Racial Mistrust and Intolerance in the Caribbean by

Introduction

joshua_davis22 — 2019-11-30 03:20:36 UTC

The Caribbean, as it is today, is the result of centuries of historical event, from the arrival of the Neo-Indians to each moment that passes today. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Caribbean is incredibly complex with a great diversity of races, cultures and ideologies present and constantly interacting within it. However, these interactions are not always manifestations of peace or harmony but instead manifestations of the intolerance and mistrust between differing members of Caribbean society. Moreover, intolerance and mistrust are direct products of the formation of notions of identity throughout history. Identity, a set of attributes which define a person, is what allows a person to compare themselves with others and hence form views about others. Additionally, these notions of identity are not limited to a single person but also to entire groups. Due to the Caribbean’s immense diversity, races, religions, nations and other societal constructs each have their own notions of identity. Therefore, the conditions that exist within the Caribbean encourage mistrust and intolerance. This blog seeks to showcase the Caribbean today as it is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at varying levels of society.

Race within the Caribbean characterizes mistrust and intolerance. A person’s race is determined by their genealogy and is responsible for their physical traits such as skin tone, hair texture and physical build. Since the arrival of the Europeans to the Caribbean there was always much intolerance among the races present. The Europeans saw their race, more specifically persons of fair skin complexion, as superior to all others and thus race was an integral part of the social stratification of colonial society, which they managed. However, colonial racism no longer exists in the Caribbean today since there is an increased number of races present and a decreased proportion of European presence. Moreover, due to generations of miscegenation, a Caribbean person’s race is typically a varying mixture of multiple “pure” races. Despite this, racism is still prevalent through what scholars describe as a pigmentocracy and among the different races present.

Pigmentocracy

joshua_davis22 — 2019-11-30 03:22:03 UTC

Pigmentocracy, the discrimination based on one’s skin colour, contributes to mistrust within the Caribbean. Pigmentocracy, although not the creation of the Europeans, was heavily influenced by them. Pigmentocracy within the Caribbean places those with lighter complexions above those with darker ones (Redway 15). This discrimination has had large impacts on society, most notably on the labour market and the marital patterns of Caribbean persons.

Typically, persons with dark complexions are denoted as being untrustworthy and having criminal intent. Perhaps rightfully so, as the majority of blue-collar crimes are committed by persons with dark skin complexion. However, this prejudice is wrong as it does not imply that the majority of persons with dark skin complexion have criminal intent. Nevertheless, this has caused employers to place preference on employees with lighter skin complexion and hence has caused much legal action to be taken by those discriminated against. Additionally, due to pigmentocracy there is the perception that the quality of a person’s significant other is correlated with their skin complexion. Within the Caribbean there is the belief that a person’s beauty dependent on their lightness of skin. Additionally, the majority of persons of high social class and wealth are those with lighter skin. Hence, persons with lighter skin are sought after due to their physical qualities. Additionally, within the Caribbean some families require that their children marry a person who has either the same or lighter complexion. This pattern can be explained by the belief that such marriages would increase one’s social status and or wealth.

Due to this racism, some have taken action to change what was previously thought to be unchangeable through the process of skin bleaching. Skin bleaching, also referred to as ‘browning’, is the use of cosmetic agents to temporarily or permanently lighten a person’s skin. However, this process does not affect the genetic composition of a person and hence the effects of this skin bleaching does not affect one’s offspring. Nevertheless, skin bleaching has become popular in the Caribbean, however mostly in Jamaica, and is done by many with the belief that it increases their beauty and affects their success in obtaining occupation or a mate. According to Folkes, people lighten their skin in hope that they become “brown and pretty” and hence wealthy persons become attracted to them. Some critics see this phenomenon as an expression of self-hatred as it displays that a person is not pleased with their identity and hence has taken action to change it. Nantambu found that children who are bleaching their skin “are crying out for acceptance and a deeper sense of belonging.”³ However, some persons who practice skin bleaching argue against these notions and that the process is no different from any other cosmetic process.

Syrian-Lebanese Mistrust

joshua_davis22 — 2019-11-30 03:25:02 UTC

With the reduction of European presence due to the end of the colonial era, there was a lack of persons within the upper class of society, the much esteemed “one percent”. Members of the upper class own the country’s factors of production and hence the majority the country’s wealth. Within the Caribbean, it was the Syrian-Lebanese population that filled this void in the society. Today, the Syrian-Lebanese population own the majority of the companies and wealth of Caribbean and hence manage most of the Caribbean’s economy (Besson 401). This position has also led them to have great political influence in Caribbean however they do so not by holding political positions. Hence, their community has been the face of much criticism within the Caribbean.

Typically, the Syrian-Lebanese community is considered a recluse and most of their cultural celebrations and activities are known and attended by members of their community. This is unlike any other community within the Caribbean, which usually announce and promote cultural events and activities to the public, such as the celebrations of the Baptist and Hindu communities. However, this should be expected as their community contributes a very small proportion of the Caribbean population. Moreover, they receive general criticism because of their position in society somewhat because of the jealousy of those in lower positions. Many persons claim that they keep the country’s wealth for themselves and often work against the advancement of the nation of a whole. However, members of Syrian-Lebanese community often host or partner with initiatives to uplift the rest of the society but some argue that they should be able to do more with the wealth that they have.

