Success among Caribbean American&Latin American groups
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Las "Indias Occidentales" is also a term in Spanish to describe the Caribbean...hence you have ciites like Cartagena de Indias (Cartagena of the Indies).
The Caribbean can be split between the Lucayan archipelago, the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles and mainland Caribbean regions + their islands i.e. Los Roques, San Andres & Old Providence, San Blas, Corn islands, Roatan and Cozumel.
West Indies is a geographic area. I don't think the world works the way some of y'all want it to.
"Since I speak Spanish, we aren't part of our geographic area" Ridiculous. You know the West Indies Federation used to be only English Speaking Caribbean nations, right? That didn't change the fact that Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe are all considered West Indian nations. Why the special treatment for the 'Spaniards'?
Also, Jamaicans and Haitians in Miami do not act like the ones in NYC, Boston, NC, etc. That applies to each individual case too. To take it a step further, Haitians in MTL are much better educated than the ones in West Palm Beach (in example).
Environment, Language, prior Socio-Economic status, etc; all play a huge role.
If Nigeria and India bordered Oregon; i'm sure we'd have a lot of ignorant, poor and unsavory Indians and Nigerians in Portland. Instead of them being held as a 'model minority'.
Not to mention the Cubans who flee Cuba are typically anti-Communist, which in turn turns into Anti-Democratic Ideals; in the sense of American politics. I'm not surprised they vote overly Republican and have Conservative tendencies. According to American Right wingers; being a Democrat is borderline socialist.
West Indies is a geographic area. I don't think the world works the way some of y'all want it to.
"Since I speak Spanish, we aren't part of our geographic area" Ridiculous. You know the West Indies Federation used to be only English Speaking Caribbean nations, right? That didn't change the fact that Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe are all considered West Indian nations. Why the special treatment for the 'Spaniards'?
Also, Jamaicans and Haitians in Miami do not act like the ones in NYC, Boston, NC, etc. That applies to each individual case too. To take it a step further, Haitians in MTL are much better educated than the ones in West Palm Beach (in example).
Environment, Language, prior Socio-Economic status, etc; all play a huge role.
If Nigeria and India bordered Oregon; i'm sure we'd have a lot of ignorant, poor and unsavory Indians and Nigerians in Portland. Instead of them being held as a 'model minority'.
Not to mention the Cubans who flee Cuba are typically anti-Communist, which in turn turns into Anti-Democratic Ideals; in the sense of American politics. I'm not surprised they vote overly Republican and have Conservative tendencies. According to American Right wingers; being a Democrat is borderline socialist.
Regardless of the factual information and language factors. I still do find that there are any many cultural similarities between most the islands in the Caribbean and Latin America. Ex. Music and food. I had lots of Latin American friends from Central and South America growing up and my family was from the English speaking Caribbean and even though we called food items different names it was actually really similar stuff. Ex rice and beans being a staple dish. Tomales vs. Pastels (same stuff... different names), empanadas, arepas (different variations of the recipes, but basically the same thing).
Regardless of the factual information and language factors. I still do find that there are any many cultural similarities between most the islands in the Caribbean and Latin America. Ex. Music and food. I had lots of Latin American friends from Central and South America growing up and my family was from the English speaking Caribbean and even though we called food items different names it was actually really similar stuff. Ex rice and beans being a staple dish. Tomales vs. Pastels (same stuff... different names), empanadas, arepas (different variations of the recipes, but basically the same thing).
West Indies is an (archaic) term used to describe those Caribbean territories with former ties to the UK. The term "West Indian" survives in the USA, because it is too much of a tongue twister to refer to English speaking Caribbean people, when referring to those from these territories. With added confusion of course to the many descendants of Haitian and other non English speaking Caribbean who might be English speaking as their ancestral languages fade away.
Within the USA peoples from the Anglophone Caribbean population form a single cultural block and tend to have a high level of social contact. Socio economic analyses find that there is little differentiation between people from the individual territories.
Regardless as to the country of origin, females from the Anglophone Caribbean tend to be disproportionately concentrated in the health care field. I believe only Filipinos exceeding this. They tend to have labor participation rates almost as high as their male counterparts, and earn almost as much. This is also true of Haitians, bit definitely NOT true of women from PR, and DR.
Haitians tend to be the group which, in the USA, most closely matches that of the Anglophone Caribbean, yet are rarely considered, or consider themselves to be "West Indian. From what I can see I NYC, a Haitian is a Haitian.
I will add that among those who arrive in their youth, or who were born in the USA, Haitians have high levels of interaction with those from the Anglophone Caribbean, given that they are quite English fluent, and share an identity of being black immigrants. I suspect that this might be especially true among he ore upwardly mobile.
Having said this, there is a "Caribbean" sensibility, that impacts those from the Caribbean islands, the Guyanas, and part of coastal Colombia, Venezuela and Central America. There is a common heritage in plantation based, slavery and in European colonialism. I will extend this "Caribbean" sensibility even to parts of Brazil.
But there is a definite construct within the USA of the Hispanic Caribbean, and the NON Hispanic Caribbean immigrant societies. Face it these are VERY DISTINCT identities, and it usually SHOCKS peoples from both groups that there actually does exist some cultural overlap.
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It still seems odd ...
