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In the enslavement process and plantation slavery, Africans and Europeans—albeit drawn from diverse societies on their respective continents—became “races.” In this process, Europeans and their descendants became “white,” while Africans and their descendants became “black” in the sense that meanings associated with physical attributes were culturally and ideologically systematized, elaborated, and given differential value.

Columbus brought the first sugar cane to the Caribbean on his second voyage in 1493; he brought it from the Spanish Canary Islands.

The source of this wealth was the fruits of the labor of enslaved Africans.

“In fourteen-hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” Caribbean slaves were notoriously malnourished, overworked, and susceptible to disease.

It is likely that enslaved Africans from Spain also accompanied him on that voyage, foreshadowing the African-slave-sugar-commodity connection.

It was cheaper for planters to simply import new slaves than to maintain their existing labor forces, and women were not encouraged to bear children until it appeared the slave trade would end.

A dramatic slave uprising and revolution beginning in 1791 made for an independent Haiti, only the second independent nation in the Americas (after the United States), in 1804.

Jamaica received nearly twice as many slaves as were imported into the United States; Barbados and Martinique, tiny islands where plantation slavery was established very early, each received roughly the amount received by the whole United States.

While these figures cannot take into account the many millions who died en route, they do provide an idea of the intensity of Caribbean slavery.

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INTOLERANCE IN THE CARIBBEAN  |  CULTURE AND CREOLIZATION

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INTOLERANCE IN THE CARIBBEAN  |  CULTURE AND CREOLIZATION

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If Caribbean people have been constrained in their political and economic relationships, it is perhaps these very constraints that have generated the conditions for innovation and creativity that mark Caribbean cultural forms—from language, religion, and music to family structure.

But these attainments are not the only consequences of Caribbean culture building.

Everyday Caribbean speech is lively and vibrant, and much is informed by African language structures.

In 1992, the quincentenaries’ of Columbus’s first voyage, Caribbean litterateurs won Europe’s most prestigious writing prizes.

Some religions, for example, represent themselves as entailing “pure” African practices.

Creolization is evident in syncretic Caribbean religions and their uses to oppose the established order.

Creole forms of speech exist throughout the Caribbean, and therefore the terms “Dutch-speaking,” “English-speaking,” and “French-speaking” Caribbean are somewhat misleading.

When their value is acknowledged, creole languages and local forms of speech are (incorrectly) thought to be useful only to convey folklore traditions, not abstract or theoretical thought.

In another example, the Martinican writers of créolité celebrate various cultural contributions to Martinican culture, but this is really tied to their attempts to promote a cosmopolitanism that justifies their class and social position.

The practice of everyday life as well as the development of expressive and communicative culture and religion might fruitfully be seen through the prism of creolization.

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Knowles ranked number one in the world in doubles play and has won a grand slam title, the Australian Open with Canadian Daniel Nestor, with whom he has also been a finalist in all the grand slam tournaments since 1995.

Through its most identifiable symbol, the West Indies Team, cricket has always been able to appeal to our highest sense of regionalism over the years.

The All-West Indies team won by three wickets.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of cricket, which has a passionate following in virtually all the English-speaking member states.

The West Indies Captain was E.E.G.

The West Indies won by 289 runs.

James in his definitive work Beyond A Boundary, which was published in 1963 and which clearly shows the many ways in which this sport has permeated every sector of the English-speaking Caribbean.

An official West Indies football team toured England in 1959.

Cricket: The primary importance of cricket in our Community, stems from its long history of regional involvement.

Our team has a history of being one of the most formidable at the international level and remains a highly visible example of the benefits that we can derive from acting together.

Women in our Region also play cricket competitively.

Boxing: Our Community has also produced world champions in the sport of boxing.

Barbados won that game by 138 runs.

Cricket was the first activity that brought the English-speaking territories together as one functioning unit.

The West Indies captain was the Jamaican R.K. Nunes.

In addition, in the 1964 Olympics, Bahamians Cecil Cooke and Durward Knowles won gold medals in Star Class yachting (sailing).

The West Indies won their first test series in 1935 when they beat England 2-1 in the West Indies.

In ten Paralympic outings, Jamaica has earned 20 gold medals, 16 silver and 18 bronze.

A ready example of this is the common use of cricketing terms in our everyday language: to 'bowl a googly' is used to mean 'to confuse'; being 'stumped' for an answer, to mean at a 'loss for words'; 'stepping out of your crease' - 'becoming adventurous'; and most importantly, 'that's not cricket', meaning 'that's not the proper way to behave'.

England 401; West Indies 177 and 166.

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T he Role of "Color" An examination of contemporary Trinidadian society shows that light-skinned black people are still the preferred population.
Although there are exceptions, the unequal treatment of slaves fostered a light-skinned upper class and a dark-skinned lower class.

Skin color has effectively used to disrupt unity. Respectability was used by the colored population to shield bodily exposure. Racial categories and identities are socially constructed concepts. Historically, the issue of skin color has been used as a means of controlling and division. The colored population was somewhere between the upper and lower class.

This incorporated characteristic like a straight nose, thick lips and hair quality. When enslaved Africans were put on the auction block, those of "mixed" ancestry and light-skinned tones generated the highest bids. They are more likely to attain high-status jobs and be perceived as attractive.

A study by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has found that the problems of race are most persistent in the Caribbean, compared to other parts of the Americas.

"In more modern times this has manifested itself most prominently in the relations between Indo and African-Caribbean peoples, particularly in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago."

