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From: Rebelling and Reclaiming:
Meditations on Another American History
by Rob los Ricos*
You see, what you learned in history classes, or from TV
and movies—this is not the truth. Not the complete truth.
Some stories are not told. Do you know about a place called
Fort Negro? (It was actually called “Fort Nigger”
by the U.S. military and local politicians.) Do you know who
the Seminole people were? Have you heard of the Cibaleros?
The Republic of Freedonia? No? But—let me tell you from
the beginning…
In a land they called Florida, a place of sand and swamps,
Spanish explorers first attempted a colony in what is today
our nation. They were extraordinarily unsuccessful. The natives
were very uncooperative. There was also the matter of tropical
disease. The Spaniards repeatedly attempted to enslave the
local people, who promptly disappeared into the swamps. They
only reappeared to burn Spanish settlements and fields. When
the Spaniards then brought African slaves to Florida, they
also imported African diseases. As happened time and again
throughout the Americas, these introduced diseases weakened
the native peoples to the point that they were no longer able
to resist the invaders.
We know how foul slavery is, even those of us who have only
suffered wage slavery, not chattel slavery. It is no surprise
to us that the slaves would try to escape. What perhaps is
surprising is that the natives people of Florida, desperate
to replenish their dwindling numbers, accepted these renegades
into their societies. And when their numbers were again great
enough, they returned to the burning of Spanish plantations.
Band societies are known to raid other people to renew their
populations. Their captives are referred to as slaves. This
word has a very different meaning, however, for people in
tribal societies. They will treat their captives as any other
member of their band, once the slaves have earned the trust
of their captors.
The fugitive slaves among the people of Florida delighted
in “capturing” other slaves from the Spaniards.
And so a new people arose who were both African and indigenous.
These were the Seminoles.
*FYI: Rob los Ricos is a Tejano anarchist writer and organizer,
currently serving a seven-year sentence for his participation
in a June 1999 Reclaim the Streets festival in Eugene, Oregon. More information
on supporting Rob and other anarchist political prisoners
in the U.S. is available at: http://defenestrator.org/roblosricos
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