(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . TITLES OF THE COLONIZERS [1] ['View Profile', 'Chitown Kev', 'Joe Democrat', 'Bill In Portland Maine'] Date: 2026-04-30 Over the past few years, I have posted what members of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas (FANA) have sent me. At times, I would merely pick and choose what to use, and I have even posted papers on behalf of a member. I received the article below and was asked to post it by Chief Orlando Vega of Cibco-Bayam, a member of the FANA Tribal Nation Clan Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken. He is also a FANA Council member of the Nimmuoug (Congress) (I did not correct the spelling or punctuation in the quoted word or text.) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Titles of the Colonizers written by Orlando Vega: Colonizers: that word has been circulating in society for a very long time, but do we know what it truly means? Here is what DeepAI says when I asked what “colonizer” means: “Colonizer” has referred to a person who participates in or benefits from that process (e.g., a settler in a colonial enterprise). Etymology• From Latin “colōnus” (farmer, settler) → “colōnia” (settlement) → French “coloniser” → English “colonize/colonizer.”• The root idea is “to cultivate or settle,” but by early-modern times it had shifted to mean “to take possession of land and rule it from afar.” Historical sense• Between the 15th and 20th centuries, European powers—Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, the Netherlands, etc.—acted as colonizers on almost every inhabited continent, imposing political, economic, and cultural domination over Indigenous peoples.• In this context, “colonizer” implies power imbalance, exploitation of resources and labor, and the imposition of the colonizer’s laws, language, or religion. Distinction from related terms• Colonist: usually the individual settler living in the colony.• Colonial power/colony: the State and the territory under its rule.• Imperialist: broader term for a power seeking to build an empire, often by colonization but also by indirect control. Contemporary usage• In modern discourse, “colonizer” is frequently used pejoratively to critique historical or ongoing systems of domination, cultural appropriation, or economic exploitation (“digital colonizers,” “space colonization,” etc.).• It can also be used metaphorically for any entity that inserts itself into, restructures, or exploits an existing community or environment for its own benefit. Key connotations• Power and domination• Exploitation of land and people• Settlement by outsiders• Cultural displacement or erasure So, while “colonizer” literally names the agent that forms a colony, it always carries the historical weight of conquest, subjugation, and unequal power relations.” As we can see per DeepAI, this word carries very strong connotations, and for that reason, it stirs deep emotions among those who have been impacted by colonization, effects that are still being felt to this very day. For many of us, this word can stir feelings of hatred, betrayal, deep sadness, and longing for what was taken from us, from our ancestors. I mention this because I am one of those people, and one of these effects is the titles my people and I have been forced to live under for hundreds of years, titles that were meant to define, degrade, and separate us. Titles that are meant to oppress, possess and control us and I think, no, I know it is time for us as a people to let the colonizers know that we will no longer live under these titles that do not define who we are as a people, as a Nation. It is time for US to stand up and take our rightful place in the world and say THIS IS WHO WE ARE, WHO WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN! And take our rightful TITLE back!! The titles of Hispanic and Latino were imposed upon us by a colonizer that first conquered our lands under the guise of friendly exploration and then by another colonizer under the guise of friendly democracy and friendship, a colonizer that still uses that guise to deceive millions across the world. Origins and Evolution of the Hispanic Classification: Where did the classification of Hispanic come from? And how did it come to be used to classify all Spanish peoples? Classical and linguistic roots • The word comes from the Latin adjective Hispanicus, “of Hispania,” the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula (today’s Spain and Portugal). • In early-modern English, “Hispanic” or “Hispanick” simply meant “Spanish” (first attested 1580s). • In Spanish itself, “hispánico” was little used until the late 1800s, when writers such as Ángel Ganivet and Ramiro de Maeztu coined “hispanidad” to speak of a trans-Atlantic community united by the Spanish language and culture. The pan-Hispanic idea in the Americas. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, diplomats, scholars, and the Catholic Church sometimes spoke of “Hispanic America” to distinguish the former Spanish colonies from “Anglo-America” or from Portuguese-speaking Brazil . Still, there was no single bureaucratic or legal category that encompassed all these populations. Why the United States needed a Category. • Immigration and war had brought millions of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans under U.S. jurisdiction. Still, the Census either counted them as “White” (the default) or, in 1930 only, as the separate “Mexican race.” • By the 1960s, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and President Johnson’s “War on Poverty” required federal agencies to measure discrimination and to target social programs . . Community activists (e.g., the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Council of La Raza) complained that the lack of a single label for people of Spanish origin made them invisible in statistics and, by extension, in funding decisions. • Congress responded with Public Law 94-311 (1976), ordering all federal agencies to keep data on “Americans of Spanish origin or descent.” From “Spanish-origin” to “Hispanic “An inter-agency group led by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) looked for a neutral, non-racial umbrella term . . After testing several (Spanish-speaking, Spanish-surnamed, Latin, Latino), they settled on “Hispanic” because: – it already existed in diplomatic/academic usage; – it was acceptable both to Mexican-American and Puerto Rican organizations; – it could be defined culturally (“Spanish culture or origin”) rather than racially. OMB Directive No. 15 (May 1977) formally created the ethnic category “Hispanic origin (of any race).” The 1980 decennial census was the first to use it nationwide, asking: “Is this person of Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent?” with checkboxes for Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other. How the label spread • Once it appeared in the Census, every federal, State, and municipal form followed suit, as did schools, hospitals, and employers complying with civil-rights reporting rules. • Marketers, media, and political pollsters adopted it in the 1980s, popularizing “the Hispanic market” and “Hispanic vote.” • Universities created “Hispanic studies” professional associations added “Hispanic” to their titles; television networks such as Univisión and Telemundo used the word in advertising. What “Hispanic” means today (and what it doesn’t) Directive 15 defines a person of Hispanic origin as one “who traces his or her origin or descent to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, or other Spanish culture, regardless of race.” • It therefore includes people from Spain, but the substantial majority counted as Hispanic in the U.S. come from Latin America. • It excludes Brazilians (Portuguese language) and persons from other former Iberian colonies, such as the Philippines, unless they self-identify as Hispanic. • Inside Spain, the term is seldom used for Spaniards themselves; they say “españoles.” In Latin America, many prefer Latino/Latina, and newer forms such as Latinx or Latine are competing with “Hispanic.” Summary The word “Hispanic” is ancient, but its use as a blanket classification for all peoples of Spanish linguistic or cultural background is mainly a product of U.S. civil rights bureaucracy in the 1970s. Once the Census and OMB adopted it, the term quickly migrated to every sector that relied on federal data—school districts, corporations, media, politics—consolidating a pan-ethnic label that now covers Spaniards and most Spanish-speaking peoples throughout the Americas. Origins and Evolution of the Latino Classification: Where did the classification of Latino come from? And how did it come to be used to classify all Spanish peoples? 1. Origins of the word “Latino.” The term “Latino” comes from the Spanish word for “Latin,” which itself traces back to the Latin “Latinus,” meaning “of Latium,” the region of ancient Rome. In the context of the Americas, “Latino” is an abbreviation of latinoamericano, meaning “Latin American.” “Latin America” is a 19th-century term, first popularized by French intellectuals and diplomats (Amérique latine) to distinguish the Romance-language-speaking parts of the Americas (Spanish, Portuguese, French) from “Anglo-America” (English-speaking). 2. “Latino” in Latin America In Spanish and Portuguese, “Latinoamericano” refers to people from the nations of the Americas where Romance languages are spoken—primarily Spanish and Portuguese, with some inclusion of French-speaking areas. In Latin America, people are more likely to identify by their country (e.g., Mexicano, Colombiano) than as “Latino.” 3. The term in the United States “Latino” as a pan-ethnic category began surfacing in U.S. academic, activist, and media circles in the 1970s and 1980s. It was promoted as an alternative to “Hispanic,” which was seen by some as too closely tied to Spain and imposed by the U.S. government (see OMB Directive No. 15, 1977), and as erasing the indigenous, African, and mixed heritages of Latin Americans. “Latino” was also embraced by some as a more inclusive term since it is not explicitly tied to Spain and can include Brazilians. 