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I think you’ll agree with me when I say:
The Caribbean is a melting pot, consisting of a myriad of races and ethnic groups co-existing and sharing a common historical past.

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However, “The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels.” I agree with this statement to a greater extent but there are Caribbean countries where, for example, religious tolerance exists and the people live together in harmony, despite their differences. In this blog post, the topics of ethnic discrimination and racism in Caribbean society will be discussed, which all tie together the concept of intolerance. On the other hand, I will speak about racial mistrust and mistrust in politics and lastly, on a positive note, tolerance in the Caribbean will be explored with regards to religion.

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According to Dictionary. com, intolerance can be defined as, “unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect opinions or beliefs contrary to one's own.” In the Caribbean, intolerance is present in the form of ethnic discrimination, where persons are treated unfairly because they belong to or are perceived to belong to a certain ethnic group. Due to a common history of colonialism in the Caribbean, people perceive ethnic backgrounds other than that of the Europeans to be inferior.  This concept started on the plantations, during slavery, where the Africans had a hard time preserving their culture on the estates. The slave masters separated families and replaced the slaves’ African names with European names. This was done in an attempt to make the African slaves assimilate the culture of the Europeans. Likewise, African traditions such as storytelling and drumming were banned by the Europeans, since this was considered as a form of communication among slaves.

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Persons of a particular ethnic group may also discriminate against persons who belong to a different ethnic group. A prime example of this occurred in Trinidad, in May, 2018. A Muslim OJT, (on-the-job trainee) Nafisah Nakhid, sought legal advice, after she was denied entry into a Hindu high school, where she was assigned to work. Nakhid said that she was barred from entering the premises as she was told that persons in hijabs were not allowed on the compound. She said she was given the choice to remove her hijab or leave. She left. Nafisah further states, “I was in shock, I couldn’t believe what had happened, especially during Ramadan. It’s difficult to describe the hurt and humiliation I felt.” This incident represents the high level of discrimination present among Muslims in society. Muslims are also seen as terrorists by many and persons also think that Islam is a religion which teaches terrorism. Living in the 21 st century, one does not expect such incidents to prevalent in Caribbean society. Instead, it is expected, that in order to elevate or become better as a country, we must accept our brothers and sisters of different ethnic backgrounds. The Caribbean has so many diverse cultures, that if we simply accept the different cultures, we avoid division of the society. This form of intolerance severely hinders productivity in the workplace by denying persons of different ethnic groups the ability to contribute their talents and unique ideas in the workplace, in this case this young  Muslim woman could’ve made a tremendous impact on the education system, if only she was given the opportunity to enter the school and perform her job.

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By the same token, in 2018, a form one student at a Presbyterian Secondary school was allegedly told that the ‘rakhi’ (worn after completing a puja) could not be worn as SAGHS is a Christian school and that the bracelet should be hidden. According to Christopher, Peter, Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, “Principal: No religious discrimination at SAGHS,” 2018,“The school was put into the national spotlight after Pundit Satyanand Maharaj claimed that a Hindu student was brought before the school and shamed for wearing a rakhi, a symbol of brotherhood love in the Hindu religion.”

The claims of this incident were denied by the Ministry of Education, however, according to reports from some students, the incident did occur during the morning assembly and as a result can be seen as a form of religious intolerance.

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On the contrary, religious tolerance is present in the Caribbean such as in Guyana, where all official public ceremonies begin with prayers recited by representatives from Hindu, Muslim and Christian faiths. Similarly, another example of religious tolerance is in the capital city of Suriname, Paramaribo, where a Muslim mosque and a Jewish tabernacle are built next to each other and share the same parking lot. The ability of these two places of worship to co-exist next to each other shows that the Muslims and the Jews do not discriminate against each other and are tolerant of each other’s religion. According to Bosquet, Earl, in an article entitled, “Religious Tolerance and Intolerance, A Caribbean Perspective,” 2019, “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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Another essential point is racism in Caribbean society. This form of intolerance pervades every aspect of social life in the Caribbean, again, colonialism is responsible for this. According to Dr. Eric Williams in his book, “Capitalism and Slavery” he stated, “Slavery was not born of racism, rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.” Race determines a person’s ability to acquire wealth, land, power and status, which can all lead to social mobility. The planters influenced the relationships and perceptions of the persons of different races, this in turn has affected the ability of our society to exist as one cohesive unit. This is because indentureship and slavery has left the portrayal and perception that one group of people is better than the other. For example, some black persons have an admiration for persons of a lighter shade and desire to look like them.  For example, one popular Jamaican reggae dancehall artiste, Vbyz Kartel, produced a song entitled, “Cake Soap,” which basically speaks about the washing of one’s face with cake soap, which contains bleach and is believed to make the skin lighter. Similarly, skin lightening creams for men and women, such and fair and lovely flood the beauty industry and advertisements are produced showing that if you have a lighter skin colour, you can get the job you want or be successful. These scenarios are used because, normally in the workplace, persons of a lighter skin colour have a higher chance of being hired than a darker person.

