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“All ah we is one”

Though this is a simple statement, it holds much weight behind it when you put it into the context of the goal that this essay is going to attempt to achieve. Which is to say whether I agree with this statement and/or to what extent do I think that this statement is a proper reflection of the Caribbean as a whole. In this essay I am going to touch on elements that I have identified as being detrimental to me properly analysing this statement in a very detailed way in order to determine if I truly think that it is true and a proper representation of our people and land. This essay is going to be on my judgement of todays society as well as the history of the Caribbean in relation to the statement at hand. I’ll be primarily using my course work and scholarly articles as my main source of information for this essay. The elements that I have identified are our earliest East Indian ancestry being able to create, what even Europeans considered to be a legitimate civilization, a historical connection from our East Indian slave ancestry and their journey towards freedom, how demographic diversity contributes to Caribbean identity and differences in identity, how colourism played a role in how individuals were viewed and valued in society, and how gender and sexuality discriminations divide certain people.

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The first people of the Caribbean, the Neo Indians, had their own established civilization and cultural norms and practices, showing me that there must have been a high level of comradery among our people to have organized such a system. This system consisted of trade and commerce, political organization, religion, marriage and even division of labour. Although, the division of labour was highly patriarchal and sexually divided. Men and boys undertook tasks such as clearing the fields, hunting, fishing, defence of the village and canoe making. While women were given the roles of crop cultivation, spinning and weaving of cotton, making handicrafts and child rearing. The girls were arranged marriages when they were close to puberty and women would often be used as commodities to be traded and raided. Also, certain men in society could have multiple wives and the number of wives would represent his standing in society. So, while there must have been comradery to create the civilization, it was clear that there was a major divide in terms of who had the power between men and women. The political organization were also very male dominated to the extent that is was really of no concern to the women.

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What many Caribbean people also have in common is that the vast majority of us has a family history of enslaved ancestors. This to me, gives us a shared sense of identity where we could relate to each other even without personally knowing one another. It builds a sense of unity and belonging when people are educated on the shared struggles that our ancestors had to go through, and the journey they had to take to be freed and also claim the land that we now call our home, the Caribbean. From chattel slavery to apprenticeship act, to the complete abolition of slavery, It is a very heart felt historical story that personally makes me feel that Caribbean people earned and deserved everything we have today and this beautiful land. It gives us a sense of knowledge about who we really are, where we came from and where our culture originated from.

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Caribbean culture and identity is shaped by demographic diversity of the various diasporic groups who people the region. These people include indigenous people, Europeans, Africans and Asians, who consist of the Chinese and Indians. These different groups of people brought to the Caribbean their different cultures, values and ways of living. Each group contributes richly to the unique identity of the Caribbean through the fusion of cultures such as music, religion, festivals, clothing and food. This fusion of cultures to me lives in perfect harmony with one another in the Caribbean and is convincing when you look at the statement topic “All ah we is one”. These things give us a great sense of Caribbean unity, as we are well renowned around the world for a type of culture that is very unique to us. Festivals such as Carnival is a perfect example of this, where foreigners come into the Caribbean from near and far just to experience this event. There are places that try to copy Caribbean style carnival, but only in the Caribbean will you ever get the true sensation of the carnival experience. However, sometimes the different sub groups could have a very divisive attitude towards one another, and then the topic statement does sound so true anymore. For example, a lot of people in today’s society still experience racism, sometimes even on a major scale such as violent attacks and crime. Such as racial feuds between blacks and Indians. Sometimes there are extreme cases of religious feuds and violent crimes as well. Such as the bloody, ongoing battle between Muslims and individuals who claim Rastafarianism. This to me is the biggest sense of divide going on in my country today, where lives are being taken just because of a difference in beliefs.

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Colourism can be seen as prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. For very long and still till this day, light skinned individuals clearly have the advantage when it comes to how society views them on the whole. And this fact was even more prevalent back about only a few decades ago, in days when there were certain schools in the Caribbean in countries such as Jamaica that only ever accepted children that were of a certain complexion. In today’s society it still seems that many beauty standards set for women has still been based on the fairer skinned individuals. There was a point in Caribbean history where African people were led to believe they were inferior because of their darker complexion. A darker complexion throughout history has portrayed as dumb and ugly. And with the majority of the Caribbean people being of African and Indian decent, you could imagine this left a major impact in how Caribbean people viewed themselves for a very long time. This also would have created tension and prejudice among people in Caribbean countries where lighter skinned individuals would be treated much better than the darker skinned individuals.

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Sexuality discriminations in the Caribbean can be seen since the beginning. Many Caribbean societies have a very low tolerance for homosexual acts and behaviour. Homosexuals are for the most part shunned and sometimes even attacked by societies for their behaviour.  Most of the hate the homosexual society receives comes from religious groups who see homosexuality as an abomination. Some people would even take it as far as to say that they wished all homosexuals were dead. Religions believe that sexual acts are only supposed to take place between a man and a woman, and anything else goes against the word of God. These are people who dedicate their life to their god and spreading his word, so it is understandable where the animosity might come from when it comes to how they deal with homosexual individuals. Other people discriminate against homosexuals and transgender people because of how they were raised. In Caribbean countries such as Trinidad and Tobago it is a norm that parents teach their children from young that there is something wrong with homosexuality, regardless of religious beliefs. This places a stigma in any young persons mind to automatically have a dislike for homosexuals. Also, the way young boys are raised, they are trained to be as masculine as they could possibly be, thought to show less emotion and some even that strength comes from aggression. Being raised this way would obviously put a young boy at a major disconnect from homosexual males as they are often portrayed to be on the much softer, emotional side.

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Gender discrimination In the Caribbean is also something else that has been prevalent in our societies since the earliest of our recorded days. Very patriarchal societies with very male and female specific roles. Most women would have seemed oppressed throughout history as they really did not have much say in the matter. Men would take charge of everything from household decisions to political decisions that affected everyone as a whole. There are also many stereotypical portrayals of men and women in the media, such as a man being a ‘badman’, a ‘player’ or an idiot and a woman being a ‘good girl’, ‘gold digger’ or hypersexual. Women are often seen as weaker than men and therefore also faced much discrimination when it came to gaining employment in the current day for jobs such as engineering or construction.

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In conclusion, through my assessment of all the elements of Caribbean society that I thought important for my determining answer, I’ve decided that I mostly disagree with the statement, but to some extent could see certain aspects of our society that is well reflected by it. My major issues for disagreeing with the statement was the overwhelming amount of discrimination. From complexion, to gender, to sexuality and even religious beliefs. Most of which, sometimes turn into violet acts against other groups of people that builds a sense of resentment that I’m sure the Caribbean people of today could just feel in our air. Although I will always love the aspects of our society that shed light on why we are very united in many ways, the overwhelming level of hate between certain groups of people is just saddening to experience. I myself have been no saint, as I too grew up being programmed to dislike homosexuals, a trait that I have over the years shed myself of, and I hope many of my friends and colleges would do the same if they knew better. Also, I too have been a victim of discrimination from another race of people for my dark complexion and my rough African hair. Though I would someday like to genuinely feel like the statement “All ah we is one” would be a perfect reflection of my Caribbean islands, or even that my grandchildren would have the honour of feeling such a way, I’m afraid that of today, I think that the statement just doesn’t hold up against all the contrary.