Plural Society

joshua_davis22 — 2019-11-30 03:25:51 UTC

There is the presence of plural societies within the Caribbean where there is much distrust among the racial groups. A plural society is a society where there is limited mixing among the different groups present. After the end of chattel slavery in the 1830’s, there was a need for a cheap labour into the Caribbean as the planter class now needed to pay their labourers. However, there was little cooperation between the planter class and the previously enslaved Africans over agreement of wages and hence in some cases, an alternative source of labour was required. These labourers mostly came from East India and Asia through the use of indentureship programmes. However, the Africans within the Caribbean were not pleased with these new labourers as they reduced the bargaining power of the Africans over wages. Hence there was mistrust between the African community and the indentured labourers. Today, almost two centuries later, this mistrust still exists, especially in Caribbean nations where the descendants of the indentured labourers constitute large proportions of the population, such as in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.

Additionally, the existence of plural societies, in accordance to its definition, has led to limited interaction between racial groups in the Caribbean. Due to the already existing tension created by labour issues between the racial groups, stereotypies about each racial group began being perpetuated not only by the racial groups but also by the planter class. It is noteworthy, that it was in the planters’ best interest to maintain conflict among the non-European racial groups in the Caribbean in order to reduce the likelihood of rebellion of the labourers against the planters. In fact, Hookumchand stated that Africans were characterized as “physically string but lazy and irresponsible” while East Indians were “industrious but clannish and greedy” and that these views are still present today. The prevalence of these views only separates the Caribbean and encourage intolerance.

Moreover, the existence of plural societies has led to political parties being associated with racial groups instead of political ideologies. Independent Caribbean nations use democratic processes to determine who is to be placed into positions of political power. However, within plural societies, politics is heavily associated with race and many persons vote according to their racial identity. In fact, political parties sometimes instill fear into their associated racial group through baseless claims that their rivaling political parties would not see that their needs are met as those political parties do not represent them. Thus, by focusing on such frivolous matters, there has been limited advancement of Caribbean nations with plural societies as political parties’ performance in government has little effect on persons who vote along racial lines. Additionally, there have been accusations of ethnic cleansing by political parties in order to secure a continued position in government. According to Victor and Barbara Ferkiss, there is a high “correlation between racial background and political behaviour” in both Trinidad and Guyana despite “major political parties claiming to be nonracialist.” Additionally, they go on to state that during election time “racially-based ‘them or us’ motif is predominant in the hustings” (Ferkiss 6) Such activities only amplify racial tensions within these already plural societies and hence perpetuates a vicious cycle of intolerance and mistrust.

However, today, racial issues are likely to be on the decline due to a reduction of racial identity and increased interaction among races. Primarily due to secondary school and tertiary level education, younger generations have to interact with persons with other racial groups. Although, they may have been already brainwashed with racial stereotypes, these young students now have the opportunity and are sometimes forced to interact with persons with other races and hence develop their own view of persons with other races. Therefore, racism has slowly been declining, however, progress is slow as information gained by these students are only often passed on to their offspring and hence information transfer is slow. Additionally, due to this increased interaction, there has been an ever-increasing number of interracial marriages, however such marriages are often sanctioned by some families for racist reasons. Despite this, there has been an ever-increasing number of mixed-race persons in the Caribbean due to such interracial relationships (United Nations Statistics Division). These mixed-persons are now faced with the issue of racial identity as they can no longer have just one. Hence, the issue of race among these persons has become somewhat irrelevant. However, the majority of persons within these plural societies are not mixed and hence have strong racial identities.

Conclusion

joshua_davis22 — 2019-11-30 03:27:19 UTC

In conclusion, there is intolerance and mistrust in the Caribbean at varying levels due to race. The Caribbean society exhibits a pigmentocracy which gives persons with lighter skin colour higher social status. This has led to a skin bleaching phenomenon in order for persons to change their social status by changed their skin tone. Additionally, there is mistrust of the Syrian-Lebanese community, which constitutes a large portion of the Caribbean’s upper class. Moreover, due to the historical events that occurred during the colonial era, there is great mistrust among different racial groups within the Caribbean. However, increased interaction between races and miscegenation, racism within the Caribbean is being reduced. Therefore, the in the Caribbean there are varying levels of intolerance and mistrust.

Bibliography

joshua_davis22 — 2019-11-30 03:27:54 UTC

Besson, Gerard. “The Syrians and The Lebanese of Trinidad,” The Book of Trinidad. Paria Publishing Company, 1992.

Ferkiss, Victor, and Barbara Ferkiss. “Race and Politics in Trinidad and Guyana.” World Affairs, vol. 134, no. 1, 1971, pp. 5–23.

Folkes, Falon. “Bleaching Warning!” Jamaica Observer, 18 Feb. 2018, http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/front-page/bleaching-warning-mercury-in-cream-can-cause-brain-damage-kidney-failure-8212-officials_125617.

Hookumchand, Gabrielle. “Conflict between East-Indian and Blacks in Trinidad and Guyana Socially, Economically and Politically.” Intro to Caribbean History, 18 May 2000, http://www.guyana.org/features/conflicts_indiansandblacks.html.

Nantambu, Kwame. “Race and Politics in TnT.” Trinidad and Tobago News Blog, 18 July 2006, http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=49.

Redway, Jorja A. Black Caribbean Immigrants in the United States and their Perceptions of Racial Discrimination: Understanding the Impact of Racial Identity, Ethnic Identity and Racial Socialization. Columbia University, 2014.

United Nations Statistics Division. “Population by national and/or ethnic group, sex and urban/rural residence.” Population Censuses’ Datasets, https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/products/dyb/dybcensusdata.cshtml