As the owners of Indigo Divers attempt to diffuse community outrage, set off by controversial Facebook posts about keeping “riffraff” off the company’s West Bay dock and property, the viral and real world fallout rages on.
The comments have set off an online outrage well beyond the couple’s ability to retract, striking a nerve with Caymanians, frustrated over the disrespectful language and the diminishing access to natural spaces.
Once the posts — repeating the insult “riffraff” and referring to a newly installed privacy gate as “Guantanamo Bay” — hit popular social media pages, the comments spread like wildfire, inspiring T-shirts, talk show appearances, music and protest among Caymanians seeking to make it clear they had enough of being disrespected and undermined by outsiders given opportunities to live and work in Cayman.
A meeting with Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan, intended to assuage anger and provoke a public apology, further complicated the situation for owners Chris and Katie Alpers, as well as the conversation around who should — and shouldn’t — be welcomed in the Cayman community.
“I thought it could have been a genuine misunderstanding or mistake,” Bryan said in an Instagram video Wednesday.
After the meeting, however, Bryan called for a review of immigration policy, citing “times where there are people who become a part of our society who do things that are not necessarily desirable,” he said.
West Bay South MP André Ebanks also spoke up Tuesday, calling for an apology over the “generalising and offensive language” and for the company to consider removing the fence on their dock.
Chris Alpers, who has lived in Cayman for 30 years, said Wednesday that the couple “never intended to cause offence … and the comment was certainly not directed at Caymanians or West Bayers”.
By that point, however, the business had already been forced to shut down its social media pages, as negative reviews and comments poured in, and images of Chris Alpers in black face had begun to circulate, provoking further outrage.
Reviews for the company were also shut down on Tripadvisor following a barrage of negative comments.
Katie Alpers cried as she spoke to the Cayman Compass about the fallout.
“I feel terrified, threatened, afraid to go out in my car because of the Indigo Divers sticker on the side of it. We are receiving hate mail. Our Google account has been hacked; the calls are endless,” Katie Alpers said.
The husband-and-wife owners of the dock and parking lot near the northern end of Seven Mile Beach claim that since they built it about 10 years ago, they are constantly having to clean up before guests arrive to go out on their dive boat.
“We are not sure who is responsible. It could be people from anywhere, but when we arrive in morning, we regularly find trash on the pier, things like empty beer cans, used condom wrappers, fishing hooks, fish guts, bits of squid bait,” Chris Alpers said.
“People are sleeping in cars in the parking lot. When we put out trash cans, they get stolen. We had a chain across the driveway and that was stolen too. We have had people break into our bathroom, smashing the window and leaving blood all over the bathroom floor.”
Katie Alpers believes that part of the problem is that the public dock beside theirs has been in a state of disrepair and damaged for a long time, so she believes that people are now using their dock more instead.
“People bring their boats alongside our pier and, most of the time, they don’t even ask us. If they called, we would probably let them use it occasionally, but this is our private property,” she said.
Chris Alpers said if they could take back the “riffraff” comment now, they would do that.
“It was a poor choice of words, but we really have no idea of the identity of the people who are leaving the mess and garbage on our property; this is not a Caymanian-specific issue and we feel it is being blown out of proportion,” he said.
Caymanians, meanwhile, continued to express frustration on social media that people who were made to feel welcome in Cayman, who then prospered here, were now putting down the local people.
On Wednesday evening at the public dock in West Bay, one man, who did not wish to be named, echoed much of that sentiment, telling the Cayman Compass there was a sense of Caymanians feeling slighted and overwhelmed by outsiders who should instead be grateful for the opportunities they have been given here.
The term ‘riffraff’ was also being reclaimed by many Caymanians. On the entrance of The Hive restaurant on West Bay Road, a sign read, “Riff Raff Always Welcome!”, and on social media page Cayman Wastes, T-shirts were being promoted with the words “Entitled Caymanian Riffraff”.
Kayla Young also contributed to this reporting.
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It would be great if the West Bay dock was finally fixed It has been 3 years and is a safety hazard
Its also in the work place. They may not use the same words, but always talking down and disrespecting the person. It is good to see Caymanians “the new generation” are standing up. Change will only come if we unite and stand together. Best of luck and vote for the right person for a better Cayman.
This article certainly adds fuel to the fire. As a “paper Caymanian” I feel the Alpers certainly had cause for complaint, but certainly chose the wrong words to evidence it.