“The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels.”

The Caribbean is a society with many definitions but nonetheless is a very distinct place, culture and people that have endured the hardest tribulations a people can ever face and have emerged from such egregious offences as best as one in such a situation could, though some of the wounds of old have left terrible scars on a majestic people that have lead to the Caribbean today being reasonably characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels, specifically in terms of race, government and authority and sexuality and gender. Here’s why:

Race

The Caribbean today is a very racially diverse territory, many different races live together and while the harmony amongst races continue to get better, there is not always the harmony or the ability to see past race. While it is not prominent as it used to be, racism still exists in certain areas of society. One major area where this racial intolerance and mistrust exists is in elections, it is termed “tribal voting” where people of a certain race vote for others only of such race, despite policies or politics of others. Tribal voting can be easily seen in Trinidad and Tobago where the common, yet accurate belief is that people of East-Indian decent vote for UNC whilst people of African descent vote for PNM, both being the two major parties and races. The racial make-up of both parties also reflects their voter base, as the UNC has a majority East-Indian party and the PNM has a majority African party. This can also be seen in other Caribbean islands where leaders are mostly the race that reflects the majority, the reason this can be considered racism is that the reason for such a vote is due to no other factor than the person’s race. This way of thinking could be due to ancestral instincts of survival that one must stick together or simply preference but either way it represents an old, outdated way of thinking that is beneficial to no-one. Marriage and relationships is another area where intolerance for races exist, interracial marriages and relationships have been frowned upon heavily in the Caribbean and is still being frowned upon with families of the involved parties disapproving of partners simply because of their race, this was recently observed with Jamaican Dancehall superstar “Vybz Kartel” when he revealed his relationship with a Turkish woman, on social media platform Instagram, Vybz Kartel being of African descent and the woman being Middle-eastern, “fans” took to his social media to express their disapproval in his interracial relationship, some even calling him a black man who “sold out”. To come as far as the Caribbean has and interracial relationships still being considered problematic is proof that the Caribbean can be characterized by intolerance and mistrust on all levels.

Government & Authority

It is very reasonable to say that Caribbean people are very intolerant of authority and have nothing but mistrust for those in power, this can be considered understandable given the history of the Caribbean and the horrific events its people faced. The most notable historic events that could have cultured this mindset are Slavery, at the time the authority was the Colonial government and slave masters who killed, lied and raped the people on top of ripping them from their homeland, Indentureship, the authority was again the colonial masters, who lied to the workers, over worked them, broke contracts, cheated them and tried through force and law to make things difficult for them and keep them at the bottom of society, another would be the tribulations faced by the peaceful Rastafarian community against the police and the people, those who subscribed to Rastafarianism were harassed, beaten, and wrongfully prosecuted for years. Nowadays, there is no slavery or as much prejudice in the Caribbean but there are many corrupt politicians, police and powerful figures that abuse their power given to them by the people through-out the Caribbean. A society that has no trust in its leaders or its police, the people whose jobs it is to keep the people safe and serve the people is a broken society, this is most definitely reflected in the crime rates of some Caribbean nations, such as Trinidad and Tobago, finishing the year 2018 with over four-hundred murders, as people chose to join gangs for protection and take justice into their own hands. Therefore, it can be said that Caribbean people still hold onto the notion that government and police are not one hundred percent on their side and are corrupt even if they are not officially oust as such and it would be unreasonable to say these people are wrong as history have shown that they are in fact, quite correct. This is not to say that the people must riot or that they are completely lawless and should be uncooperative as of course things can only get better if both sides become tolerant and give each other trust, but for this to happen there must be reasons for trust to be given as the Caribbean people are a tough hardened people who have endured time and time again.

Sexuality & Gender

The topics of sexuality and gender are in themselves topics that have received very little attention and therefore tolerance by Caribbean people, regardless of a person’s own political or religious belief. The topics of sexuality and gender most commonly brings about discussions of one’s sexual orientation, be it heterosexual or homosexual and the societal roles and expectations of a men and women and what is normal behaviour for one gender and abnormal for another. It is safe to say that Caribbean people are still very intolerant of homosexuality as can be observed in the lack of appropriate and accommodating laws, with homosexuality still being against the law in nine major Caribbean countries and the lack of discussions on national and personal levels, though it is not out of hatred but simply that Caribbean people are very traditional in their ways and thus in culture, this results in homosexual persons being afraid to truly express themselves as they know they would be ridiculed by friends or family or even breaking the law, causing said person to develop detrimental mental health issues, such as depression. In terms of gender roles, men are traditionally expected to be strong, the bread-winner of a household whilst women traditionally are expected to be a care giver and mother. These expectations still hold true to an extent as violence against women is still disappointingly rampant but is gradually changing as women in power, women being bread-winners, men staying at home to raise children for instances, are all on the rise. The perfect example of this was when Trinidad and Tobago saw its first female Prime Minister ever in the general election of May of 2010, The Honorable Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, she absolutely shattered the expectations of women and showed that there is no limit to what a Caribbean woman can accomplish.

Solutions to the highlighted issue

Love

We as people must learn to love each other regardless of our differences.

Trust

We must learn to love then learn to trust each other as it takes a people as one to build nations.

Tolerance

We must be tolerable of each other as we are all different.

The reason why as a Caribbean person myself, I chose to agree with such a statement?

I want to see my people, my culture and my own country grow and become better day after day, but to do so, one must be able to reflect and see the error in their ways and hopefully this website can be of some difference and add to the cause of becoming a better Caribbean.

About

This website was created by Adrian Khan (myself) and gives my informed perspective on the statement,

” The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels. “

as a student of the University of The West Indies, taking the Caribbean Civilization course. I chose to focus on three major areas where this statement most definitely holds true.

Those areas of course being the three in bold above; race, government and authority and sexuality and gender. My perspective has been cultivated through appropriate sources of information and the knowledge received in the Caribbean Civilization course.