-why do africans and west indians not get on???Just interested to hear from both west indians about this subject-i would like to know why west indians and africans do not get along-when i was a youngster my mother always made me to believe that west indians do not get along-as an adult i made friends with some people with ghana and johannesburg who i thought were a great laugh until i made the mistake of moveing in with themBad move

culture wise cooking wise and even some of the discussions that were had around the dinner table(which i never sat at when they were cooking their traditional food)got quite tense at times when this subject was appraoched-one of them said to me that west indians feel africans sold them out to the whites when i said that"you did"-he turned round and said "no it was your forefathers" which my reply to that was "and where were thay from" Africa" He said...........................has anyone any comment on this because i would really like to get to the bottom of what all the tension was between us is about.......By the way-i moved out after 2 months and found somehwere else lolbarbflag

-the 1st paragraph should read i am interested in hearing from west indians AND AFRICANS-i am not able for people to say im being prejudice lol

Why West Indians and Africans don't get along? Hmm.. subject to a huge debate. As a person of JA parentage, I haven't really had any problems with Africans that I have met. There was one occasion when this Nigerian guy at work told me that Africans were better than West Indians asWest Indiansare the descendants of slaves. Well.. I brushed that off as it just sounded so foolish.

To begin with I think this issue is more of a UK phenomenon than an American one. At this point it seems to be something of a tradition b/c both groups have been sharing virtually the same space for decades now. Further more it is human nature to want to feel superior to somebody. It doesn't matter whether it's blacks, orientals, indians, whites, or latinos. No one wants tofeel that they arethe bottom of the barrel. In the Hispanic community here in the U.S. the Mexicans of Texas and California compete with the Puerto Ricansvs. Dominicans (Republic)of NY who compete with the Braziliansand Cubans in Miami.

I've lived in NY city for the past 2 years and I've never heard of it here b/w Africans and Caribbeans. Most of the black people here are of Caribbean descent. My friends who I met thru school are Haitian, Guyanese, and Dominican. I even lived in Portsmouth, Dominica. I'll never forget those winding roads...lol. My ex-boyfriend is Jamaican (he asked me if he could be my personal trainer when I joined the gym).

My drycleaner is from Jamaica and he's always teasing me about when I'm going to take him to Nigeria and show him around. It's funny butwhen I was reading that kingdomglob vs FredB thread it reminded me of the way he talks about Jamaica.

So Daronne5, at the end of the day eachindividual is responsible for the way they think and their actions. A person's good attitude or behavior cannot be credited to their ethnic group neither should their bad behavior.

@Chi Chi. PORTSMOUTH....DOMINICA...? Been there boy don't know how many times.

Very quiet and peaceful place.

Look how the world is so small.


Fredbanana.gif

@ Doronne5

Don't buy into the myth - 'West Indians v Africans'. No such conflict. Furthemore they are of the same stock, just different geographical locations.

Don't let the slave mentality induced by the 'divide and rule' principle get hold of you. I am assuming it has, hence the 'West Indians Vs Africans' title to your thread.
Sure not every person that categorises themselves as 'West Indian' gets along with every person that categorises themselves as 'African' but that is no basis on which to claim the existence of some major ethnic conflict between them.

Do you have a conflict?

Respect

Im sorry Backatya but i am of the firm belief that Africans and west Indians although ARE the same skin shade we are Fundamentally different-im not gonna start airing my views and what i,ve had said to me by many an african but we are different-i am not trying to make this an us VS them them thred but i know what has been said to me by more that 1afracn before and i didn't like it but because

@Chi Chi, Yep with Caribbean peopel we all work for the national tourist boards of our countries. But I have regional mandate[LOL]. We love our countries and love to tell the world and got plenty adjectives when doing so.

But come on Chi Chi you can agree, we are not far wrong as your stay in Portsmouth will show you. No drama, no violence and no one bothering you and mother nature in full abundance. The days are very very long in Portsmouth.

Big up your JA boyfriend for me, always like to see Caribbean bros spreading the love to African sisters from all parts....

----------------------------------------------------------
@Daronne. Backatya took the original words out of my mouth when I came to this thread, but Chi Chi took my eye discussing in a way things of more importance. Not joking when I say that either.

There is far more actute tension between whites eg American and British, British and German and particularly French than there has ever been amongst Africans and Caribbean Africans or West Indians. Yes we have our idiots as all people do, but probably even less in number.

Look at the key facts. Africans and Caribbea Africans have lived in peace for centuries in the oldest black communities in this country, eg Liverpool, Chesire, Manchester and parts of Wales which are over four centuries old.

Post war period. When Africans came to British univsersities, they met Caribbean Africans already there who welcomed them and developed deep bonds of solidarity and cooperation. The independence movement was born in universities with African and CAribbeans working along side with each other forming life long friendships and people marrying each other.

I have many friends my age whose mother's are Africans married to West Indians or vice versa. This pattern has never changed and exists today. Africans have been marrying CAribbeans from the day dot and that continues and will continue. I have many friends married to people from the continent, colleagues and people younger than myself are in such relationships and nothing will change that pattern. So that is my reality.

During the 60's when I came here with my mother etc to meet my father. our neighbours were Nigerians and we lived in peace, in each others homes, looking after each others children. They would come to our homes to watch television, especially the women to watch wrestling[black women's favourite for some odd reason] with my mother and aunts and scream down the place.

At university the bond between Africans and West Indians was very very strong. My best pal and right hand was a Nigerian brother as was common throughout uni life elsewhere. The militant and radical crew were always Africans and CAribbeans.

