAGE.

What is a lineage? A lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree.

Who are we (Black Americans) direct, lineal descendants of?

“Foundational Black Americans are the descendants of the Black people who survived one the greatest atrocities in recorded history-American slavery.

FBA are the descendants of the Black people who built the United States from scratch.

But this history did not start in 1619. The history of FBA started almost 100 years earlier.”

“The first documented foreign settlers in the New World of North America were the enslaved Black people who were brought over by Spanish colonizer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526.

Shortly after Ayllón and the 600 other Spaniard's arrival to the area that would later become the South Carolina/Georgia coast, the enslaved Black captives launched a successful revolt, forcing the few

remaining Spanish enslavers to ultimately retreat from the area, back towards the Caribbean.

The liberated Black people amalgamated into the local Native American society, and this was a new historic chapter in what would ultimately become the culture of Foundational Black Americans.

Since 1526, the culture of Foundational Black Americans has been that of building, resisting, perseverance, and fighting for justice. FBA are exceptional people and we recognize, celebrate and give honor to that lineage.”

A Foundational Black American is any person classified as Black, who can trace their bloodline lineage back to the American system of slavery.

To be designated as a FBA, at least one parent must come from a non-immigrant background in The United States of America.

If a person's matrilineal and patrilineal lineage traces back to slavery in the Caribbean, then they are not considered a Foundational Black American.

#soulaan #soulaani #fba #black history #ancestry #america #indigenous ancestors #indigenous #american #foundational black american #black american history #black americans #black

56 notes · View notes

lxvvie · 2 months ago

Note

waits what tea?? who did what on BHM??

I'm going to sum this up as best as I can. Anyone can fill in the gaps if I've missed or got something wrong.

This biracial UK Twitch streamer caught wind of a tournament (with a cash prize) hosted by a COD group formed specifically for black women. She asked for entry but was denied based on her phenotype as she is white-presenting/passing. She claimed she was biracial black and showed pictures of her father as proof (this becomes significant later). This caused quite a stir, even within the group, and some of them left the tournament and proceeded to shit on some of the gamers. The host, meanwhile, stands ten toes down on her decision.

This is where discourse about race and the one-drop rule comes into play because I've read comments from POC Brits that the one-drop rule doesn't apply across the pond (if someone wants to add their two cents to this, please do). She'd be considered a white woman and apparently, before this, she's never so much as even mentioned she was biracial on her social media (we're including Twitch in this) and has essentially navigated her life both on and offline as a white woman. Even other biracial/multiracial people who follow/ed her have commented on this.

She didn't take too well to being denied and went on to Twitter/X to bash the group and organizer, bringing out the racism and misogynoir towards black people and women and in doing so, pretty much exposed herself in the following ways:

Her tirade was not only full of dog whistles (i.e. - calling her hair "unbrushable" and that she straightens her hair daily), but she also othered herself by referring to the group as "that community" which people picked up on almost INSTANTLY because if they're "that community" then why are you trying to gain entry into it?

Biracial black and black people with lighter complexions were also catching strays due to her referring to herself as a "lightskin" (as if, in my personal opinion, she's implying that biracial black people only show up as lighter complected) so there goes the discourse around colorism and racial phenotypes.

She also contradicted herself because Twitter/X detectives have found a past tweet in which she rants about people being mad and going on Twitter/X to crash out over hosts who curate their own spaces, host tournaments there, and keep it exclusive—in short, the same thing she's doing now.

Going back to the picture of her father. She claims her father is 100% black and posted a photo of him on Twitter/X. People started pointing out that he looks more biracial/multiracial than anything. She even posted another picture of him and her in darker lighting as if to prove he was black. We all know that genetics is a tricky thing, so anything can and does happen. 🤷🏾‍♀️

She also posted a picture of her father's parents. Folks immediately clock that her grandparents look more Indian/Indo-Caribbean than they do black (this does not denote being black because various groups immigrated to the Caribbean) and she deletes the post with a QUICKNESS. Someone also posted a picture of her brother (purportedly) and... yeah, he looks white and Indo-Caribbean. So while she may have black ancestry, she's not a biracial black like she touted.

Folks screenshot EVERYTHING, and she privates her account on Twitter/X. Last I checked, she was still doubling down and crashing out over this.

