Posted: Fri 16 Jun 2006 17:08 Post subject: Racial Politics in Barbados (Skin Tone)
Racial Politics in Barbados (Skin Tone)
Quote:
I'm new to Barbados - I would describe myself as a Black person who happens to be biracial. I thought I would fit in really well here but I find that I am getting weird reactions from some people because my skin tone (similar to Halle Berry/ Sade/ Bob Marley) seems to be very rare in Barbados although it's common in the US. Sometimes I get bad treatment from people who are darker than me; I also get really bizzare reactions from people who are a bit lighter than me (not white) who form a small, yet signficant group in this country.
I daren't discuss it with anyone that I know because Barbados is so small - everyone seems to know everyone here. Has anyone got any thoughts or is this too taboo to talk about?
Whew...That was entertaining.....I just love how at first many people are dimissive of her claims, which given Barbados history they shouldn't be. Then the whole thing devolves into comparing Jamaica unfavorably to Barbados when it comes to racial issues and charging her with being hypersensitive.
What is hilarious is that Jamaicans say that Bajans are more color struck.
I agree with a lot of what this woman has stated. I've experienced very similar scenarios when I've visited Barbados as well. What she is saying is true. Bajans come in various shades, but the high-medium (like mine) to very fair complexions occur at a lesser frequency, which is why folks WILL stare there. The women can be extremely catty and as for the men...........*SIGH* Let's just say that they aren't able to control themselves when they see lighter women. The lighter skin seems to be a major preference but with rather slim pickings there.
But this attitude appears to be the norm in any Caribbean country where the population is predominantly of African descent and there are a minute number of mixeds/biracials.
I have often seen this situation below go down. Taken from the very same message board:
Here we go again. There are no colour issues in perfect Barbados, only
in Jamaica!! Bajans, who are you kidding!!!? A relative of mine married
into a Barbadian family and I was shocked the first time I went to one of
the Barbadian's home. This woman had a lot of grandchildren. But one
of them had a white Canadian mother and the child came out very white with
platinum blond hair. The living room was plastered with 8x10 photos of this
child. You'd think this was her only grandchild! There were small
photos of the black grandchildren but the contrast was amazing!
Mind you, it has been widely understood that Jamaica remains the gold standard of colourism in the Caribbean due to the degree in which it exists in that country. You guys have seen the posts here on this site about the excessive skin bleaching concerns in Jamaica. While growing up, my mother's Jamaican friend would literally rave about me to her relatives and friends, but OUTRIGHT ignore my younger sister (daughter of my mother and my very African looking, dark skinned stepfather). My sister was good friends with her fair skinned daughter and they grew up together. Ironically, when they finished high school, the Jamaican woman told her daughter that she could not remain friends with my too black, short haired, nappy headed sister b/c child's play is over and "now life turns serious.....You can't be seen with a darkie like her if you want to go places." It broke my sister's heart. They had been "friends" since nursery school.
An aside: I was NOT treated very well at all by my stepdad's "black" family.
One half of my family is Trinidadian and colourism is extremely rampant there but it tends to not be as severe as it is in Jamaica, because a very large amount of the Trinidadian population is mixed and "high coloured". Factor in that Venezuela is a very close neighbor of ours......No one will stare at you in Trinidad if you are fair and have straight or wavy hair. Hell, practically everyone there does! But in Trini, colour can determine who your friends are, where you work, attend school, or live, which clubs or parties you go to, and even which Carnival band you play with!
Posted: Sat 08 Jul 2006 07:22 Post subject: prejudice in barbados
Thats too bad to hear. Im a quarter Bajan, and i dont think id really like to go visit my relatives over there after all. As for Trinidad, i dont understand, I thought it was a black country, not one with many Mulattos and other creoles. This calls for more research!
P.S. I personally define colourism as color distinctions made between people who could reasonably see themselves as the same race. I define racial prejudice to encompass hostility between people of different races based on ancestry, or color. That is probably a us centric view, though.
Posted: Sat 08 Jul 2006 11:35 Post subject: Re: prejudice in barbados
TheMulattoKid wrote:
Thats too bad to hear. Im a quarter Bajan, and i dont think id really like to go visit my relatives over there after all. As for Trinidad, i dont understand, I thought it was a black country, not one with many Mulattos and other creoles. This calls for more research!
