Could racial inequality exist on an island where #Caymankind is a growing motto, and the standard of living allows us to have comforts that many in the region around us may not have? How can a population with substantial mixed heritages have a divide between black and white?
On the surface, these questions may seem trivial. However, how many Caymanians have heard the firm instruction from a parent, “Don’t play outside too long, you’ll get TOO dark.” Or how about the grandiose compliment of “You gah pretty hair”? Many remarks about hair, skin, facial features, all tend to value a European aesthetic (straighter hair and noses, and lighter complexions) and criticise Afrocentric features (kinkier hair textures, broader noses and dark skin).
Some Caymanians have grown up with these comments as conversational set-pieces. Have we ever thought twice about the origins of this type of thinking?
Our subconscious ideals and preferences are fed by the enduring legacy of slavery and colonialism in our country and in the larger Caribbean region. Our society has an implicit bias towards how we look, how we sound, and who we value. Anti-blackness comes in different forms around the world, depending on the legacy of slavery, post-emancipation assimilation and societal development.
We all are watching the events in the United States sparked by the long record of police brutality and systematic racism against Black Americans. Yet, protests have erupted around the world, many in solidarity with ‘Black Lives Matter’, but also protesters feel that the issue of racial inequality is present in all societies.
Some of us have heard stories of our seafaring fathers and grandfathers forced to comply with the laws of Jim Crow segregation when they docked at ports in the southern US. In the same spectrum, many young Caymanians have travelled overseas and had experiences with discrimination and micro-aggressions in countries like the US and the UK.
These stories tell us that we are not exempt from racism outside of our beloved isle. Personally, growing up in a melting pot, my identity was defined not specifically by my skin colour, but by my Caymanian heritage. It was only really when I attended university in Canada that I realised that my culture did not matter to others, in that people who were not privy to that history saw me as black, placing me into a broader racial category.
We can compare ourselves to the outside world and think it may have nothing to do with us, but I believe it’s time to ask questions about the island we live in. Caymanians come in all different hues and shades, but are we all equal in the eyes of our community? Is giving someone a compliment about the texture of their hair just a compliment, or does it come from generational indoctrination to revere appearances that are far more mixed in presentation than aligned with the African features of our ancestors?
Do we have divisions in our public and private school systems? Do we all have access to the same luxuries and live in the same neighbourhoods? Cayman may not have a history of systemic racism, but prejudices and colourism do impact our society.
The anti-racism movement allows us to look at our history. It’s time for us to have open discussions of how we fit into the dialogue that is dominating conversations worldwide, harmful biases that we may have, and how we’d like to tell our story – the full story and not just the CliffsNotes. It is essential not only to acknowledge this history but also to call it out as it has plagued our society with toxic norms.
Ultimately, as a Caribbean island, we should stand in solidarity with our distant relatives in the African diaspora. Wouldn’t that truly be Caymankind?
Kierstin Stewart
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Preach! Too many people are so willing to ignore the problems and biases we have in our own community because it ‘doesn’t affect them’.
We need to take stock of ourselves and really examine our history and grow from it. If we silence or ignore it, we will never truly grow as a country.
I personally think that because we the people of the cayman islands have been under a colonial system of government for the past 200 years, and having been indoctrinated under this colonial system of government that the prejudices have been passed down, instead of us trying to embrace the culture of our black ancestors that were stolen out of Africa , and being one with-it, but the issue remains that we do not wish to be associated with slavery as a means of our heritage we would rather bury that side of our culture and heritage.
I class myself as being biracial with having a black mother and a so called white Caymanian father and that because his father and his grandfather originated and are of European decent but hn on the other hand my grandfather and his father were originating out of the, and from the continent of Africa,
I notice when I returned back to America, the American people would ask e if I am Puerto Rican or Indian, even though my skin color is high brown, but certain U.S.. people do not see me s being a black man, and i am treated differently from how the African American is treated because they do not se me s being African American, and its complex, and i live in the south,
My wife was the first person to tell me that that white American doe not see me as being African American, and I have noticed how the white American sees me, now because my father was a so called white Caymanian, he never saw himself as such, even though he knew he was not fully of the white race, The U.S. government identifies person of being of the white race if they have ny of their grandparents originating out of the European countries, they class you as being white, but even as I know my grandfather and great grandfather came out of Europe mainly England Scotland , Wales to look at me one would not in anyway class me as being of the White race because of the color of my skin, but other features tend to change other peoples opinion of how they see me here in America.
I know of people in the Cayman Islands who their grand parents were black as the ace of spades and they are passing to be white in cayman, and also here in America, I have first cousins who are here in America and have married into the white race and are passing for being white, but only if the truth were told , and depending on what their white counterparts and in-laws were to know they would definitely be hiding the fact that their sons had married a woman of color and that their little grand children had few drops of black blood, they would hide that fact or disinherit their sons, enough for now, but it is what it is, Caymanian people who have descended from the continent of Africa should be proud to be of the African decent since Africa is the cradle of civilization, and many a man who derived out of Africa are very smart people.
Now if I wanted d to get into religion, I could, most people of color do not realize that they are Hebrews and that Hebrews are of the Black race, as I identify as being Hebrew, and the people of Palestine are of the Black race, they may not look to be of the black race but they are.
Thomas Carter