Some of the folks who defended her are now quiet as a church mouse. One of the people who left the tournament immediately deleted their tweets bashing the group as soon as shit started getting hot. Apparently, it's also come out that Lady Dolezal also never got in contact with the host directly, instead went to someone else, and then proceeded to crash out? The host was also considering inviting her to a future event before this all happened but her tantrum put the kibosh on that.

So... yeah, that's what went down as BHM comes to a close.

Let me also mention that because of this, there were multiple crashouts about black people curating their own spaces (calling it racist, nevermind the amount of slurs some COD players love throwing out if they even get a WHIFF that you're not white and a male) in the gaming community. You also had non-black people trying to lecture black people about... defining blackness.

Just a whole ass mess, chile.

37 notes · View notes

thebestofoneshots · 2 years ago

Text

Gilded Constellations | wolfstar x reader

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 4.3K Warnings: none Prompt: You meet Sirius and Regulus at a family vacation in the Caribbean, but things don't go as planned and you end up losing contact once the trip is over. Years later your family moves to England and you get accepted at Hogwarts where you finally meet Sirius once again, along with all of his friends. One of them with a mysterious secret, that you'll uncover as you embark on your own Hogwarts adventure.

Chapter 1: Summer Breeze

2 years ago - Summer 1974

Every summer holiday, your parents would take you on some elaborate vacation to a different place. This summer was no different from that, except that they’d contacted some of their old friends in England to plan a trip together. Your father was set on making you more fluent in English and had the brilliant idea to force you onto making some English friends.

While you weren’t too excited about spending your summer with a pure-blood family, since your mom had not-wizarding grandparents, you decided you were not going to be a snob and actually try to make some friends. Your parents never told you that the Blacks didn’t know about your mom’s ancestry though, especially after your great-grandmother made a huge effort to hide that side of the family when the racist stuff started getting worse. It wasn’t a secret to you, only to the rest of the world.

“Are you ready sweetheart?” Your mom asked, looking stunning in her white beach dress.

You closed your suitcase and nodded, walking towards her and your dad in the centre of your living room. You stood in a circle and in the blink of an eye apparated in a completely different place. You were in the middle of a giant Lobby, looking straight toward the front desk. It was an open space, there were fountains in the centre and large logs of wood holding a stunning ceiling with floating balls of some wood-like fibre, you could hear the waves crashing onto the shore somewhere in the distance. It looked elegant yet rustic at the same time. On the side of the Lobby, a metal plate spelled

Mayan Occultum Hotel The #1 Hotel for Witches and Wizards in the Caribbean: Costa Maya

Followed by 5 shining golden stars that spun around every couple of seconds. Your father had his head up and looked around to try and find his old friends.

Sirius had been dragged to this. While to anyone a vacation in the Caribbean might sound like a dream, to him it was no other than an absolute nightmare, not because he disliked the beach, in fact, he quite fancied the idea of spending some time relaxing under the sun after the finals, the issue here was that he wasn’t going with his friends, no James, No Mooney, no Wormtail. No, he was on a FAMILY vacation, which meant he’d have to spend like 2 weeks locked up in a hotel in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of people that hated him. He threw in as many muggle-like clothing items he’d gotten from Andromeda into his suitcase, just to spite his parents and hopefully keep the other wizard family, the one that had the brilliant idea to invite his family to the hotel to come along with them, at bay. He was not interested in making new friends, he was not interested in talking to any that were of his parents at all. After all, they probably would be no other than a bunch of Slytherin snobs.

By the time his mother called him down to the chimney to travel through the floo network, he’d even made sure to add in a pair of Doc Martens to his suitcase, the most punk thing he had gotten his hands on thus far, all thanks to Moony who’d showed him how to order things from a catalogue. He was wearing a leather jacket, ripped black jeans and a pair of Converse shoes, not a very beachy outfit, was it?

When his mom saw him she almost ordered him to go back upstairs to change but Orion said they were late and basically pushed Sirius onto the chimney. He was the first to arrive, Regulus was next, with a very suitable wizard attire, his parents had come soon after.

Once your dad spotted Orion among the crowds he went straight to greet him, your mom followed alongside him and you lagged behind just a bit.

