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I know. I'm talking about non hispanic islands such as Jamaica, Haiti, Barbados etc. This is what people usually think of when speaking about West Indie cultures. Even the census excludes Hispanic Caribbeans. And besides from what I heard, many Dominicans have a hard time admitting that their black.
colombia, dr, cuba, pr, panama, honduras are just a few countries off the top of my head with black populations that are represented here.
hispanics show up at the west indian day parade here...i can't speak for miami or toronto, tho.
the census doesn't exclude hispanics from the west indian category...it specifically asks you your race, regardless of national origin. so if you're a white puerto rican, for example, you put down white and iirc, later on it asks you if you're hispanic. i don't have the census in front of me but from what i remember, there are several boxes that one could check AND you're able to write what you want to classify yourself as.
He is asking if "West Indian" includes hispanic people from the islands (Cuban, Dominican) regardless of race, or just more traditional "West Indian" which usually implies ex-British colonies in the caribbean (Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, etc.) that are predominantly black.
"West Indian" can be a vague term, so some clarification is a reasonable request.
ny has the largest puerto rican population in the nation. we also have the largest dominican population. obviously everybody has heard of spanish harlem and washington heights.
there are a lot of puerto ricans in manhattan and the bronx. lots of dominicans in manhattan and queens.
lots of west indians from other nations in brooklyn as well as queens.
we have large numbers of guyanese indians in queens. everybody has a parade and all that...the foods are represented here, the languages are heard, the businesses in a lot of neighborhoods are owned by west indians, etc. etc.
as far as influence, i think its great. not only do (i would argue) most nyers eat some sort of west indian food often (like a beef pattie w/cocoa bread, for example) but i mean you have hip hop which breakdancing was dominated by puerto ricans, a lot of the famous dj's are west indian, a lot of the rap artists throughout hip hop are west indian, a lot of the graffiti artists are, etc.
cubans, dominicans and puerto ricans are west indians.
Although I obviously cannot speak for specific individuals, none of those ethnicities commonly identify as "west indian".
Regardless, I agree with you on the influence west indian culture has on NYC. Guyanese, Trinidadian, Jamaican influences are all huge. NYC certainly has a more diverse Caribbean population than elsewhere.
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