#fr though…absolutely vile behaviour

[the-crystal-in-chronicles]

There is a racism problem in the British Caribbean diaspora and nobody is talking about it

Hi guys, this isn’t FFCC-related, but this is an issue very near and dear to my heart.

I’ve noticed that there’s a racism problem in the Caribbean diaspora abroad, particularly in the UK. I’ve seen (and experienced!) it myself as a Caribbean person who frequently travels between my home country and the UK, and who has tried to become involved in the British Caribbean diaspora.

For context, the Caribbean is a lot more ethnically diverse than people give it credit for. Jamaica’s motto, for instance, is “Out of Many People,” and there are significant minorities of South Asian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern folks on the island. And then there’s Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, and Guyana, which are all very multiracial countries. Other Caribbean countries are quite diverse as well, but these are the nations that are particularly famous for multiculturalism in the region.

Sadly, there was a relatively recent post on this hellsite that reminded me of the racial supremacy, gatekeeping, and outright bigotry/racism that British Caribbean folks I know irl and myself have experienced. A (relatively popular) Black British blog was saying that the Windrush Generation belonged only to Caribbean folks of African descent, and harassing a Caribbean commenter who pointed out that Windrush migrants were actually a diverse cohort. The poster then proceeded to go on a rampage and accuse the commenter of racism…for educating a non-Caribbean person about their own culture. The fact that an actual Caribbean person- and a Windrush descendant- was being excluded from their own culture and history was so fucking vexing to me. Bullying a Caribbean person correcting an inaccurate post about their own heritage is absolutely vile behavior.

Like…I have friends in the UK who are of non-Black Caribbean descent, and they’ve spoken to me about how they are told that they’re not “real” Caribbean people, about how they are not included in Caribbean Societies on campuses or in Caribbean groups in general (even if they were raised in their home country and have a strong accent!), how some Afro-Caribbean folks refuse to acknowledge them as fellow Caribbean people because “they may be Caribbean, but they’re not like us.” I’ve personally faced these issues as well.

There is a divide drawn between the “real” Caribbean folks and the “fake” Caribbean folks based on ethnicity. And in my experience, I’ve noticed that it’s the second- and third-generation Caribbean people pushing this racism and exclusion. Aka, the folks who’ve never set foot in the Caribbean before and for some reason believe that being of African descent makes their “Caribbeanness” more legitimate than an Indo-Caribbean or Indigenous Caribbean or Chinese Caribbean who was actually born and raised in the region.

And this makes me sad and angry. There shouldn’t be so much division and bigotry in the British Caribbean diaspora. Why are my people fighting? What happened to “all ah we is one family”?

Anyway, if you’re a non-Caribbean person reading this, please do some research on Caribbean culture in all its facets. Research Indo-Trinidadians and their traditions, the Kalinago/Caribs of Dominica, Chinese cuisine in Suriname, how the culture of Indian indentured laborers helped contribute to Rastafarianism, the Portuguese in Guyana. And there’s so much more!

I promise you, Caribbean diversity is absolutely beautiful to read about and even more wonderful to see in person. As someone who is mixed with literally every ethnic group that has come to my island, I am proud to say that my mixedness is inherently tied to the Caribbean landscape. It is only the bigoted who are afraid of diversity.