I would encourage you to visit the BWI if you get a chance. There are unpleasant people everywhere, of course, but most folks are nice everywhere and British West Indians are especially hospitable. All of the islands' populations are throughly mixed, and so each island has many people who span the entire European-African-East Indian spectrum of admixture (and appearance). Our latest grandson is half Trini. Specifically, his four grandparents are: White-looking Puerto Rican (me), Irish-looking Irish-American (Mary Lee), African-looking Trini (his other grandfather), and East Indian-looking Trini (his other grandmother).
I agree with a lot of what this woman has stated. I've experienced very similar scenarios when I've visited Barbados as well. What she is saying is true. Bajans come in various shades, but the high-medium (like mine) to very fair complexions occur at a lesser frequency, which is why folks WILL stare there. The women can be extremely catty and as for the men...........*SIGH* Let's just say that they aren't able to control themselves when they see lighter women. The lighter skin seems to be a major preference but with rather slim pickings there.
But this attitude appears to be the norm in any Caribbean country where the population is predominantly of African descent and there are a minute number of mixeds/biracials.
True and you would have experienced this in places like St. Vincent as well. For the most part, Bajans are primarily of predominant African ancestry with smaller groups of mixed-looking, Afro-European people. The island has a small population of whites, some of whom are, from my understanding, quite poor. I believe the latter are descended from Irish indentured servants. Additionally, there is a small East Indian population.
The Cayman Islands has a mulatto, if you will, majority, so you’d get lost in the sauce out there. Trinidad, which is a polyglot nation, has large numbers of “mixed people” of various lineages. Consequently, people there may be less surprised when seeing someone of mixed or ambiguous appearance.
Quote:
Mind you, it has been widely understood that Jamaica remains the gold standard of colourism in the Caribbean due to the degree in which it exists in that country. You guys have seen the posts here on this site about the excessive skin bleaching concerns in Jamaica.
True, but colorism can take many different forms. Most Jamaicans I know, including my relatives, feel that whites still have significant control in Barbados and there is very little mixing between black and white and very few mixed people. They see this as colorism.
However, in Jamaica, you still have beauty queens who don’t look like most women on the island, and at least Barbados has had a black prime minister immediately after independence. With the exception of one or two, Jamaica’s prime ministers have predominantly been non-black. Indeed, in my neighborhood, the local Caribbean radio station supported the campaign of P.J. Patterson because he was black and it was “black man’s time”, etc.
Naturally, many Jamaicans I know of various hues deny the existence of colorism in Jamaica, but not elsewhere in the Caribbean…..unless it can be blamed on the United States.
Joined: 11 May 2005 {Posts: 84 } Location: New York
Posted: Mon 10 Jul 2006 19:08 Post subject: Re: prejudice in barbados
TheMulattoKid wrote:
Thats too bad to hear. Im a quarter Bajan, and i dont think id really like to go visit my relatives over there after all. As for Trinidad, i dont understand, I thought it was a black country, not one with many Mulattos and other creoles. This calls for more research!
Trinidad’s population is roughly 40% black, 40% East Indian and 20% everybody else – white, Chinese, mixed. Somewhat similar to Guyana, though the East Indian population in Guyana is closer to 50% I think, and the black and “every body else” is less.
Barbados’s, Jamaica’s and Grenada’s population make-up is similar – around 85% black, 10% mixed, and 5% whites and East Indians. I think Barbados has the highest % of whites at 4%. Grenada’s is 2%, with 3% East Indian. Grenada’s native white population originally came from Barbados over a hundred years ago. (I am from Grenada, and my father came from that population. After over a hundred years in Grenada, they still have a Bajan accent!) I think most of that population would have come from Scotland rather than Ireland.
The total population of the BWI is not much more than 5 million, with Jamaica over 2 million, Trinidad over 1 million, and Guyana over 1/2 a million - mayber closer to a million by now. Barbados's population size is probably 1/4 million. The Windward Islands - Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica - are about 100 thousand each, quite tiny.
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It broke my sister's heart. They had been "friends" since nursery school.