4. Government and bureaucratic usage The U.S. Census and federal agencies adopted “Hispanic” as their official ethnic category in the late 1970s and 1980s, but “Latino” was and remains widely used as well. In the 2000 Census, the question asks: “Is this person Spanish/Hispanic/Latino?”—making the terms effectively interchangeable for U.S. government purposes. Today, most official forms use “Hispanic or Latino” as a single category. 5. Spread and popularization “Latino” became popular in the media (e.g., “Latino music,” “Latino vote”), academia (Latino Studies), and among activists and community organizations seeking a term that felt more inclusive or tied to Latin America rather than Spain. The term has been further expanded with “Latina” (feminine), “Latinx” or “Latine” (gender-neutral/inclusive). 6. Limitations and controversies “Latino” technically refers to all people of Latin American origin, regardless of language, including Portuguese-speaking Brazilians and French-speaking Haitians or Caribbeans. In practice, in the U.S., “Latino” and “Hispanic” are often used interchangeably and most commonly refer to people of Spanish-speaking Latin American descent. Some people from Spain are included in “Hispanic” but not “Latino”; some Brazilians may be included in “Latino” but not “Hispanic.” Many people reject both labels, preferring their national identity or regional/indigenous/other identities. 7. Summary “Latino” originated as shorthand for “Latin American,” and was popularized to distinguish the Romance-language-speaking Americas from Anglo-America. Its use as a blanket classification for Spanish-speaking peoples (and sometimes Portuguese-speaking) in the U.S. grew in the late 20th century, largely in response to—and sometimes in opposition to—the government-imposed “Hispanic” label. Today, “Latino” is widely used in the U.S. as a pan-ethnic category, but its meaning and boundaries remain flexible, contested, and subject to personal and community preference. It does not strictly refer to all “Spanish peoples” (e.g., Spaniards themselves are not usually called “Latino”). In the awakening of my Indigenous roots and my Indigenous culture, I have found who I am, and to me, that is not Hispanic or Latino but TAINO; it is INDIGENOUS, and I am humbled by the honor those titles bring. I have been chosen to bring honor and prestige to my people who were thought to be lost and extinct. I have been chosen to tell the world WE ARE STILL HERE, we were never lost, we were never extinct, they tried to erase us, but we survived and thrived, and it is time for us to take our place in the world. Brethren, I ask you today, will you join me? Will you rise up against these titles forced upon us to oppress us, to possess us? To divide us? Will you take back the title that is rightfully yours, whether that be Taino, Lenca, Inca, Azteca, or Indigenous, or what it may be in your part of the world, and take back your rightful place in the world and let them know YOU ARE HERE!! Kasike Mukaro Taino Cay Cibuco-Bayamon Taino Tribe – Nimmuoug -FANA References: Dávila, A. (2001). Latino Spin: Public image and the whitewashing of race. New York University Press Howe, S. (2002). Empire: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press Kohn, M., & Reddy, K. (2017). Colonialism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2017 ed.). Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/ Loomba, A. (2015). Colonialism/Postcolonialism (3rd ed.). Routledge Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Colonizer. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved April 27, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colonizer Mora, G. C. (2014). Making Hispanics: How activists, bureaucrats, and media constructed a new American. University of Chicago Press Oboler, S. (1995). Ethnic labels, Latino lives: Identity and the politics of (re)presentation in the United States. University of Minnesota Press Office of Management and Budget. (1977). Race and ethnic standards for federal statistics and administrative reporting (Statistical Policy Directive No. 15). https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/ Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Colonizer, n. OED Online. Retrieved April 27, 2024, from https://www.oed.com/ Osterhammel, J. (2010). Colonialism: A theoretical overview (M. T. Hollweck & A. Brown, Trans.; 2nd ed.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1995) Rodney, W. (1981). How Europe underdeveloped Africa (Rev. ed.). Howard University Press. Ruiz, V. L. (2001). “Nuestra América: Latino History as United States History.” Journal of American History, 93(3), 655–672. https://doi.org/10.2307/4486417 U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). About Hispanic Origin. https://www.census.gov/topics/population/hispanic-origin/about.html [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/30/800030248/community/titles-of-the-colonizers/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/