“It’s wonderful to see you again, Orion, you look as dashing as the last time we met,” your father said.

Orion chuckled lightly “I could say the same about you Silas! This must be Avis,” he said as he turned into your mother “I remember as if it was yesterday when you wrote me that you’d found the love of your life.”

Now it was your father who chucked “Walburga,” He nodded towards her, she set her hand out and he gave a courteous kiss. Had they forgotten to tell you were meeting royalty or something? Your parents were rarely this formal with his friends.

Regardless of the odd formalities, you stayed behind them as they caught up, “These are my children,” Orion said pushing forwards two boys, one dressed as a wizard and one with very muggle-like clothes, “This is Sirius,” He pointed at the taller boy, “and this is Regulus,” he said pointing at the smaller one.

Up until then Sirius had maintained a disagreeable face but had been polite enough to your parents so as not to seem like an ass, at least they weren’t overly dressed, they looked like a normal family on vacation, not like they were going to the queen’s wedding at the beach. But his expression changed when your mom moved to the side and he saw you for the first time.

“This is my daughter, (Y/N),” Your father said, placing a hand on your back and pushing you just slightly forward.

“You’ve got yourself a beautiful young lady, Silas, why have you been hiding her behind you?”

“Our (Y/N) is a bit shy,” Your mom excused.

“Just like our son,” Walburga said as she placed a hand on Regulus’ shoulder, with a huge suspicious smile growing on her face. You would’ve taken a step back had it not been for your father’s hand still on your back, Sirius noticed. He’d straightened his back right after you appeared in his field of view, he almost felt self-conscious, of his outfit (probably because of how hot it was), of his hair, he hated feeling that way, but there was something about you, he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Curiosity, it had to be that. He was curious about you.

You responded with an awkward smile, by then your father was already pulling Orion toward the front desk to check in.

“So (Y/N), What year are you in?” Walburga asked, you couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was, in a dangerous sort of way, sharp features, a smile that even if it looked kind, hid something behind it. Like a mermaid luring you in before she drowns you, you thought.

“I’m starting my 4th,” You replied politely, trying to hide how intimidated you felt while talking to her.

“Oh,” she said, sounding almost a little disappointed “Like Sirius.” Had she said her child’s name with disdain or was it just your imagination? Perhaps it had something to do with the way the boy dressed.

“I’m sure they’ll become great friends,” your mom said looking at you, then at Sirius and then back at you.

Walburga nodded but did not look very happy with the idea of you making friends with her older son. Regardless, you’d been interested in talking to the boy the moment you spotted him from the distance, he looked like the vocalist of a rock band. If it had not been for the fact that your parents introduced you to him, you might have lived on assuming he was some sort of celebrity.

In the midst of the awkward silence your father and Orion came back. Your father smiled towards you, almost apologetically “Sweetheart there is an event for couples on the other side of the hotel, Orion and I thought it would be good to spend some time there to catch up, would you mind exploring the rest of the hotel with the boys?”

Well, there goes your family vacation, makes sense after all, your father had been looking for an excuse to move back to England for a while, maybe he’d talk to Orion about the ministry jobs available, Orion did have the politician look going for him. You forced a smile “Not at all Dad, it’ll be fantastic to get to know them,” you hoped that did not come out as ironic as you meant it. Although Sirius' snicker from behind gave you the impression it was not like that.

Your dad handed you and the boys a map each “We’ve enhanced them, that way we can always find you.”

Your smile only tightened but you kept it until they were out of sight. Once you made sure they were far enough you pulled your wand out and murmured “incendio,” causing your map to slowly burn itself, you let it drop once the fire was too close to your hand.

“Did you just use magic? Aren’t you 14?” Regulus asked with a frown.

You turned to him with a smile “There are many qualified wizards around us,” you responded opening your arms to gesture at the amount of people surrounding you “Besides, this hotel is part of the Occultum line, anyone that has studied at least until year 2 is permitted to use magic–” After hearing this words Sirius used incendio to burn his map as well, you raised your eyebrows towards him and then continued “–that’s why my parents picked it, they wanted me to spend some time practising spells for the next year.”

