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I donated funds to groups in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, etc. I also worked with volunteer organizations, helped bring in more volunteers, helped bring attention to relief efforts, etc. I'll do more as I can.
I don't care whether the region that needs help is American or not.
So since you claim to be so pro Caribbean, WHERE in the Caribbean have you helped. Stop making endless excuses and justifications. If you care about the region, do something to help.
Thank you very much. We need it. It is true that certain islands have more help than others but we also in turn help our other Caribbean brethren.
I know that you harbor your intense hatred of the English speaking Caribbean. I wrote lengthily about Dominica and even left a link as to how people can contribute.
But Dominica doesn't matter so you scream that I have done NOTHING.
In fact my mission has been over the last 3 weeks to go every where that I can and draw attention to the fact that Dominica is in dire straits, especially as 100% of the attention has been swallowed by Puerto Rico. This in addition to contributing hundreds of dollars.
I can assure you that unless you sent stuff and funds DIRECTLY to those places it went to Puerto Rico.
noteworthy is that there is no mention of Dominica or Barbuda from you.
I guess poor black people who aren't US citizens are sub humans who don't need any help.
Goodness Carib. Please give him some credit for giving and not turning a blind eye. Glad that you have given to Dominica and continue to bring awareness of its dire need.
The ignorance is equally due to the U.S. media and people not researching for themselves. You are correct that Puerto Rico had swallowed up the attention. Here in the USVI, we do speak about it but we are far too focused on recovery to dwell on it. My heart breaks for Dominica because the majority of people know little about it but the overall Caribbean response has been beautiful to see. Aid is coming from elsewhere though, albeit slowly. Credit for that comes from all of you who are making people aware of Dominica and its need...
Location: Formerly NYC by week; ATL by weekend...now Rio bi annually and ATL bi annually
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Originally Posted by caribny View Post
In fact I am pro Caribbean. Are you helping Dominica? In fact I am angered by the fact that it appears as if one has to be a US citizen to merit help which is why my focus is 100% on Dominica. I know that 100% of what you do is going to PR unless you are going out of your way to see that it gets elsewhere.
Who do you think needs more help? Dominica, one of the poorest Caribbean islands, with practically no economy and no access to assistance except from other poor Caribbean nations, or PR which has a huge diaspora of over 5 million which US politicians are salivating to cultivate? And is the richest Caribbean island!
Who do you think is restoring electricity in Dominica? Dominicans themselves as well as other poor Caribbean nations, as they can help. No big FEMA for them!
Unless your funds and supplies are EXPLICITLY labeled for Dominica they will be gobbled up by Puerto Rico which has an outsized lobbying effort to grab everything. Even the USVI have to complain that their issues, as dire or even worse than PR, are being neglected.
Its clear the priority. TX/FL first, then PR, then the USVI and to hell with every one else, except for Mexico which needs no outside help.
Excuse me my dude, but no one, not even the modern day "slave laborers" in the US are salivating over the expected reverse migration of Boriquas due to the recent hurricane. On the ground, its quite the contrary sadly. People SHOULD be willing to help our fellow citizens in need, as I experienced after losing everything in hurrican katrina. But that is not the case...thanks mostly to the political climate.
Excuse me my dude, but no one, not even the modern day "slave laborers" in the US are salivating over the expected reverse migration of Boriquas due to the recent hurricane. On the ground, its quite the contrary sadly. People SHOULD be willing to help our fellow citizens in need, as I experienced after losing everything in hurrican katrina. But that is not the case...thanks mostly to the political climate.
Who feels it knows...
Most people have no idea what it's like...yet have so much to say.
Do any of you live in places where the two meet? If so what have their interactions been like?
I personally feel like there is a big disconnection between African Americans and Africans. We have unfortunately been stripped of our culture and brainwashed in America. I was a victim of this nonsense when I was very young until I actually researched and learned more about African culture when I was in college. I honestly love Africa and this new knowledge that I’ve acquired about the continent. I love the people and have many African friends from college that accept me based on my enlightenment about Africa. If we stop looking at our cultural differences and realize the reasons that we are disconnected, we could get very far together. In my opinion, I believe that there is so much misinformation between us. If we knew more about each other, we would do better.
True. This is why I wish BET and TVOne had some African oriented shows. The CNN International channel has some African oriented shows like 'Inside Africa' and 'African Voices'. These are the types of shows BET and TVOne could be having. These shows could help expand Black-Americans knowledge about Africans.
To a point, I disagree. History means nothing. My grandparents came to America from Russia, escaping the oppression of the Tsar. That is completely meaningless to me, and has made no contribution whatsoever to who I am as a person.
