[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 186 (Wednesday, November 20, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H9067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE TAINOS AND CARIBS DURING NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

  (Ms. PLASKETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Speaker, November is Native American Heritage 
Month, and I would like to share with you a story, one unknown to most 
Americans, but one that Virgin Islanders learn at a young age. It is 
the Caribbean story of Europe's drive for conquest and the resistance 
of the Native Americans of the Virgin Islands, the Tainos and the 
Caribs.
  In 1493, Columbus and his men landed on Ayay, known now as Saint 
Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. There they met a group of Taino 
people who had been taken captive by the Caribs. While en route back to 
their ship with these captives, Columbus' men encountered the fierce 
Carib villagers, and the first recorded violent conflict between 
Europeans and Native Americans of the Western Hemisphere ensued, 
killing one of Columbus' men.
  Men and women fought with bows and canoes against gunpowder on ships. 
It is our story of Native pride of resistance, of remembering what is 
yours.
  However, the Taino and Carib peoples have left us with so much more. 
When you use such words as barbecue, guava, canoe, hurricane, potato, 
maze, savannah, you are connecting with indigenous people who centuries 
ago journeyed from South America to settle in the archipelago that has 
given, and continues to give, much to this country and the world.

                          ____________________