Which City Has The Biggest West Indian Influence? (rates, compared, Boston)

[DC's Finest]

eek,

I kind of understand what you are getting at but if you ask a Cuban, Dominican or a Puerto Rican are they West Indian, they will slice you. My mother is half Cuban and I recently asked her if Cubanos consider themselves West Indian and she cursed at me in Spanish. LOL

[eek]

it is what it is, tho.
there are black latinos that deny being black too, but facts are facts.

i look at it like i look at:

maryland/va/dc being in the south
haiti being in latin america just like the other half of the island, dr
black latinos being just as black (if not more so) than their black counterparts in the states

all this skip over this nation because of this reason but that nation is part of this when all these nations are geographically in the same region, share similar culture, have similar histories, look pretty much identical to each other, definitely share musical instruments, rhythms, call and response (all of these having derived from west africa via the slave trade), similar food choices, etc. etc. is ridiculous.

also, like i said, maybe that goes down in dc but west indians show up to west indian things here regardless of the country.

[eek]

lets look at what and where the west indies are so we all have an understanding as to who is west indian and who is not:

...the West Indies, generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea.[4] These islands are called the West Indies because when Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492 he believed that he had reached the Indies (in Asia).

ah ok. lets go on:

The region consists of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea on the north, the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands or the Lucayan Archipelago, which are in fact in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, not in the Caribbean Sea.

oh....so then lets see what exactly are the Antilles??? lets find out:

The Antilles form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the southeast—comprising the northerly Leeward Islands, the southeasterly Windward Islands, and the Leeward Antilles just north of Venezuela. The Bahamas, though part of the West Indies, are generally not included among the Antillean islands.

so lets look at this map, here...

ppl from the bahamas are considered west indian, correct? as are ppl from jamaica.

but we're not going to consider cubans west indian when cuba is actually between jamaica and the bahamas??

its the general consensus that haitians are west indians, so i won't talk about that...

but dominicans are not west indians although they share an island with haiti and are to the right of jamaica and to the left of islands such as barbuda, st kitts, and other islands universally considered west indian nations?

ok lets go on then...

so puerto rico isn't considered part of the west indies although not only is it a part of the antilles, it is also located to the right of jamaica and haiti and to the left of antigua, st lucia, barbados, etc. and above aruba, trinidad and curacao??

wow. ok but guyanese are "allowed" to show up to west indian events unquestioned when they're completely located in south america??????

lol @ this.

like i said, some ppl need a geography lesson. culturally speaking, there are far more similarities than differences.

the spanish language shouldn't be (and isn't IMO) some sort of barrier that keeps pr, dr and cuba out of the "west indian club" if the "dutch west indies" aren't out of this club or haiti or any other island in the caribbean that speaks french.

[ThroatGuzzler]

English speaking caribbeans are by my definition west Indian. How can you claim Cubans have similar culture to Jamaicans when they can't even bloody communicate with eachother because they don't even speak the same language.you're not changing my mind.

[polo89]

Black West Indians: NYC wins.

Latino West Indians(Like EEK described): Miami wins.

[DC's Finest]

I have never heard of the term Latino West Indians. It sounds stoopid.

[Backayard]

Originally Posted by ThroatGuzzler

English speaking caribbeans are by my definition west Indian. How can you claim Cubans have similar culture to Jamaicans when they can't even bloody communicate with eachother because they don't even speak the same language.you're not changing my mind.

Haitians are also West Indian by any definition and speak a language other than English.

Now to just address the other points. Historically if we are referring to the navigationally challenged Columbus, all the Islands of the Caribbean were referred to as the "West Indies" (incorrectly I might add) Now this tie between the "West Indian" Nations was broken once the British Mercantilism system came into play and the Spanish Nations were excluded from the economic process. Then another reorganization happened with the Treaty of Chaguaramas which was initially signed by Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Barbados. This eventually formed CARICOM which now includes the following nations as Full Members (http://www.caricom.org/jsp/community...menu=community) These are the nations that most West Indians such as myself refer to as West Indian.

Now this does not meant to exclude our Spanish and French speaking brothers at all, we all share a similar history of colonization which has reflected itself in our racial makeup, food, dance, music, etc..so to anyone that says we do not have anything in common because of language is way off, because I see the similarities in our cultures whether I am at home with my Jamaican family or out with my Haitian or Dominican friends (amongst other countries)

[David Alleyne]

Originally Posted by DC's Finest

I have never heard of the term Latino West Indians. It sounds stoopid.

French West Indies

Spanish West Indies

British West Indies

[john_starks]

NYC or Toronto - for what i define as west indian

Miami - has more cuban/latin influence

[nycjowww]

new york city by far then toronto.

miami is not really west indian friendly. Hiaitians and black americans are the basic make up of the black pop down their.

Jamaican population doesn't even come close, and the other west indian nations are very super small.