Two of the most prominent and most powerful of the founders of the Black power movement here from the late 60's onwards were Nigerians ,Obi Egbuna being the most prominent, and others lower in the ranks who were part and parcel of a predomiantly West Indian phenomenon.

I met a Nigerian sister living in the Caribbean who had been going there since childhood, as her father was an inspector on the Nigerian police who had been sent there with other Nigerian Officers to establish the police force in many island; which grew out of existing strong links between Africans and Caribbean leaders who eventually came to power.

So this conflict is actually more myth than reality and more serves the interest of the ignorant and those hostile to our people's collective and global advancement in pushing these myths. The average continental African visiting the Caribbean will not experience any form of hostility based on that fact, if any thing the reverse. Having invited friends from the continent home and met many others there I speak from experience. Yes we have ignorant and backward people, but they will treat me, who lives here in that way as well and are not many.

Go to many big cities here and go to Colleges, and see how young Africans and Caribbeans get on especially the boys/young men. In many cases it is hard to tell the differences between them ,until football or important things like that raises its head.

Go to South London, North London, East/West London where you have large numbers of Africans and Caribbean people living next door to each other,face to face and in some Council Estates living on top of each other.

A year ago, I was driving with my brother and we witness one of these car tax police dragnets, with DOT officials in big numbers, involved in an incident that was getting out of hand with a young Caribbean sister. I stopped the car blocking traffic just to watch how far this was going to go. When we realised that action had to be taken. By the time we got out of the car there were black men pouring out of their vehicles.

When we got close the brother who had steamed in and took control was a Nigerian ,elder brother, another brother was from Ghana and they were n't ramping. So lets look in the real world.

I saw some young brothers the other day go to assist an middle aged Nigerian sister, in her nice traditional dress and head wear, off to somewhere important. Rather than watch the lady push her car, the young brothers told her to step aside and took over. The majority of the cars pulling over to offering assistance were Caribbean men like myself.

Given the options of spending their money in a shop owned by a Nigerian/West African, an Asian, or white man providing similiar products and similar prices and quality of serivice. Who do you think the average African Caribbean will spend his/her money with...?

So Darronne5. Not sure what you are saying and what ends being served. What the white man has never been able to achieve with all his power, you my dear brother and some rambling idiotic fools will never.

This is the kind of thread I would ban outright. It serves no purpose, is not a real issue in evidential and priority terms and only does harm and encourages our enemies.

Fredniceone.gif

I think it is certain individuals from both places but i dont think everyone joins in.

I am half west indian and half african so i get to hear more stuff!!! lol

I must say (and whoever wants to cuss can cuss) I find i have these conversations with African (mostly Nigerians) than i have ever had with a West indian (not saying they dont exist though).

When i meet a Nigerian man one of the first questions is where am i from, so i say my dad is from Gabon, then they say "Ahhhh I thought you were one of those Jamaicans," and then they go into one about them. i'll ask them if they have been to Jamaica, they say no. Do you have any Jamaican friends, they say no. Then he said he has had a few run ins with them and they are ignorant and loud!! You know i just had to look at him and laugh because many people would say the same thing about Nigerians (generalised i know) !!! Maybe in some respects they are too alike!!!

I have met many Jamaican men and when i say where i am from they seem interested and ask if i have been there before etc.I am sure ignorant ones exist but i dont really run into them.

I do believe that if both were in a situation against awhite man they would join forces, and i guess that is all that matters, the unity wil be there underneath it all.

Peace~

@ BB

Because that is one of the names the Caribbean is known as.

Personally i use both, but i know CC was the one that called it that.

If you would like to educate and enlighten everyone as to why you prefer to use the term Caribbean then thats all good, but you're asking the question like EVERYONE MUST know this, and that is not the case.

Do you also call all the Caribbean islands their original names too?



PEace~

@BB said:

"I want to know WHY ppl keep referring to the CARRIBBEAN as the West Indies??? That's the incorrect term coined by bloody christopher Clumsy!


True dat my dear sis. Sometime when we talk we can be technical and precise others not. Noitce I generally use all terms interchangably African, African Caribbean, Caribbean, or West Indian. Because as Iyallah said or infered those are the terms people use to describe themselves. So rather than have debates over words when that is not the primary objective. Called going down a side road.

Also people have different levels of conciousness. I have no problem calling myself an African, as did my grandparents,[minus one who was not] but others in our large family may take a different view. But you are correct about the term West Indian. But you will have to go back home and wage that war, because the term is used naturally and I find myself falling into it,just to ease the conversation.

Fredniceone.gif

@Iyallah.Sis ever thought many of those hard headed Jamaicans and Nigerians who constantly knock heads, are not one and the same people. Jamaicans are almost over 50% Ghanians in orgin, but there must be nuff Nigerians amongst them. Just a thought. Perhaps its the Ghanian and Nigerian thing. Just thinking...LOL[Smile].

Fredniceone.gif

@iyallah i was gonna say the same thing.

@blackbeauty........i dont see why the west indies being called that is such an issue. there are many countries within africa asia whose name is evr changing. there is no doubting the the caribbean is in the west and used to be filled with arawak(and other)indians. therefore for the region to be refered to as west indies poses no problem. the name caribbean should prove more of an issue as

The term “Carib� is a derogatory term, ....., introduced by the Spanish conquerors.

“Carib means ‘cannibal’,� ...... “That term was used to refer to people who fought back. That is the name which kind of stuck.

http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Communities/...aribShaman.htm