Tweet
Many of my brothers and sisters from the caribbean countries deny that there is racism in the islands even though there is conflict between the indians and blacks, lighter skinned blacks are dispropotionately in position of power and own most of the businesses. Those who admit that there is racism say it is not as bad in the caribbean in cotrast to england and the U.S. So please explain racism in the caribbean.
-
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
There is racism EVERYWHERE, I don't care what anybody says to the contrary, it exists all over.
There is no way to explain small-mindedness and prejudice, other than to guess that some people base their opinions and make judgements on others out of fear--- their own fear, of anything different from themselves, therefore it MUST be 'less than' them, or 'bad' cause it is different. (after all if something is different, what does it say about MY choices and way of life? I must therefore big my own way up, and small down everything else, or else what does it say bout me?) Therefore in their minds it must be put down, in order to make themselves feel bigger and/or superior or more secure. blech.
I've experienced it all over the world, no matter where you go some people are just like that. They are taught that way by fearful small-minded parents and then carry it on and on down into the next generation, breeding more and more fear and prejudice. Scary. My opinion (wif a little help from Bob's phrasing) is.... you just can't live that negative way. It just don't make no kinda sense to me. -
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
Racism is alive and well were ever there was Black slavery or Black opression. Color is an issue among African Americans, Afrocaribbeans and Black Africans. I feel its changing but toooooo slow. Many of us Blacks still feel the need to ape our oppressors. If it were not true why are bleaching cream, hair weve and hair straighteners on the rise among Blacks? What we should do is address the issue head on but most people aren't comfortable talking about such a painful issue. "To thine own self, be true"Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
sistacaf,Originally posted by sistacaf:
[qb]There is racism EVERYWHERE, I don't care what anybody says to the contrary, it exists all over.
There is no way to explain small-mindedness and prejudice, other than to guess that some people base their opinions and make judgements on others out of fear--- their own fear, of anything different from themselves, therefore it MUST be 'less than' them, or 'bad' cause it is different. (after all if something is different, what does it say about MY choices and way of life? I must therefore big my own way up, and small down everything else, or else what does it say bout me?) Therefore in their minds it must be put down, in order to make themselves feel bigger and/or superior or more secure. blech.
I've experienced it all over the world, no matter where you go some people are just like that. They are taught that way by fearful small-minded parents and then carry it on and on down into the next generation, breeding more and more fear and prejudice. Scary. My opinion (wif a little help from Bob's phrasing) is.... you just can't live that negative way. It just don't make no kinda sense to me.[/qb]
thank you for those wonderful words!!! and where ya been, girlfriend??? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
There is sooo much racism! The most and ongoing racism is the African vs. East Indian division. Both don't get along with politics, and have stereotypes about each other. In Trinidad, Hindu temples have been ruined, and in Guyana, East Indians have been killed and kidnapped. But when it is time to come together, we all do.Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
faint weh in shock JAIndian is that a hint of positivity I detect?Originally posted by JAIndian06:
[qb] But when it is time to come together, we all do. [/qb]Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
Wot do you mean is there a hint of positivity? Every discussion on here is sugar coated in half truths, and I tell the truth, whether it's brutal or innocent. I am a VERY positive person, but I have never turned my cheek on the negatives, never will either.Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
hey ((((sunshine)))! thank you! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Oh i been lurkin around! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
don't have too much time to play pon the net these days, lots of times someone else posts what i thinkin so no need to duplicate.... plus some of the topics and recent posts jus make me so mad (and some jus mek me too homesick) so i don't wanna jump in alla time.
But I'll be readin everything, and might put in 2 cents from time to time.
-cafComment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
O come on. Even though it is wrong, put your feet in the black Trinidadian's and Guyaneese shoes. They were there before the East Indians, who have now de-populated them in every way and now dominate them politically even. Reminds me of what happened in Figi. It is the question whether people have rights to go anywhere they please and to take over the land, colonize it in other words. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]Originally posted by JAIndian06:
[qb]There is sooo much racism! The most and ongoing racism is the African vs. East Indian division. Both don't get along with politics, and have stereotypes about each other. In Trinidad, Hindu temples have been ruined, and in Guyana, East Indians have been killed and kidnapped. But when it is time to come together, we all do.[/qb]
The Caribs on the other hand feel it like the blacks do, so a life.
There is more racism in the Caribbean in my opinion than any place else. Not only is there black and whatever racism, there is racism amongst the blacks themselves.Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
The reason whyTrinidad and Guyana,has such virulemt racism,is is because it was introduces to them by the British,to make sure they won't join unions with the ex salves.
If you ask any East Indian (or majority)from those 2 countries, they will say blacks are lazy.
that is the basis of their resentment,that creates the racial animosity between them.
If you ask Jamaican Indians or Chinese this same question 40 years ago,you would get the same reaction from those who live in enclaves of indians,but nothing negative from those who lives among the african Jamaicans.
Incidentally being lazy is widely used to generate animosity against people of african decent.
it is evebn used to cover the wanton robbery of the lands that are in the hands of Europeans,in Africa,where they are thill using africans as slaves on the lands stolen from their grand parents.
if you work a people and dont compensate them,steal their lands amd keep them illiterate,so that they cant read their true history,you have to create a story to cover this.Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
Well it is not as if Indians came to the Caribbean would not be racist against the blacks with European help or not.
I have an Indian friend and to put it brutely she said to me that the darker indians are the slaves to the lighter indians. North vs South, she also said that they drove them southwards and that the darker ones belong to the farmer caste while the lighter ones to the priest caste. JAIndian is more or less true? You know anything about that?
