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Outside the Spanish Caribbean, there are hardly any white folks being discriminated against....in fact white Caribbeans are the top 1% in every Caribbean nation.
But sure let's equate "you're not xyz enough" to the the widespread poverty and disenfranchisement of darker skin Caribbean people.
I don't know if its simply your wording or if you meant it as it reads, but while it's true that more than 95% of the whites that live in the Caribbean do so in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic (most of the mixed race people also live in those three places); white people aren't widely discriminated against in those three places.
Even in the rest of the Caribbean, where whites are negligible in population size relative to all the other people that live there, I don't think discrimination towards whites is a constant issue. Its simply that when it does appears, its usually in those places and that's why its much more 'visible' there.
The way you wrote that sentence makes it seem as if whites are widely or constantly discriminated against in the Spanish Caribbean and that in the rest of the Caribbean its less simply because the amount of whites is negligible. If that is what you meant, its simply not true.
1. 300 years of colonial brainwashing has convinced many darker black people that their light skinned counterparts are "better". Better for employment, Better as "trophy" mates. Better as models in ads. Better as representation of the country, etc. This is the basis of the bleaching phenomenon in Jamaica.
2. 300 years of favoring light skinned people means that most light skinned people in majority black islands are upper middle to high income. Most darker people aren't. So light skinned people can still expect better treatment because they are presumed to be from the more affluent parts of society. Darker people must prove that they are.
I made reference of the fact that as recently as the 90s some nightclubs in Trinidad used to make darker skinned patrons feel uncomfortable, as they didn't want them to enter. The same could have been said for a few notorious places in Barbados up to the 80s.
3. I have heard from the mouths of Trinidadians the saying "if you en red you dead", meaning that light skinned people still receive preference in obtaining employment in customer service positions, or in upper tier positions on that island. A glance at who are the top private sector leadership will be quite revealing.
To equate the fact that some dark skinned people in the Caribbean might express resentment towards light skinned people because of the generations of advantage that they once had cannot be equated with the fact that skin color still has some impact on the opportunities. This being especially true in like Jamaica, Haiti, and yes Trinidad (I am not including the Spanish Caribbean in this, but those places are even worse). All one needs to do is to look at ads for high end products in many Trinidadian media to note that being mixed is definitely seen as being "better" than being black.
If you put a picture of a dark skinned person in Trinidad next to a light skinned person and then ask people to comment one can bet that the latter will get more favorable responses. This coming not only from the light skinned people, but also the dark.
If there is reverse racism in the Caribbean it will be that not all discrimination against blacks comes from non blacks. Some blacks are quite capable of doing that as well. A dirty little secret but it is a fact.
I am not really buying the top jobs situation so much anymore. I think when jobs require education and credentials then colour is less of the deciding factor.
5% if the population is not really that large a number. Not all light skinned people in the Caribbean are middle or upper class either.
Regardless people need to try to above it. The poor me game never helps anyone.
I fully understand that they undergo some "massa day done" sentiments and other assumptions that they must be foreign, because "we don't have any white people here".
But those who remain are definitely in the top "1%" and those folks don't suffer any where. Especially when we consider that the darker people have in the last 50 years begun to attempt to erase the mental brainwashing of the previous 30.
Also want to mention something regarding class and education. Most educate people that I know from the Caribbean regardless of colour don't openly make comments like this.
Comments like slaved days are over are used in general when anyone stars to act bossy or pushy towards other people.
Again most people are mixed and even more have family of different skin shades. For someone like me to be openly racist against people that are darker would've illogically because at present I have family of every skin tone possible. So what would is say about me if I was racist against members of my own family. People in places like Trinidad are soooo mixed that these issues should not really be issues. Though I do understand that getting these ideas removed is not going happen over night.
Regardless people need to try to above it. The poor me game never helps anyone.
Provided that your comments are directed towards the light skinned population I agree with you.
Face it. Those who are descended from generations of privilege have better access to education, social connections, etc. that lands one a job. In the Caribbean these will be disproportionately light skinned people. True the bulk of the people in the top jobs, at least in the public sector, will be darker, but especially in the private sector where social connections still matter, there remains an over representation of the lighter skinned populations.
