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CARICOM soon 'CARIGONE'. A picture displaying a divide in what is suppose to be a united front.

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Picture illustrating the Europeans on their voyages for the 3 G's.

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At the orientation session, we were asked by the professor if we felt we the need to do the course. Honestly, I did not believe that I needed to do the course as I had previously complete CAPE Caribbean Studies. The lecturer then asked the class several questions and I realised that I could not answer most of the questions. Before commencing the course, I had a general sense of the history of the Caribbean from the people who came up to slavery. At the end of the orientation class, I felt motivated to learn about the region where I reside and be instilled with Caribbean pride.

While enrolled in Secondary school I was taught that Columbus discovered the Caribbean and contributed to the development of the Caribbean. Units one to three brought light to the fact that Columbus did not discovered the Caribbean. In fact, the native Indians who settled on the Caribbean before Columbus were slaughtered by the Europeans. I have also learnt of that sports, religion and education were tools utilised by the Europeans to socialise societies and foster racial segregation.

I have admired the European nations before commencing this course. However, I now perceive the European nations differently; they are nations driven by the greed for wealth and power. They committed genocide, instituted slavery and oppressed a region for centuries. A lot of what occurs in present day has a direct or indirect correlation to the past events.

Acquiring the knowledge from the course, I am now motivated to inform the misinformed individuals who are like me. I intend to impart the knowledge to my peers and family members. I also intend to educate my children about Caribbean history, so they too can appreciate the dynamics of the Caribbean.

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The Caribbean is a diasporic region and can be described as a melting pot of cultures and races. The Caribbean has a unique blend of races and cultures as a direct influence of migration whether it was by will; by pilgrimage, or force; via the slave trade. CARICOM, shortened Caribbean Community, is an organisation created to unify the Caribbean region by relinquishing barriers to trade, with free movement of regional services, goods and capital, and people. CARICOM nationals are afforded the opportunities to travel throughout the Caribbean without visa requirements. Skilled workers can migrate to other countries to work without restrictions. Although Member States have consented to the free movements of their nationals, one is left to wonder if Caribbean Community ideology matches its reality.

Various individuals have been heard complaining about their experiences when migrated to another Member State in search of jobs. The locals on that island are not generally accepting of the ‘foreigners taking their jobs’. Within St. Kitts and Nevis there is a large influx of individuals from the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Guyana. The ‘foreigners’ are not welcomed by locals and often met with statements such as “you bang water come” or “you come on banana plane”. They say that to say that they are locals and have more rights and privileges than them. Often the migrants are employed for manual labour, construction and cleaning agencies. One can conclude that they are not treated as equals. Similarly, when travelling within the region, the Immigration Officers give the CARICOM nationals a difficult time to enter the country. They often given short periods time in which they permitted stay with the country and then they are sought after and deported.

As a region, we can identify that we share one history; one identity yet we fail to come together as a people.

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Caribbean Cultural Expression: 		Cricket

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Caribbean Cultural Expression: 		Cricket

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Is cricket more than just a game? Cricket operated under the Victorian model and was considered a gentleman’s sport. England utilised British soldiers to introduce cricket in the Caribbean. Sports was used as a socialising tool by the Europeans to reinforce hierarchy within the societies post emancipation. Only the planters class, the whites, were permitted to play cricket during that time. Cricket was categorised as a game of prestige, the batsman being the most prestigious player of the team. Eventually the Blacks were authorised to join the game but as fielders. The blacks, through fielding, learned to play the game and sought to beat the whites at their own game.

Great walls around the fields were constructed by the planter class to demonstrate further social stratification to keep the “unwashed” masses out. “Unwashed” referred to anyone who was not white. Naturally, one would assume that the Blacks and Mulattoes would merge but there was further segregation and separate groups were created. By the 1900’s each British Colony played cricket. Sugar was on its way out and cricket was on its way in.

The West Indies Cricket team was formed which was governed by the West Indies Cricket Board of control. Sir Frank Worrel was the first black appointed captain and led the team to Australia where they played a challenging game and were honoured for it. The West Indies cricket team became noteworthy when they won the first two World Cup matches in England with the world renowned players; Sir Frank Worrel, Sir Everton Weekes and Sir Clyde Walcott. The West Indies cricket team broke barriers using the same tool used to oppress them becoming one the top Cricket teams in the commonwealth. Cricket serves to unite the Caribbean islands and has given us our identity as a region.

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A song composed by the David Rudder giving account of the West Indies Cricket team.

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RALLY ROUND THE WEST INDIES ~ DAVID RUDDER.

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RALLY ROUND THE WEST INDIES ~ DAVID RUDDER.

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Picture illustrating the single story given to different races as told by the 'white' media.

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The video entitled “The Danger of a Single Story” features Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who utilises the use of a narrative to illustrate the issues created by assigning a person, group or race a single story.

The Neo-Indians were given a single story in Caribbean History. Chimamanda states that if the story starts from the native Indians rather than if it starts with the Europeans there will be a different story. Therefore, the history of Caribbean can be told from different perspectives, namely from the Neo-Indians and the Europeans.  The author suggests that power controls the stories that are told and the quantity told. The Europeans, in this case, held the most power and so the most popular story of the Caribbean starts with the Europeans.

The Neo-Indians were not considered to have a history because they did not have a written record of their lives. They were also said to be uncivilized savages. The Neo-Indians were given the names the Arawaks and Caribs which mean docile and cannibal, respectively, by the Europeans. The Caribs were given that name because it was documented that when Christopher Columbus docked ashore, he saw natives decorated with bones for jewelry and the assumption was made that they are cannibals. The Europeans destroyed their villages, raped and enslaved their people to work on their plantation.

In contrast, when the story is started with the Neo- Indians we learn that they were the first African explorers to discover the Caribbean through pilgrimage. The Neo-Indians migrated from Egypt, Ghana, Mali and Songha using the Bering Strait to cross over into the North America and later the
Caribbean. They developed settlements throughout the Caribbean islands in the Greater and Lesser Antilles. On the other hand, the earlier history books are written disclosing Christopher Columbus as the individual who discovered the Caribbean.