If all this is true a 50% indian population will definitely impose superior complex over black ones, especially because they fit into the picture of being ex-slaves.Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
Racisim is as prevalent in the Caribbean as anywhere else in the world and mostly is Black against black...they loves to curse each other blackComment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
Wherever there is diversity of race, there will be racism, as human beings cannot seem to escape some inherent need to be a part of an exclusive group. It gives insecure people some sense of power to belong to something that others cannot. (Need I point out which poster here seems to suffer inexorably from this malady?)
Since it is too late for us all to retreat to the different continents from which we originated, and since most of us would have to make those return journeys in pieces, as we have been hopelessly mixed beyond repair, maybe we should settle down to the question of acceptance.
We cannot turn back the clock. We are here. Now. Rather than dismiss any part of any one of us, we need to begin to see ourselves as Caribbean people only. Each and every piece of culture that has been introduced to our region, whether through slavery or fortune-seeking, is as important as the next, and I wish we could stop the navel-gazing and embrace the fullness of what we have.
Once I was in a roti shop in Trinidad with a man who loved me very much. He asked me what I wanted to eat and as he walked to the counter to order, an old Indian woman in traditional dress (sari and orhni) called him over and quietly asked him why he couldn't find a "nice Indian girl" to go out with, instead of me.
We left the shop and as he angrily related the incident to me later, I had to laugh at the poor woman's concern. This man was darker skinned than me by far, owing to his Madras heritage, and was a Roman Catholic like me, even though his father was a devout Hindu. His aunt had taught me how to cook Indian food and his father welcomed me warmly to his Hindu prayer-flagged yard whenever I was on the island. While I was in that relationship, I felt nothing but love and acceptance, in spite of the cultural differences.
And that is because all of us concerned, understood one thing clearly. The measure of a person lies in the depth of their character, not in the shade of their skin or kink of their hair. It was one of the most valuable lessons for me in terms of how we, as Caribbean people can move beyond the pettiness of racism, and begin to flourish in our unique beauty.Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
Yes Sukana, this is very true. Most of the Indians in North India are mixed with British, Aryan, and Dravidian ancestry. These are the ones you will find regularly in Hindi films, because fair skin and light eyes attracts people to watch some films, and that is every mans dream. That is why actresses like Kareena and Karishma Kapoor of the prolific Kapoor film family look like white women with Indian hair. Or former Miss World Aishwarya Rai who is the most popular actress. And Preity Zinta, who is proud of her Rajput and British heritage. If you watch films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannadda, and Oriya, you won't find this racism.I have an Indian friend and to put it brutely she said to me that the darker indians are the slaves to the lighter indians. North vs South, she also said that they drove them southwards and that the darker ones belong to the farmer caste while the lighter ones to the priest caste.
The light skinned people only marry other light skinned people, yet, they don't want their children to marry white people. Well, don't they think their trying to appear as the white people of India? And actor Manoj Bajpai is light brown, but he refers himself as a black man, because in India, if you are tan skinned or light tan, your'e dark. Some people even get called kali-bili (black cat). And this is North vs. South, even though millions of light skinned people come from the South.
GUYANA
Imagine being in a multi-cultural society. Amerindians were the first original people, then Africans came in slavery, followed by Portuguese and Chinese, East Indians, and then much mixing between Africans and Europeans were created.
Years later, blacks dominate the cities of Guyana. When East Indians started to migrate to the cities, in order to become a teacher or doctor, you'd to convert to Christianity in order for this to happen. Many East Indians were raped and forced to have dougla children.
East Indians represent 51% of the Guyanese population, and 3% of people are mixed with East Indian origin. Africans or blacks represent 30% of the Guyanese population.
In 1966, the year of independence, a group of black and dougla men were planning to kill a group of East Indians, as well as burn businesses such as cinemas, shops, and any other kind. This plan was exposed and defeated.
In 1998, 228 East Indians were attacked, injured, or killed in the streets of Georgetown. They attacked them on buses, in their shops and homes, and if they saw them walking.
In 2001 and 2002, kidnappings with ransoms, murders, rapes, were being committed by PNC (People's National Congress I think) bandits that supported a different party than that of East Indians. My friends from Guyana tell me that certain days, they were afraid of walk the streets of Georgetown, or stay in a house, because of the bandits. So they would go stay into the country outside of the city where it is much safer.
Other than that, Guyana is a peaceful country going under economic and political strife, as well as mass immigration (said that 6 out of every 1,000 people in Guyana migrated in 2002, the numbers might go up to 94 to every 1,000 people.)
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
This country has much more peace, and isn't so segregated, but dislike and racism exists on both sides of East Indians and blacks. If an East Indian were with a black, it would create problems in the house. Social wise thought, everything is nice. Blacks have bad thoughts about East Indians, and many times, East Indians have 10 times the amount of bad thoughts. They tend to seperate themselves because of their nature or just because of the skin colour.
A few recent incidents were in 2001, when a group of black young males demolished a Hindu temple outside of Port-of-Spain, and nothing was done about it.
If you can't have freedom of religion, and you have to be Christian, then why don't you just leave the country? Or why don't the racists leave?
Problems like this happen in St. Vincent as well, because being an East Indian isn't always the greatest thing. But I have studied the behavior and attitudes of Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Trinidadians towards Afro-Caribbeans here in South Florida, and it's all great. Whether it be in Bedessee, or a Unite-A-Fest, T&T's 40 Anniversary, Islands in the Park, Carnival and other island functions, I haven't noticed any tension.Comment
-
Re: Is there racism in the caribbean?
Really???That's news to me.I really think it is Black vs. White more so.Originally posted by JAIndian06:
[qb]The most and ongoing racism is the African vs. East Indian division. [/qb]Comment
Comment