Regulus only settled his map on a nearby suitcase that was soon sent flying away, presumably towards its own room, proving how unnecessary the magic you’d both used had been “I heard there was an orchestra at noon, maybe we can go there?” He suggested.

“Sure, I guess…” You said before grabbing a pamphlet that mentioned all the activities the hotel had going on that day, but one seemed a tad more interesting “What about his one tho?” You said pointing at something written on the paper.

“A muggle movie screening?” Regulus asked with a grimace, Sirius, on the other hand, seemed a lot more interested in it.

“Let’s do that! Sounds fun!” Sirius decided, took the pamphlet from your hands in an action that would’ve been rude had he not done it with such grace, and started walking towards the direction the pamphlet indicated.

“Not sure Mom and Dad would like that,” Regulus argued as the two of you followed, lagging behind Sirius only slightly.

“Of course, they wouldn’t,” You agreed with him, but caught up with Sirius soon after “Regardless, dear Reg, is not like they’re going to know, we all got rid of our maps.”

His frown didn’t leave his face even after he caught up with you, walking by your side, instead of his brother’s. Weird, you thought.

“And don’t even think about telling dear mommy and daddy about it Reggie!” Sirius warned.

Regulus didn’t fancy how quick you’d gotten comfortable with giving him a nickname, regardless he decided to go with it, it was probably better to stick to Sirius to make sure he didn’t cause some mischief that would have the three of you grounded for the rest of the summer, or your lives, whichever came first.

The three of you arrived at the “cinema” area quickly enough. “Well, even if the movie is bad, the experience will be authentic.”

“You’ve been to a cinema?” Asked Sirius impressed.

“Last summer while I was in New York,” you explained, “very similar to this one, ‘bit more run down.”

“And your parents allowed you?” Asked Regulus, almost judging.

“Perhaps they would’ve If they’d known,” you replied with a mischievous smile.

The three of you walked to the stall and asked the lady attending to give you 1 large bowl of popcorn and three butter beers. The lady grabbed a large bucket and threw some kernels inside it, followed by a block of butter and a sprinkle of salt, she then murmured “calidium.” Hot air started coming from her wand, heating the kernels and having them pop in front of your eyes.

You leaned in closer to Regulus and whispered “They didn’t have that in the cinema I went to.”

The lady continued with her task and started serving the butter beers when Sirius decided to speak up.

“What’s the sorting hat popcorn?”

“You spin the thing, and a block of candy will come out, we add that to the corn before popping and when it does, it becomes sweetened popcorn with the colour of your house, it’s inspired by the Hogwarts sorting hat,” She explained.

He nudged you, “You should try it, see which house you’d be in if you studied with us,” He said with a smile.

“That’s ridiculous, random candy cannot be as wise as the sorting hat,” Regulus complained.

You shrugged “Seems like a fun deal,” You said, walking towards the fun-looking machine and spinning the wheel. A dark block of candy came out and you handed it to the lady. After she performed the same spell as last time, minus the salt, the popcorn started to pop, turning into different shades of grey, gold, green and silver. You turned to the boys “Which house is that?”

“Seems like you’re in between,” the lady replied. “The popcorn is not as accurate as the sorting hat I’m afraid.”

“In between what?”

“Slytherin–“ started Regulus.

“–And Gryffindor.“ finished Sirius, the air seemed to tense up in that minute and you just had to do something, so you threw your fist inside the bucket and grabbed a couple of them, popping them in your mouth.

“Who cares? I highly doubt I’ll ever be in Hogwarts anyway,” You said as you grabbed one of the buckets and your mug of butter beer. “Can I also have some of those?” You said pointing toward the every flavour beans, the lady nodded and handed you a box.

“The movie starts in 15 minutes,” said Regulus after looking at the time in the giant magical clock.

“Excuse me, what’s a magic projection?” You asked the clerk near the door.

“It’s the movie, but with special magical effects, like things that come out of the screen and several other effects, it’s immersive,” he explained and you nodded, definitely not like the muggle cinema you’d been to before.

“I didn’t know such a thing existed.”

“It’s a program in development, a very talented new-maj called Drey started bewitching films just 2 years ago, they became very popular in the industry, and this is one of her newest projects.”

Before Regulus could open his mouth Sirius spoke “That sounds fantastic! Can we walk in already?” He asked with the most charming smile you had ever seen and after the clerk nodded he dragged you both inside.

