Taino Guanin's Story

While viewing this enjoyable, elementary school level video on our Taino cultural heritage, one first gets the impression that, she or he is deaiihg with a new and refreshing view of Taino people. Yet one finds at the end of this video the sarne foolish and urifounded nonsense of a Spanish colonial Taino extinction story.

This "book on video" fails to deal with the truth and common reality that the Taino People of the Antilles have never been extinct as an ethnic group or a race. The video's ending statement simply leaves the viewing audience, teachers and students alike, in a state of shock and total dismay.

The companion book "Taino: The Activity Book," that is provided with the video has a word list or glossary of Taino terms that needs a more serious research effort. I have found some incorrect vocabulary words and spelling errors within the "Taino Glossary."

Overall, this is good video but it is lacking in the insight relevant to an indigenous reality of the Taino people of today. My candid suggestion would be to have the author correct the errors or have this video remoyed frori all school shelves and all libraries as it perpetuates a very biased perspective. Can our Taino children or the general public, afford yet another misguiding teaching regarding our past and contemporary Talno heritage and history? I have personallY contacted the author, Mr. Edwin Fontanez via telephone and have humbly requested that he make a retraction to the ending statement concerning the extinction of our People. To this date and to my knowledge, he has not contacted any Taino organization with regard to this matter.