The study also showed that in the Caribbean racial discrimination to Afro-descendent people was linked to the darkness of their skin, poverty and the control of economic resources.

IACHR commissioner and rapporteur on People of African Descent and Against Racial Discrimination, Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, has suggested the subtle persistence of racial profiling and discrimination in the Caribbean could be because people have grown to accept it.

The findings of the study, which looked at the "Situation of People of African Descent in the Americas," was released here at a special ceremony on the fringes of the just-concluded Caribbean Community (Caricom) Summit.

"There is a need, therefore, even in the Caribbean, to enquire seriously and objectively into these issues with a view to constructing newer paradigms, based on genuine equality and social advancement for all of our peoples."

Caricom secretary general Irwin La Rocque, in receiving the report, said the Caribbean must take "careful note of the report, given the demographics of our region."

The study, which examined the issue in the Americas, found although the problem was most persistent in the Caribbean, it was also most subtle.

He said it could not be denied that people of African descent have contributed immensely to the development of the region and as such should be respected for their contributions.

In presenting the report, Antoine said while there may be less overt displays of racism, especially between people of African and European descent, there were still some very strong structural paradigms that exacerbated inequalities between the races.

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Christianity is the dominant faith in our Community while Hinduism and Islam also have a significant following particularly in Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

In the countries with longer histories of French and Spanish colonialism, Roman Catholicism is the dominant faith, whereas in those countries with a strong British influence, Anglicans and Methodists have been historically predominant.

African religious traditions continue to find expression through Voodoo, Pocomania and Orisha.

Our religions are diverse with practices reflecting our multiple origins. The Christian, Hindu, Muslim divide across the Caribbean is mainly faith based and played out in such areas as denominations demanding equal recognition from the states, as in Guyana, where all official public ceremonies start with prayers by representatives of all three faiths. In all three countries too, political parties have ethnic and religious bases, with race, religion and culture driving politics at election time in ways other than majority Christian societies where the politics is mostly driven by partisan loyalty and benefit than by race, religion or culture. The Caribbean is not known for violent or otherwise injurious expressions of fanatical religious discontent or intolerance, as people generally respect others’ choice of religion or denomination. On the night of the last day of the last century – December 31, 1999- two young men attacked worshippers of Saint Lucia’s Minor Basilica of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the island’s biggest Catholic Church, located in the center of the capital city, Castries.

The men indiscriminately doused fuel on members of the congregation and the clergy and set them alight, resulting in the death of a priest and a nun and many others badly burned. The two Lone Wolf attackers were then sentenced to ‘Life imprisonment’. Interestingly, the leadership of the islands majority Catholic church indicated from the very beginning of the trial, that they did not want the death penalty for the two attackers, much to the dismay of the victims and their families. Having almost ended their legal terms in jail, the two who have never expressed remorse are about to be released.

The Caribbean has never been a theatre of war and never mind the increasingly frequent rattling of sabers across the Caribbean sea, the heavily tourism dependent region continues to be better known for its hospitality and tolerant attitude towards others.

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Festivals and celebrations give us the opportunity to showcase our creative energies.

Originally a two-day celebration held immediately prior to the Lenten season and most famously in Trinidad and Tobago, Carnival is now held at different times of the year in different countries throughout our region and beyond.

CARIFESTA, the Caribbean Festival of the Arts, is a most outstanding demonstration and reflection of this creativity.

First held in Guyana in 1972, this festival showcases the full spectrum of Caribbean culture Our Community has also produced art forms that are unique and artists with superlative talents, many of whom have won international acclaim.

Carnival, for example, one of the powerful symbols of our culture, has its origins in Europe and Roman Catholicism and has been heavily influenced by African traditions.

Our diversity also comes together richly in the creative arts where the genius of our people is very vividly displayed.

As in other parts of the world, many of the Region's festivals and celebrations are associated with events of religious significance.

These include London's Notting Hill Carnival, Toronto's Caribana, New York's Labour Day Carnival, Washington DCs Carnival and the Miami Carnival.

Through the influence and energies of our diaspora in North America and Europe, the Caribbean carnival has also become a major festival in several metropolitan centres.

Even those member states that do not celebrate a traditional Carnival have festivals that are increasingly influenced by it, for example, Crop Over in Barbados, Junkanoo in The Bahamas, Mashramani in Guyana and Owruyari in Suriname.

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Reggae music originated in Jamaica while Calypso, the music of Trinidad and Tobago pre-dated Reggae as a musical form.

Music: Calypso and Reggae are the rhythms most identified with our Region, having been born of our varied Caribbean experiences.

The types of pan include the tenor, double tenor, double second, triple guitar, cello and bass pans.

Pan Trinidad, performed in England.

Across our Region, there are other indigenous musical forms.

The Steel Pan: A particularly unique and outstanding creation of our region, is the steel pan, which originated in Trinidad and Tobago.

These include Spouge from Barbados, Punta from Belize, Zouk from Haiti, Danceball from Jamaica, Fra Fra from Suriname and Chutney from Trinidad and Tobago.

In some universities, courses in pan count toward degree programmes and in a few cases, such as Northwestern University School of Music in Illinois, USA, pan studies is offered as a major in the B.Sc Music degree programme.

The steel pan is now considered a regional instrument so much so that it was chosen as the gift from our Community to the United Nations to celebrate that organisation's Fiftieth Anniversary in 1995.

The steel pan is a musical instrument that is indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago.