User talk:Cedric.dsouza44

Who are the West Indians?
The Caribbean islands are a collection of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. The islands stretch from the tip of Florida to the coast of South America. The largest islands include Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The smaller islands include Saint Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Saint Vincent, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago. The three main languages on the islands are English, Spanish and French.

American influence in the Caribbean’s took the form of military interventions, media influences, and the tourist and drug industries. All these aspects have a direct effect on Caribbean life and race relations. The United States had originally allowed unrestricted immigration from the Western Hemisphere until the enactments of laws that limited immigration. Those who had immigrated to the United States did not only consist of the poor, who wanted a better life, it also included the rich, who sought better economic opportunities. Examples of these were clerks in private enterprises and junior civil servants, who were paid relatively good and lived quite well. The West Indian immigrants were heavily concentrated in New York City and to some extent in the Miami metropolitan area. In New York City they resided, mainly, in the black neighborhoods of Harlem and central Brooklyn. They lived in black communes and rarely interacted socially with the white population.

West Indian Identity
The West Indians attempted to create a separate identity for themselves from the native blacks in America but as they tended to live in the same neighborhoods they were accustomed to the same discrimination. No matter what the background of blacks in America they were still considered African American by the “white” population. Identity was therefore important for West Indians as they had to set themselves apart from the “blacks” and create an identity unique to their own culture. West Indians feel that they are more ambitious, harder workers, and greater achievers than the African American population they are often categorized int o.  The 1990 census figures showed a much higher percentage of West Indians in New York in the labor force than African Americans: 89 percent of foreign-born West Indian men and 83 percent of foreign- born West Indian women compared with 77 percent of African American men and 69 percent of African American women.

As West Indians are not entirely sure of their ties to their host country, they attempt to preserve ties with their countries of origin. They keep in touch with friends and family in their home countries. The West Indian looks to his homeland and to the local West Indian community in the United States for much of his/her acceptance or rejection, praise or blame, recognition for past achievements and support for his aspirations. This is what helps him or her as a person because there is always a struggle between the homeland and the host country. As new immigrants, they rebuilt their lives from scratch and they are torn between the world of their host country and the world of their homeland. This is because they still felt allegiance towards their homeland yet a new relationship with their host country.

In American society West Indians have created a unique identity. Through song and dance they have established a new sense of culture. "Caribana" is one of the biggest West Indian cultural parades. As the parades moves along, it grows as people join it.

Socioeconomic Status
The socioeconomic status of West Indians was better compared to that of most immigrants to the United States. When the first immigrants initially arrived they were subject to occupational downgrading, as the qualifications for jobs in the United States are higher than that in the West Indies. In the 1970’s the West Indians had higher median family incomes than the black population. The median family income for the West Indian compared to the whites was essentially the same at 98.5%. The immigrant family, in the beginning, would tend to work any job; they would work for low pay. The status of a job was not important for newly arriving West Indians; more important was building a new life and a future for their children.

When compared again to African Americans in the country, it was shown they perform better in other fields than just socioeconomically. The West Indians were more likely to be employed, less likely to be on welfare, and more likely to have husband-wife two-earner households. This demonstrates how far the West Indians had come, despite the racism that they were subjected to. They were able to overcome a barrier and essentially become equal with the whites or “Americans” of the country. This all relates back to the ethnic values held by the West Indians. School was important to these immigrant families and the idea of schooling was pushed onto future generations of West Indians. Armed with an education and financial backing from their parents, second generation West Indians were able to push forward and get better jobs to improve their conditions.

Racial Hostilities
There have been many racial incidents involving West Indians but it has been related to the rest of the “black” population:

The killing of Michael Griffith (Guyanese origin) by a group of white men in Howard Beach Queens in 1986.

Another example is that of the 1986 killing of a child (Guyanese origin) by a Hasidic driver that sparked the Crown Heights Riot.

These incidents were defined by the media in black-white terms. The West Indian origin of the victims went largely unknown.

Popular West Indian Figures
Colin Powell

Shirley Chisholm

Barack Obama