# data[].attributes.headline
“The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels.” Exploring our history, society and concepts of identity, give your informed perspective on this statement.

# data[].attributes.subject
“The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels.” Exploring our history, society and concepts of identity, give your informed perspective on this statement.

# data[].attributes.body
In the present day Caribbean, there is a vast amount of grave intolerance and grave mistrust at all levels. Intolerance means “the fact of refusing to accept ideas, beliefs, or behaviour that are different from your own.” (dictionary.cambridge.org) Mistrust means “to have doubts about the honesty or abilities of someone.” (dictionary.cambridge.org) Both intolerance and mistrust can clearly be seen in today’s society, especially in Trinidad and Tobago’s society. Although there in recent times there are more people becoming tolerant and trusting others, there is still quite a lot of intolerance and mistrust among the members of the Caribbean society. Much of this mistrust and intolerance leads back to what happened in the Caribbean’s past and it can be said that it has dictated what is happening currently in today’s society. These points will be now be discussed further.

# data[].attributes.body
“As salve generations passed, colour was the main signifier of status on the plantation and wider society. Those with lighter skin and straight hair had higher status.” (Baldeosingh, Mahase, 58)

# data[].attributes.body
“The plural society was first defined by an anthropologist names J. S. Furnivall, who studied Dutch colonies in East Asia. He wrote: “There is a plural society, with different sections of the community living side by side, but separately, within the same political unit. Even in the economic sphere, there is a division along racial lines.” .” (Baldeosingh, Mahase, 58)

# data[].attributes.body
“Gender.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/gender?s=t.

“INTOLERANCE: Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/intolerance.

Mahase, Radica, and Kevin Baldeosingh. Caribbean History for CSEC. Oxford University Press, 2011.

“MISTRUST: Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/mistrust.

“Racism - Dictionary Definition.” Vocabulary.com, https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/racism.

“Religion.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/religion.

“Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day.” NALIS, https://www.nalis.gov.tt/Research/Subject-Guide/Baptist-Liberation-Day.

Tiwari-Roopnarine, Urvashi. “T&T Products Removed from Grocery Shelves in Jamaica.” CNC3, 28 Apr. 2016, https://www.cnc3.co.tt/news/tt-products-removed-grocery-shelves-jamaica.

“White Supremacy.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/white-supremacy.

# data[].attributes.body
The plantation society is a system that dates to the days of slavery where the political and social system in the Caribbean was determined based on class and race. This meant that everyone in the society had been ranked according to their skin colour and the class in which they belonged. In that time, most of the population was black, and they were being ruled by the white class and so, the issue of white supremacy came about. This was where the Europeans had the belief that their race was better than everyone else’s and that they were better than everyone else and so, those who were not European started to mistrust those who were European. It has shaped today’s society as this been the case for many years.

# data[].attributes.body
“The belief, theory, or doctrine that white people are inherently superior to people from all other racial and ethnic groups, especially Black people, and are therefore rightfully the dominant group in any society.”  (dictionary.com)

# data[].attributes.body
Over the years, the Caribbean became populated with mostly African and Indian people, due to slavery and indentureship, and so they became the dominant races in society. However, the Europeans, who may not even be part of the Caribbean population, still manage to control the affairs of the Caribbean and are still seen as superior, and they have managed to use the Caribbean for their own personal gain.

# data[].attributes.body
Instances of this include the economic factor where metropolitan economies are the primary targets for our exports. The Caribbean countries are dependent on the export of agricultural products inclusive of crops such a sugar and banana. This is so because multinational corporations are set up in the Caribbean and the metropolitan countries are able to control us because we do not trust ourselves to set up major businesses that will help the economy and give us more control of the affairs of the countries. The Caribbean people never got the chance to actually think for themselves because they were conditioned by the social institutions to do what people wanted them to do.

# data[].attributes.body
There is also a stigma associated with purchasing local goods as they are seen as inferior to goods that are exported from the US for instance. This is so because even to this day, we still see the white people as superior to us and as we have been conditioned to believe this through various social institutions such as education and religion that whatever we are capable of doing will never be enough and would never match that quality that the white people have set. This is a clear example of the mistrust we have of our own hard work.