“I’m still not fascinated by this idea,” Regulus complained.

“Don’t be such a party popper Reg,” You said, throwing a popcorn at him. He brushed it off his coat and started looking at the ads on the screen.

You then threw one in the air and caught it with your mouth, it’s something you’d seen muggles do in the theatre you had been to last year.

“Shoot one,” Sirius said, you shot a popcorn and he’d easily caught it, he then winked and motioned for you to send another one. You did, but the third time you grabbed an every flavour bean instead, he also caught it and bit on it with ease, grimacing right after.

“Treason!” He said after forcing it to go down his throat “I demand her head!” he added while exaggerating his expressions in a very Alice in WonderLand Queen of Hearts-like attitude, then he relaxed again “That was awful, and no warning either!” You just laughed in return, “no wonder the popcorn wanted you in Slytherin” he said, Regulus rolled his eyes.

“What flavour was it anyway?” You asked, to drive the conversation away from the house topic, which clearly was a sensible one.

“Your mom’s,” he replied. After understanding the implication of his answer you gasped and playfully hit him on the arm “Sorry, sorry, It was something like sewer water or something, one of the worst I’ve had in my life.”

Regulus looked at the box and then at you “You want one too?” You asked politely, while there seemed to be some kind of tension between the two boys, neither of them seemed particularly evil, or mean, if anything Regulus was rather shy compared to his loud brother, almost like he did not want to get on the bad side of his parents, something Sirius didn’t really seem to care much about. He quietly nodded to respond to your question and you shot one towards his face, it unfortunately didn’t land on his mouth and fell to the side. He was about to call it off but you didn’t let him. “It’s ok if you don’t get it the worst I’ve had in my life.”

“Peaches,” he replied with a smile.

“Unfair,” Sirus said as he crossed his arms and took the box from you “It’s your turn.”

“I’m terrible at catching with my mouth,” you warned, but he threw one at your face anyway. It landed on your eye, thankfully you closed it first.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” He said, grabbing your face with his two hands to check if you were ok. Did he not know about personal space? “You OK?” He was so close you could smell his breath, it was minty and fresh, despite having had popcorn already.

“Yeah, I’m good,” you said, shaking him off and picking the jelly bean from your shirt, where it’d fallen after attacking you “Got fast reflexes,” you said before popping it in your mouth, you grimaced.

“What was it?” Regulus asked.

“Lime I think, it was very sour,” you said, turning towards him “Guess you’re the lucky one between the three of us.” Regulus smiled awkwardly as a reply and then the screen turned on.

A lady showed up on the screen “Welcome, witches and wizards, this is the newest rendition of the magical cinema series. Welcome to this incredible adventure in which you will face a terrible creature, the dangers of the sea and the world as told from a muggle perspective. There will be a lot of water, hope you brought your bathing suits.” She disappeared shortly after and then the titles started rolling in.

It was actually a beach movie, funny when you remembered that the beach was just a minute's walk away from where you stood. And it was definitely NOT like an ordinary muggle film, there were splashes of water in your face, things crawling on your seat, smoke, smell and even the shark would get out of the screen and swim all over the room. It was thrilling, to say the least.

When the move was over the three of you were soaked, the boys had their fluffy hair clinging onto their faces as you walked out of the theatre. But they also looked happy, Sirius was thrilled, unsurprisingly, but even Reg seemed at ease, even if he had gone to a “muggle thing”.

“We should go see the beach now,” Sirius said.

“Just hope Larry Vaughn is not the mayor here,” you responded and cracked a laugh from the two brothers.

The three of you then walked towards the beach area, there were lounge chairs with umbrellas on top, some beach beds and a stand where you could ask the house elves to bring you different special drinks. As you were sitting down in one of the chairs you overheard some wizards passing by. And you couldn’t help but to be enthralled by their conversation. Regulus was sitting by the end of the bed, looking wearily at the sea and Sirius was taking off his jacket and laying it on the back of the bed for it to dry with the wind, he was rocking a David Bowie shirt underneath. “Hey (Y/N) do you want anything from the–“

“–Shhhh,” you said as you gestured for him to listen to the conversation as well.

“Yeah, the ziplines were amazing, it’s fantastic the hotel counts with muggle transportation all the way to the parks,” one of the wizards said.

“Do you think we should go again,” asked the other one.

“No, Mom said we’d go to the ruins tomorrow, something about magical vestiges or whatever.”

That’s when you stood up “Hey!” You said with a smile “Sorry, we kinda overheard you talking about the… what did you call them? Zip lines? We were wondering what park you were referring to.” You really could be charming when you wanted to.

“It’s Xplore,” one of the boys replied.

The other grabbed his backpack and handed you a brochure “I took this one from the park, maybe it helps,” he said with a bright smile as well.

“Thank you, you’re a darling,” you said before going back to your beach bed, sitting on the side, next to Sirius, Reg was still sitting on the end of the bed, but he clearly did not like where the conversation was going.

“You even got them to give you a brochure?” Sirius mused.

You shrugged and set it on the centre of the bed, opening it up just to realise it was in Spanish.

“Reg speaks some Italian,” Sirius said motioning towards his brother.

“I’m not translating any muggle propaganda.”

“It’s NOT propaganda,” you argued, “regardless I came prepared,” you said as you took out your wand, waved it and whispered “tradussere.” The letters of the page started changing and soon enough it was all in English.

“I thought you needed to speak the language to be able to do that,” Reg said.

“You do, and I can only manage to make it last a couple of minutes, so we better hurry,” you replied.

XPLORE Jungle adventure park with zip lines, amphibious vehicles, whitewater rafting and underground rivers. Prices start at $1500 MXN Experience a true adventure on your trip to Mexico by flinging through ZIP lines, swimming on underground sacred rivers and riding amphibious vehicles in the Mayan rainforests.

On the brochure, there were also photos with people wearing climbing gear and helmets. People swimming in dark but beautiful cabins, it really looked like an adventure-filled experience.

You and Sirius gave each other a look after reading “WE HAVE TO GO,” you said to each other at the same time.

“No, we don’t HAVE to do anything,” said Reg “In fact, we CAN’T.”

“Come on Reggie, it sounds super fun,” you argued, trying to convince him.

“Mom and Dad would kill us before letting us go,” he reasoned with Sirius “You don’t need to make things worse between you and them.”

“I do, especially if they act like racist bastards,” Sirius bit back defensively.

“Sirius,” Reg said with pain in his eyes, clearly he cared about his brother, but Sirius seemed to be too pissed off to even consider that.

“I…” you thought about it for a second “They don’t have to find out…”

“What?” Reg asked, turning his face to you.

“We just have to pick a day that’ll be very busy for them and go then, one with many activities. Besides I’m sure my father and yours are just so eager to catch up that we won’t see them much this summer…”

“I’m not gonna do it,” Regulus said with conviction “It’s a terrible idea, you shouldn’t do it either,” You were far too excited to notice the fear in Regulus' eyes, had you been more observant, maybe the mess you’d get into later could’ve been avoided.

“Clam down Reggie, it’ll be in and out, they’ll never find out,” Sirius reasoned, “We need to be perfect in picking the day,” he said turning towards you.

Regulus denied with his head and pulled a book out of his bag as you and Sirius continued planning your escapade.

You’d be in charge of the money exchange process since you already had done it before and knew how the entire process worked, Sirius would make fake muggle passports for the two of you, so you could get rid of the parental signs and age requirements they ask for in the park, Regulus, as he’d said before, would stay, but he’d make sure to cover for you in case you parents started looking for the two, he was still against it, but you had convinced to at least do that for you.

After days of careful planning, the opportunity finally presented itself, your parents would have a very busy schedule with some magical presentations happening at the hotel and the three of you would have the day to yourselves.

“So… tomorrow, we have everything?” You asked Sirius.

He nodded “Fake passports, the money, the bus that’ll take us there. We’ll depart at 7, the park opens at 11 because it’s a Tuesday, but we’ll be dropped off at the city and from there, we have to take a taxi or something to get to the park.”

“Perfect.”

“You know, you can still call it off,” said Regulus, peering from his book, “At least consider it tonight.”

The two of you turned towards him, every time the subject came up, Regulus would say something similar “It’ll be ok Reg, just promise you’ll cover for us,” you pleaded.

