Hello All, Here is an interesting article that was written by my cousin Simone Boyd. Please let us hear your comments: MIXED BY RACE, CARIBBEAN BY CULTURE BY SIMONE BOYD “I am mixed by race but not by culture”, my cousin Philip said to me and it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. All the years of not “fitting in” with American culture and he had the answer. It made complete sense. These past few weeks were a true period of awakening. I had been around my culture my entire life and did not really tap into it until my daughter was born and I realized I had something I wanted to share with her. I wanted to tell her about my grandfather and our heritage. I wanted to tell her this was not “it”. I happened to go on Google and try to find his obituary in the St. Martin newspaper archives. I came across “Philip Arnell”. I felt like I had seen a ghost. When I clicked on the link associated with his name, a book appeared called Arnell Genealogy. As I looked through the book, I saw my family’s history. My family origins stem from Ireland, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Africa and Asia. From pictures to brief stories, my family was a large proud family from St. Martin/St. Maarten and Anguilla. I even noticed facial features on my oldest brother on one of my older cousins in the book. Everyone is beautiful and the sibling’s distinctions are throughout. Sisters look similar in the face but complexions on opposite sides of the spectrum. This was mind-blowing. I wanted to know more. I contacted Philip via email and it has been an eye opening experience ever since. We sat down this past weekend and discussed our family history. I was able to meet his beautiful wife and family and get all my questions answered. I first asked him what he would call himself if asked on the street. “I am Caribbean American”, is how he began with a great deal of pride. “In America, recognition between race and culture puts people in a category. If you look perceived African American, you are automatically placed in that category”, - that goes for any race (ie: Asian, but what kind of Asian, Japanese, Korean , Chinese, Philippines). He continued, “If they didn’t know what I was, they would treat me better and if they presumed what I was they would not treat me the same”. Those powerful statements came from my cousin whom traveled and has seen racism in the most profound from- not only in society but within our own family. That topic came up after asking him about the challenges he encountered with racism. He spoke about how it was more subliminal as far as employment. For him to tell me that racism existed within the family was surprising to me. While in Guadeloupe, he saw a lot of racism. It went along with if you spoke French or not, also. They would actually ask if you were part of the “white” or “black” Arnells. He spoke about how skin color was a huge factor with how you would be treated in the family. If you were “clear” or fair-skinned, you would have the books, the better clothes and favoritism. If you were “dark”, you were not expected to do as well as the others. He told me how his father was considered the latter. Expectations were not even established. When his father was a teenager, his own siblings exercised the same habits such as not introducing him as their brother. His mother was very protective of him as if she thought he would not have the same life as her other children whom were fair-skinned. He did not let his skin color thwart his success. It made him more driven to succeed. He passed that same drive to his children. Now, Philip, his son, has books in four museums showing his family’s history of St. Martin/ St. Maarten/Anguilla and Barbados. Philip continued to tell me about how some of our relatives have abandoned their St. Martin heritage. How they have migrated to the United States, Europe and other Caribbean islands for educational and employment opportunities and have assimilated. St. Martin lacked jobs. In the 1950’s, island tourism was created, bringing jobs back thus beginning the destruction of the island’s natural beauty. There is even a story of a relative whom had a very fair complexion who left and went to Switzerland and never came back. He discussed how they have either adopted the “white” culture only. They married white women and men, had mixed children whom then married white men and women. They cycle continues and it was to the point, Philip had worked with a cousin whom “passed” for white and did not want to associate with him in front of co-workers as if ashamed. Then there are those in the family who went the other direction to adopt “black” culture only and had the same behaviors. That rings true with my grandmother. She was very fair-skinned and attained better employment. Her cousins were shocked when she married my grandfather whom was dark-skinned. Their disapproval continued when my aunt visited a nephew in St. Martin and he introduced her and they were shocked. My family’s looks extend from red hair and freckles- like my mother and dark skin like my father and blue eyes like my cousin. With all of these stories flying back and forth, I asked him if he believed there is an invisible caste system in the United States and St. Martin. He believes this to be true and in some cases openly exercised. From receiving news of a new baby and asking what color they are instead of if they are healthy is one that stood out to me. Hearing about failed attempts to reunite family due to sibling rivalries stemming from skin color was upsetting to hear. He said that civil rights issues existed in St. Martin. White French nationals lived on the French side of St. Martin and occasionally one would make comments. I asked if there was a Caribbean version of Jim Crowe and he believes that not to be as severe as the U.S. He also claims slavery to being the beginning of the separation of the family based on skin color-as within the U.S. He and his wife, Paula, were telling me about her Guyanese heritage and how she is mostly of Arawak Amerindian descent - an indigenous people located there. She and I talked about how she is perceived in the U.S. She told me about her experiences of women talking Spanish and she would have to correct them. Society in this part of the world due to ignorance that grows into arrogance fail to realize that cultures more so than perceived race differentiates us. From the Caribbean/South American section of the world genetically the people are the same. Whichever gene is stronger is what leads to whatever perception of that person, When a person says “they look Spanish” and you hear that person speaking French, Dutch or a British version of English (Caribbean), they get confused, and this is foreign to them. Hispanic is c culture not a race, the race is the blending of 2 or more races but it is given a title to appease society and that term in many cases is “Hispanic”. Then if the person is more African in appearance, and they say they are “Hispanic” they are questioned, and somewhat disassociated with their culture. Philip’s wife speaks of her country’s population mix and how they were discriminated against because they speak their native language. Her mother told me amazing stories about their people and their language. The final question I asked him and his wife was what highlights of their culture they would pass on to their children. They said among many things would be manners, being open-minded and continue adopt their Caribbean cultures. The St. Martin culture is slowly dying. With the help of technology, reaching out and finding relatives from places unimagined has been a dream come true for Philip. From the Dominican Republic, Aruba and Staten Island, he has found family! Some of them know where they are from and some are still in denial. Philip hopes from his extensive research displayed in his books, he can build bridges and erase those color lines to show “From Whence We Came To Where We Continue”.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 00:40:53 +0000
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