The comparison list: Black American and Indian connections

SUMMARYThe comparison list: Black American and Indian connections (Nov 3, 2026). Tito: list the modern connections between Black and Indian America, noting what is NOT found in Africa. Standard: one rule for everyone (Rule 6); where Africa has it too, say so, so the list can't be knocked down.
BORN HERE, not found in Africa as a tradition (Record):
Music genres: ragtime, blues, jazz, R&B, soul, rock and roll, country, hip hop, psychedelic rock, and scat singing, all born in the U.S. Scholars credit some elements to Africa (call-and-response, polyrhythm, the banjo's West African gourd-lute ancestors); the harmonica is German (about 1820s; Hohner 1857).
Foods from American plants and animals: corn and cornbread, grits (from Native hominy, e.g. Muscogee sofkee), turkey, potatoes (Andean), sweet potatoes (what U.S. stores call "yams" are American sweet potatoes; true yams are African/Asian), squash, beans, peppers, tomatoes, cacao, peanuts (South American), tacos and burritos (Mexican), and the seafood boil (Louisiana/Gulf).
Dance: breaking, the robot and the worm (U.S., 1970s–80s); tap dance (U.S. 1800s, from African American and Irish/Scottish steps); circle dance (Native stomp dance and the Gullah ring shout).
Sports: lacrosse (Native); the rubber ball itself (rubber is an American plant; the Mesoamerican ballgame goes back to about 1600 BC); basketball (1891, Springfield MA), American football and baseball (U.S.).
Spirit: hoodoo and rootwork (U.S.-born; the record shows a blend of Native plant knowledge, African and European elements).
Words: "raccoon" comes from the Powhatan word "aroughcun" (John Smith, 1608); Gullah is a creole of the Sea Islands.
NOT a clean "only here" item (Record, so we don't overclaim):
Oxtails: cattle are Old World animals.
Apple and fruit pies: apples and pastry are European.
Soccer, track and field, martial arts: Old World or Asian origins.
"Diva": Italian.
Square dancing: from the European quadrille.
Ebonics/AAVE: origins debated (English dialect vs. creole theories).
THE BODY ITEMS, needs care (Record):
The "Mayan birthmark" is congenital dermal melanocytosis. It is common in Native American, East Asian, Latino AND African-descended infants (over 80% of Black infants); it is shared, not proof either way.
Sickle cell trait is most common where malaria was: West and Central Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and India. It points toward Africa, not away.
Dark under-eye rings (periorbital hyperpigmentation) are common in many darker-skinned peoples.
The claim that Cherokee people were called "coon" for a dark eye ring: no record found; needs deep research. The slur's recorded history runs through the 1830s minstrel song "Zip Coon," from "raccoon," a Powhatan word.
"The Mack" (Tito): the record's etymology for "mack" (smooth talker/pimp) is the French "maquereau."

LENSMac/Mack sits next to Mi'kmaq, Accomack and the Scots' "Mac" (P190, P191). OPEN.
ATLANTIS / MARITIME LAW (lens): the "great mother" Atlantic as the root of maritime law. RECORD + WARNING: admiralty (maritime) law is a real body of law for sea matters, but the claim that U.S. courts secretly run on admiralty law (the gold-fringe flag, the "strawman") has been rejected by every court that has heard it, and people who argue it in court lose their cases. Keep it as symbolism, never as legal strategy.