A Black American and a Black African have nothing in common whatsoever, any more so than a White American and White African. They may, incidentally, be able to find some common ground if they both grew up in a place where Blacks were subjected to discrimination or oppression. But no living Black American was directly affected by Slavery, and very few old enough to have been directly affected by Segretation. Similarly, very few Black Africans are old enough to have been directly affected by Colonialism. However historically important those phenomena are, a Black American and a Black African meeting in the street have not been influenced at all in their lifetimes by slavery, segregation or colonialism. No more so than I and a 25 year old Russian have any common experience of serfdom or oppression in Russia.
As an aside, has it occurred to you that Barack Obama did not spend one single day of his childhood living in an African-American household, society or neighborhood, and cannot know from personal experience that that would be like. He is the 44th US president to be raised as a white child by a white family in a white social framework. It would be "unnatural" for Obama to assume that he has anything in common with even a Black American, much less a Black African.
I disagree with your assessment. The oft unspoken/stated belief in white racial supremacy, which places the negroid "race" at the bottom, ultimately serves as a common bond along with ancestry. That doctrine of racial supremacy/inferiority serves as the framework in which whites explain why African Americans lag in America and why Africa lags as a continent.
True. This is why I wish BET and TVOne had some African oriented shows. The CNN International channel has some African oriented shows like 'Inside Africa' and 'African Voices'. These are the types of shows BET and TVOne could be having. These shows could help expand Black-Americans knowledge about Africans.
Honestly based on this thread and others, black people in America need to learn more about our own culture before venturing into Africa. To think we don't have a culture or are "brainwashed" shows a lack of knowledge about the 400+ year history and culture of black America.
On the original OP - I have nothing against Africa or Africans and I've known many people from various African nations. Some I got along with better than others. Most of the people from Africa I know/knew are from Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Somalia, Cameroon, and my former mechanic (still a friend though -we moved) is from Zambia.
All of the above have different cultures and even within the countries there are different tribes/ethnic groups, so on a cultural level, I always wonder what people are talking about when they say they are learning about "African Culture." Which one? I always ask lol.
I have in-laws primarily from Nigeria and Ghana. We get along fine. I get along with all Africans as long as they don't try to tell me how I don't have a culture or shouldn't claim to be "black" (I've had some tell me this before) as they ignore that in America "black" is a culture and history and not just a label for us today and it is centuries old, longer and deeper than most of the countries of Africa have even been in existence.
Honestly based on this thread and others, black people in America need to learn more about our own culture before venturing into Africa. To think we don't have a culture or are "brainwashed" shows a lack of knowledge about the 400+ year history and culture of black America.
On the original OP - I have nothing against Africa or Africans and I've known many people from various African nations. Some I got along with better than others. Most of the people from Africa I know/knew are from Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Somalia, Cameroon, and my former mechanic (still a friend though -we moved) is from Zambia.
All of the above have different cultures and even within the countries there are different tribes/ethnic groups, so on a cultural level, I always wonder what people are talking about when they say they are learning about "African Culture." Which one? I always ask lol.
I have in-laws primarily from Nigeria and Ghana. We get along fine. I get along with all Africans as long as they don't try to tell me how I don't have a culture or shouldn't claim to be "black" (I've had some tell me this before) as they ignore that in America "black" is a culture and history and not just a label for us today and it is centuries old, longer and deeper than most of the countries of Africa have even been in existence.
The problem is that are huge differences between Black Americans based on state, region, socioeconomic differences, and ethnicity as in places with immigrants a Black person might have two or more Black nationalities in their family.
So to say that there's an unified Black culture is really to rely on tired stereotypes.
The problem is that are huge differences between Black Americans based on state, region, socioeconomic differences, and ethnicity as in places with immigrants a Black person might have two or more Black nationalities in their family.
So to say that there's an unified Black culture is really to rely on tired stereotypes.
Culture is based upon a shared history and experience in its simplest form. I study black American history and am very well aware of our shared culture based primarily on our history as a demographic in this nation. It is not based on stereotypes unless you believe our culture is not historically based.
FWIW I recently visited the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum detailed the history of blacks in America, starting from Africans who journeyed with Europeans to the "new world" and also spoke about the intricacies of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The history spanned the decades and centuries at the museum. The top floors of the museum deals with "culture" primarily the creative culture of black America in regards to arts and music; the military tradition of black America; the importance of family and faith of black America. The latter is our "culture" in a generic form. It is not "hip hop" or liking a particular music or TV show like many people today seem to believe it is. It is our history and experiences based on that history that equal our "culture" and no matter where blacks live in America, we do have a shared culture.
As I noted, more of us need to learn our own culture and history. Sadly many black people who I ask "what is black culture" cannot even answer the question.
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