He took a deep breath but turned his face towards you and nodded unconvinced “Just be very careful, you don’t know how angry our parents can get.”

You took that as an exaggeration, after all, Sirius had played it as such for the longest time. You couldn’t have been more mistaken. You should’ve listened. But the idea of a day full of adventure next to Sirius was just too intoxicating for you to pay attention to the alarm system activating in your head, after all, the minute you’d met Walburga you’d known something was wrong with her.

“We’ll be fine, Reg, stop acting like a chicken,” Sirius said, diverting your attention again.

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

Leve a comment if you wanna be tagged on Gilded Constellations

Want to support me? Consider buying me a Ko-Fi <3 or just reblogging this post

Raead more Marauders Fiction

A/N: Most Poly!Marauders fics are oneshots, where the relationship between characters is already established, and they're all happy and pleased with it. No issues, no drama, but I WANTED the drama. Couldn't find it, so I set myself up to write the story behind the stablished relationship. I wanted to know how they started dating each other, the jealousy, the will they won't they, because getting into a poly relationship can't be an easy task, and I wanted to explore that story. If you're interested: Welcome to Gilded Constellations!

618 notes · View notes

blackstarlineage · 2 months ago

Text

The Difference Between Cultural Identity and Class-Based Behaviour: A Garveyite Perspective on Black Consciousness, Liberation, and Self-Determination

From a Garveyite perspective, which prioritizes Pan-African unity, self-reliance, and the restoration of African/black consciousness, there is a crucial distinction between cultural identity and class-based behaviour that many Black people fail to recognize. This confusion has been intentionally manufactured through colonialism, white supremacy, and capitalist exploitation to keep Black people divided, assimilated, and disconnected from their true heritage.

At its core:

Cultural identity is the collective historical, linguistic, spiritual, and ancestral continuity of a people.

Class-based behaviour is a social construct based on material wealth, economic status, and Western-defined respectability.

This analysis will examine:

Defining Cultural Identity vs. Class-Based Behaviour.

How Colonialism and White Supremacy Engineered This Confusion.

Examples of This Confusion in Black Communities.

Consequences of Mistaking Class for Culture.

The Garveyite Solution: Returning to Pan-African Identity and Self-Determination

1. Defining Cultural Identity vs. Class-Based Behavior

To understand why many Black people confuse the two, we must clearly define them.

Cultural Identity (Rooted in Ancestry & Collective Consciousness)

A people’s shared history, values, traditions, language, spiritual beliefs, and customs.

In the African diaspora, cultural identity is tied to Pan-Africanism, black nationalism, African spirituality, and indigenous traditions.

Remains constant regardless of economic status—it is not defined by wealth or material possessions.

Rooted in African/black philosophy, communal living, and intergenerational knowledge.

Example: Practising African naming traditions, speaking African languages, honouring ancestors, wearing traditional African clothing, and celebrating Black resistance movements are expressions of cultural identity.

Class-Based Behavior (Rooted in Social and Economic Status)

Dictated by income, education level, and Western ideals of success.

Tied to capitalism, assimilation, and Eurocentric concepts of "civilization."

Can change depending on wealth—a person’s social status can rise or fall, but their cultural identity remains.

Enforces Western respectability politics, which dictates how a Black person must dress, speak, and behave to be deemed "successful" in white society.

Example: Some Black elites believe that speaking “proper English,” wearing suits, or getting degrees from Western institutions makes them more cultured—when in reality, these are simply class markers imposed by European systems.

Garveyite Perspective: Black people must recognize that cultural identity is about ancestral roots, Pan-Africanism, and collective liberation—not white validation through social mobility.

2. How Colonialism and White Supremacy Engineered This Confusion

Black people did not naturally develop this confusion—it was imposed on them through slavery, colonial rule, and systemic oppression.

A) Cultural Erasure Under Slavery & Colonialism

African languages were banned, and European tongues were forced upon enslaved Africans.

Indigenous African religions were demonized, and Christianity was imposed to maintain control.

Western education was introduced as the only legitimate form of intelligence.

European clothing and social etiquette were enforced as signs of "civilization."

Tribal and ethnic divisions were created to prevent unity among African peoples.