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The division between racial groups is not a new phenomenon, since, according to Stewart, Nakeba, in an article entitled, “Race and Colour in Trinidad and Tobago,” 2004,  states, “Indian indentured laborers were kept apart geographically and culturally from the rest of captive labour force.”  “The planter elite rationalized the division of labour by claiming that Africans were poor workers, lazy, irresponsible and frivolous while East Indians were characterized as industrious, docile, obedient and manageable.” Here it is obvious that skin colour disrupts unity, since some East Indians still embrace this view up until today. Others also believe that being light skinned is more attractive and valuable, since even during enslavement, at auctions of slaves, the highest bids were paid for the lighter skinned Africans, indicating that they were worth a higher value than the darker Africans.

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As Caribbean people, sharing the same space, we should also share the same mindset, which does not involve the colonial mentality. This mentality infests the way in which we think of persons of other races. Only when we can stop honouring our differences, such as race, intolerance would not exist and we can peacefully live together as one Caribbean.

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Correspondingly, another form of intolerance in the Caribbean is seen in political parties. Trinidad and Tobago is a plural society, consisting of different ethnic groups and a political structure that reflects ethnic differences. Trinidad and Tobago is considered to be an ethnically bipolar society, where there are two major ethnic blocs: the Afro-Trinidadian bloc and the Indo-Trinidadian bloc. Politics in our country has widened the gap between these two major ethnic blocs. This is because the two major political parties, UNC (United National congress) and PNM (People’s National Movement) consists of mostly Indo-Trinidadians and Afro-Trinidadians respectively. According to Ragoonath, Bishnu, in an article entitled, “Participative democracy or party/race consolidation,” 1999, he states, “The fact remains that supporters of either party are predominantly of the same race as that of the leader of the party.” This statement clearly indicates that race remains the determining factor upon which party persons choose to vote for, since the two parties represent the two major racial blocs in our country. Intolerance is evident around election time, when rejection and hatred is portrayed between these two racial groups. This form in tension present in our society represents intolerance.

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According to Shah, Raffique, in a blog entitled, “Race in our Politics,” 2013, “Race in politics in this country is not new. It was always the not-so-secret weapon to rally the tribes, especially during elections and mostly in core ethnic communities like Laventille, Morvant, Penal and Caroni.” Discrimination against persons we perceive to be different from us is also portrayed by politicians in this country, as Shah further states, “There were politicians who did not give a damn and openly used the epithets “nigger” and “coolie”. “I remember hearing from older people in the 1970s about Bhadase Maharaj’s disregard for niceties, his frequent, open use of “nigger” even as his mainly Afro-thugs hovered around his meetings”. “What a thing!” Hence, the Caribbean is again characterized by grave intolerance, since leaders lack respect for fellow citizens of who belong to racial backgrounds other than their own. In essence, once race is cast into politics, intolerance will always be present in our society, since hate and verbal abuse is experienced among persons belonging to different political parties.

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Lastly, racial mistrust is prevailing our Caribbean society. I firmly believe that race should not be involved with criminal behaviour, since anyone, belonging to any racial group has the capability to commit a criminal act. However, according to Dr. Nantambu, Kwame,2011, “The stark reality is that 99.9 per cent of the prison population is made up of African-Trinbagonians. In addition, 99.9 per cent of the gang population/membership is also made up of African-Trinbagonians.” This statement postulates that mistrust is present among this group of persons, since persons in society may judge Afro-Trinbagonians and stereotype them as gang members, drug dealers or even criminals. However, criminal activity may not be the intention of all Afro-Trinbagonians, but what normally occurs in society becomes embedded in the mindset of citizens, resulting in people mistrusting this racial group.

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Rastafarians are also discriminated against in societies. Evidence in support of this position is stated by Vengadesan, Martin, in an article entitled, “The World of Rastafarians,” 2010, “Not too long ago, Rastafarians were viewed with suspicion and distrust by many societies, yet they are now widely tolerated and occasionally even embraced by the mainstream.” Mistrust is once again portrayed against this particular racial group in the Caribbean. Even the police suspects persons belonging to this racial group at times.

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In final analysis, ethnic discrimination, racism in Caribbean society and some aspects of religion all reflect intolerance in the Caribbean today. Mistrust is also present within political parties and among racial groups. Fortunately, religious tolerance is present in Guyana and Suriname, presenting some hope for unity among persons, despite their differences with respect to race or ethnic background.

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Be sure to leave your opinion in the comment section and share this post. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope it was informative. Stay tuned for more blogs and more controversial topics.