So where it matters I see no evidence of reverse racism against light skinned people even in majority black islands like Grenada, Barbados or St Kitts.
In fact there still exists even today a difference between those descended from the field slaves vs. the house/skilled slaves. The latter had access to literacy for generations. A large % of the blacks who have been in the middle/upper classes for many generations are descended from those who had better advantages when slavery ended.
In fact the post emancipation conditions in the Caribbean were different only to the degree that workers were paid. These conditions didn't change until post World War II with the onset of universal suffrage and the trade union movement, when conditions for the masses began to improve.
Note that it is only since the late 70s and 80s when most Caribbean people began to have access to secondary school education. And even now people from middle and upper class backgrounds disproportionately gain acceptance to the better secondary schools.
So I really have limited sympathy for the writer of that article. Light skinned people do NOT face higher levels of bias than those who are darker. In the Caribbean social class still matters and in many place there is still a correlation with skin color. Jamaica, Haiti and Trinidad definitely being examples of this. The people who live in Laventille definitely look different from those in Westmoorings.
People in places like Trinidad are soooo mixed that these issues should not really be issues. Though I do understand that getting these ideas removed is not going happen over night.
Some are more mixed than others, and historically the lighter ones were preferred and had more access to opportunities. Clearly structures which took 350 years to build aren't dismantled in a mere 50.
I think you would be a hypocrite if you pretend as if the lighter skinned populations have always been accepting of the darker ones. Even WITHIN families there has been skin color based tensions, much less within society as a whole.
To the extent that there is a problem it has historical roots. I will NOT entertain a discussion about the bias that some darker people have against some who are lighter unless we put historical context to this.
Reverse racism is often overlooked. For example, there is very little attention being paid towards to continuing genocide against white farmers in South Africa.
Reverse racism is often overlooked. For example, there is very little attention being paid towards to continuing genocide against white farmers in South Africa.
Some are more mixed than others, and historically the lighter ones were preferred and had more access to opportunities. Clearly structures which took 350 years to build aren't dismantled in a mere 50.
I think you would be a hypocrite if you pretend as if the lighter skinned populations have always been accepting of the darker ones. Even WITHIN families there has been skin color based tensions, much less within society as a whole.
To the extent that there is a problem it has historical roots. I will NOT entertain a discussion about the bias that some darker people have against some who are lighter unless we put historical context to this.
Well said...some people a try some false equivalency thing...stop that in its tracks
Well said...some people a try some false equivalency thing...stop that in its tracks
That is what I certainly tried to do. I am fully aware that a white Caribbean person undergoes people querying as to where they are from, or expressing surprise that they are local. I am also aware that white Caribbean people often have to be very careful when they speak on certain subjects as people haven't totally forgotten how their ancestors behaved. And may suspect how they behave behind closed doors. Though very rarely is there any conversation of the history of colorism in the Caribbean.
I happened to be in an office in Trinidad when one of the wealthiest white Trinidadian women was about to arrive. One would think that the Queen of England, or Obama was about to arrive.
As with every where in the world the wealthiest people can protect themselves, despite the fact that non wealthy people usually don't like them. Whites in the Caribbean coopt the political system as they under write much of what it takes to mount elections, and they certainly get their return on this. They do as the wealthy do everywhere.
So I don't shed tears for white Caribbean people. When one considers what their ancestors did and how rarely this fact is brought up to their faces I really don't see why any should complain.
The definition of reverse racism is when a black person sees another black person and assumes that this person is poor and cannot afford a particular service. This because after 350 years many still connect light skins with wealth and dark skins with poverty, and assume that a black person shouldn't be in certain places.
Whites and lights don't suffer reverse racism in the Caribbean.
Yes, any human is capable of their own individual racism but institutional racism and discrimination is an entirely different thing altogether
Indeed. I wish people would swap the word racism for bias/prejudiced. Racism is a whole nother ball of wax.
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