Example: In the Caribbean, enslaved Africans were deliberately separated from those who spoke the same language to prevent rebellion. In America, Black people were taught that English-speaking, well-dressed house slaves were “superior” to field slaves—creating a false class hierarchy.

B) The Rise of Respectability Politics

After slavery, Black people were pressured to prove their worth to white society by adopting European norms of behavior:

Speaking English "properly" was seen as a sign of intelligence.

Dressing in Western attire (suits, ties, dresses) was deemed respectable.

Christianity was used to reinforce submission, obedience, and assimilation.

Black professionals distanced themselves from poor, working-class Black people.

Example: The Talented Tenth philosophy promoted by W.E.B. Du Bois suggested that a small, highly educated Black elite should lead the race—while Garveyism argued for mass empowerment, economic self-reliance, and a return to African traditions.

Garveyite Perspective: Any ideology that promotes integration into a white supremacist society instead of African self-determination is anti-Black.

3. Examples of This Confusion in Black Communities

Many Black people still mistake economic status and Western respectability for cultural identity. Here are some examples:

A) Language & Speech

Some Black people believe that African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), Patois, Creole, or African languages are “ghetto”, while standard English is “educated.”

In reality, African linguistic structures influence these languages, making them part of our cultural identity.

Example: Many Caribbean and African immigrants are conditioned to believe that abandoning their mother tongues and adopting British or American English is a sign of intelligence, when in fact, this is an example of colonial indoctrination.

B) Clothing & Grooming

Some Black people believe that wearing African/black clothing is “backwards” or “unprofessional”, while wearing a suit and tie makes one respectable.

But a suit and tie is a European standard of dress, not an African or black one.

Example: Black and African clothing that remains uninfluenced by European styles is the kente cloth of Ghana. Woven by the Akan people for centuries, kente is a traditionally handcrafted fabric made from silk and cotton, featuring intricate patterns that hold deep cultural and spiritual significance. It has been worn by Ghanaian royalty and remains a symbol of heritage, status, and pride. Unlike European textiles, kente's designs, colours, and weaving techniques are rooted entirely in African traditions, showcasing a purely indigenous fashion identity.

C) Education & Intelligence

Some believe that having a degree from a Western university makes someone more cultured.

But Western education often promotes anti-Black narratives and European supremacy.

Example: Many Black intellectuals look down on grassroots organizers and Pan-African movements, seeing themselves as superior due to their Western degrees.

Garveyite Perspective: True intelligence is not determined by a degree from Harvard or Oxford—it is measured by self-education, community impact, and Pan-African consciousness.

4. Consequences of Mistaking Class for Culture

This confusion has caused major harm within the Black community:

A) Classism & Division

Black elites often distance themselves from the working class.

Africans and Caribbeans sometimes look down on Black Americans, believing their struggles stem from a lack of "ambition" instead of systemic racism.

Example: African immigrants are often taught that Black Americans are "lazy," when in reality, Black Americans face systemic barriers that prevent economic mobility.

B) Cultural Assimilation & Loss of Identity

Black people abandon African languages, traditions, and values in favour of Western norms.

African spirituality is demonized, while Christianity and Islam remain dominant.

Example: The African American upper class in the 1900s married lighter-skinned partners to gain social status—showing that whiteness, not African identity, was their measure of success.

Garveyite Perspective: Liberation comes through Pan-African unity and cultural reclamation—not integration into white systems.

5. The Solution: Reclaiming a Pan-African Consciousness

To break free from this confusion, Black people must return to authentic Pan-African identity and self-determination.

A) Prioritize African-Centered Education

Learn about African history, languages, and traditions outside of Western institutions.

Stop equating European education with intelligence.

B) Define Success on Our Own Terms

Success is not white approval—it is economic independence, cultural pride, and collective self-reliance.

Stop chasing corporate jobs, luxury brands, and European validation.

Garveyite Perspective: Only through self-sufficiency, cultural pride, and Pan-African unity can Black people truly be free.

Final Thought

Black people must stop confusing class-based Western behaviours with true African/black cultural identity. Only by reclaiming Pan-African consciousness, rejecting respectability politics, and prioritizing self-determination can true liberation be achieved.

---

Tumblr Tags:

27 notes · View notes