This Month on Pulse - July (Repeat)

Sunday, July 24 @ 12:00 PM
Thursday, July 28 @ 7:30 PM

(Originally Aired 2/20/11)


Being Black in South Florida
We gathered a panel of women to discuss what it’s like to be black in South Florida and the U.S. today.  What defines a person—their cultural heritage or the color of their skin?

Guests:
Guylene Berry, Positive Impact Foundation
Debra Nixon, Ph.D., Nova Southeastern University
Joy Reid, The Miami Herald
Donna Aza Weir-Soley, Ph.D., Florida International University

Comments

[D]

The only difference between African-Americans and people of African descent who came to the USA over the past 100 years is:

They came here to improve their station in life (educational or economic opportunities).

They were motivated to make their lives better.

All African-Americans' ancestors were brought here by force to fulfill Europeans dreams. They didn't come here freely to improve their situation in life.

The majority are not motivated to be the best in whatever they do. They are just satisfied making a living.

The same behaviour is now seen in the majority of people of African descent(in the Caribbean, South and Central America, Mexico)whose ancestors came in chains to work for the benefit of others.

People who leave their home land and migrate to other lands are motivated to succeed.They do whatever it takes to make their lives better.

People who remain in their homeland are usually not as motivated. Especially if there is a history of mistreatment and suppression of the aspirations of those people.

I came from the West Indies when I was 12 yrs old. In many instance I was mistreated by African-Americans for various reasons.

I now fully understand the cruel and barbaric treatment they had to endure. Much worse than my people had to endure in my homeland

They were deceived into hating their physical features (as we all were)and anyone else who looked like them. Especially if you were not American
They majority of them didn't even know that the people of African descent living in the Caribbean, South and Central America ancestors were also brought from Africa as slaves.

[Donald]

I've seen this program twice. I believe it was Dr. Weir-Soley who mentioned how African-Americans are treated differently in the USA from other peoples of African descent -- namely from the Caribbean, South American or Africa. She also mentioned how the reverse occurs in the U.K. Dr. Weir-Soley saw the cause as guilt. I would say that in the US, there's been a tradition of American whites and blacks perceiving each other as mortal enemies. Hence there's the pressure imposed new entrants to this culture who don't readily identify with either group to decide whether they are black or white - as if there were no other classifications. Personally, I'm a dark-skinned American man of Afro-Caribbean descent. My four grand-parents were from 3 Caribbean islands. My parents and I were all born in NYC -yet my mother and myself have spent many formative years in the islands. Just to illustrate how crazy these racial notions can be, I actually had a white female co-worker from my mother's generation ask me if I considered myself black. Recall I mentioned I'm a dark-skinned black man. How anyone could perceive me as anything other than black is beyond me. The only thing I could surmise is, for her, black is somehow equated with African-American and she knew of my Caribbean connection. Of course, had I been born and raised in the Ukraine, I would still be black. But I digress.
There was mention, also, how immigrant blacks often criticize African-Americans as being shiftless and unambitious. Since my background has me straddling the fence between being American and Caribbean, I can add something to this discussion. When I was at my Alma Mater, an Ivy League college and struggling with the hassles therein ( I graduated from Dartmouth College), when I thought of myself as a West Indian, the Caribbean represented a refuge, a spiritual oasis that I could keep in my mind. When I thought of myself as an American, that sense of safe harbour was not present. That perspective seemed very demoralizing. This was it, and I'd better get used to it. I suppose that was a glimpse of the chasm between being an African American in America and being a black from an immigrating culture. I could write about how American whites often behave in an African majority situation common in the Caribbean but that would be a whole other discussion.