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In her TED talk recorded in July, 2009, Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, narrates her story on how she learned to overlook the concept of a single story. Chimananda states that “Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person but to make it the definite story of that person”. This can be seen where her mother tells her that their house boy, “Fide”, was poor and it depicted that they were not hard workers.  She grew up thinking that poverty was the single story of Fide`s family until she visited they house and discovered that they were hardworking people and tried to earn their salaries honestly. When she attended college, her roommate was shocked that she could speak fluent English and as well as listened to the same music as her. Her roommates single story of Africa was that there was no possibility of a connection as human equals. This therefore, made her come to the realization that a single story is created by “showing people one thing, over and over again and that is what they become” (Adichie).  This was the case with her roommate towards her as well as what she thought of Fide`s family.

In the case of the Caribbean, the single story told all over the world is that all people that sound “Caribbean” are from Jamaica.  This single story may come about because of the influence of Caribbean music to the world. Jamaican reggae artiste, Bob Marley was the world`s major introduction to the Caribbean and thus made the foreigners assume that we all sounded like him.  Thus the single story was created, but in realization, the Caribbean is very diverse in its languages or accents from the time of colonization. Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St. Vincent and St. Lucia for example also speak “broken” French commonly known in the Caribbean as Patois.

A map depicting the single story of the Caribbean.

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The bringing of Christianity by the Europeans to the Caribbean had had a tremendous impact of society. The slaves brought to the Caribbean were taught this religion and were forced to relinquish their beliefs as a result. Therefore, this made Christianity, the “right behavior” and made any other sexual orientation besides heterosexuality, taboo. This was cemented into generations and other various religions.

In society today however, this “right behavior” was skewed by what is portrayed in media. Media can be said to have a great influence on the view of sexual identity. Local television shows air popular personalities such as Ellen DeGeneres, who identifies ad a lesbian. The music played on the radio stations such as Lady Gaga`s “Born This Way” which is a song that plays frequently for the Pride Parades set up in the United State for the homosexual community. As a result of this, this generation, are exposed to a vast amount of information about the homosexual community and they would see this behavior as acceptable.

However, this is not the case with everyone living in the Caribbean. Some islands shun the idea of homosexuality. In Jamaica for example, most residents, are homophobic and may even be violent towards members of the LGBTQ community they see on the streets. Popular dancehall group, T.O.K, wrote a song which loosely translates to “burn the gays” or as they are referred to in Jamaica as “Chi Chi Man” or “Batty Man”.  In Trinidad and Tobago, the elder generation displayed their intolerance for gays. Some made racy comments to them such as calling them “Bulla man” if they would see them in public. When talks of legalization of gay marriage was on the rise, it was immediately met with much hate and was therefore quickly dissolved.

In conclusion, the Caribbean society may someday come to accept the different sexual orientations of people but they may happen in the very distant future.

A snippet from the lyrics of the song, "Chi Chi Man" by T.O.K.

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A picture depicting the results of an altercation between a homosexual and a homophobic Jamaican.

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Haiti and the Dominican Republic are two countries on the east and west of Hispaniola. The countries are separated by a border which as a result splits the island of Hispaniola in two. This split was as a result of the Parsley Massacre in 1937 which was targeted at the Haitians living in the Dominican Republic at that time by Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo.  He went about the purge of the Haitians whose was unsuccessful in rolling the “r” in “Perejil” which is the Spanish word for parsley.  The estimated death toll was amounted to around 12,000 to 35,000 Haitians as well as Dominicans who in his opinion looked dark enough to be Haitian. (Phillip, 2015).
Recently, the situation between the islands are even worse that what they were in the past decades. The current Dominican government, plan to do the same as their past dictator, Rafael Trujillo, and gather anyone “black enough to be Haitian” and ship them to the border.

In order to be within the law and not have to be shipped to the border, Haitians would have to prove their identity, provide evidence of their residency and their ties to the Dominican society as well as their work and socioeconomic condition. This however, stems challenges to the people living in Dominican Republic as many do not have the time or money to put paper work into place to get legal status. Another challenge that arises for the Haitians are the long lines at the government offices in order to get their immigration status “regularized”. (Castillo, 2016).

Needless to say, the immigration situation between Haiti and the Dominican Republic may never be fully stable.

Picture showing the border that separates Haiti from the Dominican Republic.

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Lines at government office to "regularize" immigration status.

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When I entered the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, I was exposed to a foundation course by the name of Caribbean Civilization. The means of teaching from the lecturers were very unique. I was given the opportunity to attend online lectures once a week that comprised of all the students from the different campuses, STA, Mona, Cave Hill.  I was amazed at the different points of view from each student and this made me more conscious about the fact that there is never one right answer. Additionally, Over the course of three months, I was introduced to many different units from my weekly tutorials which were related to topics comprising of “The Concept of Civilization” to ‘Caribbean Gender and Sexuality” These various topics from each unit thus broaden my horizon about the Caribbean and how it has evolved in one way or another from the time of the 18th century to the 21st century. Furthermore, the assignments that were given to me, aided in reinforcing some skills such as being able to critically analyze pieces from novels which had to be done for the second assignment for the book report on the book “Through It All’.  In conclusion, Caribbean Civilization was a great foundation course and I have gained additional knowledge about the Caribbean. I would also like to thank my lecturer, Dr. John Campbell ad well as my tutor Ms. Rea Anne Alexander on a job well done.

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Map background: “Caribbean Map.” SWIFTMAPS.com, www.swiftmaps.com/wall-maps/caribbean-west-indies-decorative-modern-day-antique-wall-map/caribbean-mda-2016-update-swiftmaps/

Lyrics Snippet : “T.O.K. (Ft. Alexx, Bassie, Craigy & Flexx) – Chi Chi Man.” Genius, 1 Jan. 2001,  genius.com/Tok-chi-chi-man-lyrics.

Michael FitzgeraldMarch 30, 2015 | 4:40pm. “Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller Defiant In Response To Gay Rights Protesters in NY: VIDEO.” Towleroad, 11 June 2015, www.towleroad.com/2015/03/jamaican-prime-minister-portia-simpson-miller-defiant-in-response-to-new-york-gay-rights-protestors-2/.

“Border Between Haiti And Dominican Republic.” Home Decorating Ideas RSS, homedecoratingideas.club/galleries/border-between-haiti-and-dominican-republic.html.

Phillip, Abby. “The bloody origins of the Dominican Republic’s ethnic ‘cleansing’ of Haitians.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 June 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/06/16/the-bloody-origins-of-the-dominican-republics-ethnic-cleansing-of-haitians/?utm_term=.4ad9de9692ae.

Castillo, Story by Mariano. “Faces of a divided island.” CNN, Cable News Network, 13 Apr. 2016, edition.cnn.com/2016/04/12/world/dominican-republic-haiti-immigration/index.html.