# data[].attributes.body
In Trinidad, we have world class cocoa being grown but it is also being exported to other parts of the world where they turn our cocoa into chocolate that we Trinidadians in the end, end up purchasing large quantities of through imports instead of actually manufacturing our own products from the cocoa. This is because we do not have the faith and trust in ourselves as we were conditioned that we, the Caribbean people, are not capable of doing something that will be superior to everyone outside of the Caribbean.

# data[].attributes.body
M. G. Smith sees that today, there are several ethnic groups that co-exist with each other and they all have their own almost complete set of social institutions such as family, school and religion. These ethnic groups all have their own family systems, languages and religion but not their own political system. These groups are all governed by the same political system which hold them together. This is a result of the blacks and persons who descended from the slaves and the Indians who came from the indentured labours both remaining as distinct groups in society. These people never had the real chance of integration as the planter class or the whites always pinned them against each other and so there was and there still is a lot of grave mistrust and intolerance happening between the two groups.

# data[].attributes.body
This is seen in today’s in the matter of racism, where the both groups are intolerant of one of another as they see their races being more superior than that of the other. In Trinidad, politics is a major contributor to racism and the intolerance of other races. This is seen where the two political parties are broken up into the different races, the United National Congress which is mostly dominated by those who are Indians and the People’s National Movement (PNM) which is mostly dominated by those who are Africans. This really illustrates the way that persons of different races have broken up themselves into different societies and instead of actually joining forces which is where there is mistrust and intolerance regarding each other.

# data[].attributes.body
The entire Caribbean can also be viewed as a plural society, with each country being having their own societies from each other. This has brought about mistrust and intolerance between the different countries in the Caribbean in instances where there is intra island mistrust.

# data[].attributes.body
A major reason for the failure of the West Indian Federation (1958-1962) was the mistrust of other islands. The West Indian Federation was one of the major attempts at regional integration of the member states. However, there was political rivalry amongst the smaller states and the larger states, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, due to mistrust which led to Jamaica withdrawing from the Federation. This clearly shows how the counties involved in this Federation could not trust their neighbours and so there was no moving forward with regional integration.

# data[].attributes.body
Another example of intra island mistrust is an incident which happened in 2016 between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. At the time, Trinidad and Tobago refused Jamaica’s entry into the country and so “Jamaicans called on fellow nationals to boycott T&T goods.” (Urvashi Tiwari-Roopnarine) This sheds light on the intolerance of Jamaica towards Trinidad and Tobago. These examples reiterate the concept of plural societies within the Caribbean.

# data[].attributes.body
In the Caribbean, there are a myriad of religions. However, there seems to be a lot of intolerance towards a few of them. One of these such religions is the Shouter Baptist religion that many people criticise. However, not many people have really truly understood the religion because of rumours that have been passed around for centuries. This also leads back to the plantation days where the Europeans punished these people for practicing their religion because it was not what their religion was not what they wanted everyone else to learn so they decided to criticise something that they knew nothing about and so, history relives itself in the present day where there is a mistrust of the Shouter Baptists and a huge deal of intolerance towards them based on what our ancestors had previously done.

# data[].attributes.body
“a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.”
(dictionary.com)

# data[].attributes.body
“is a unique religion, comprising elements of Protestant Christianity and African doctrines and rituals. It is also one of the few religions indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago. The term Shouter was given to the Baptists because of their tendency to shout, clap and sing loudly during their religious services.” (nalis.gov.tt)

# data[].attributes.body
In conclusion, it can be said that in the Caribbean there is grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels, even though people are becoming more trusting of others as well as more tolerant of others, there is still quite a lot of it occurring. This is mostly because of what happened in the past to our ancestors and it has manifested into who we are today as a region.

# data[].attributes.body
Gender roles in the Caribbean are a big controversy. It is viewed by many that women are not capable of doing jobs traditionally patriarchal in nature such as being a doctor, scientist, president or prime minister. However, in Trinidad and Tobago, we have had our first female prime minister as well as our first female president. They were both criticised by many for being a female in a male-dominant job. There was great intolerance to their positions as there was a drastic change from being a male-run society to a now female-run one. These traditional gender roles stemmed from our history, where it was taught in schools that the women in society would do more domestic jobs rather than nondomestic jobs.

# data[].attributes.body
“is the practice of discriminating against people based on their race, national or ethnic background. Although old prejudices often live on, most people will agree that racism is unacceptable.” (vocabulary.com)

# data[].attributes.body
“either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by social and cultural roles and behavior.” (dictionary.com)