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Macaulay Honors College
at Baruch, Spring 2013Professor Els de Graauw
ITF Benjamin Miller Log in
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Surprisingly Politically Active
Neville, a 63-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, remembers that college jumpstarted his political activism in the United States:
In college, you know, I was very, very involved. Very involved. Did some fundraising for, you know, like drought areas in the Sahel Desert. Sahel is a region that goes across, uhm, Africa and the Sahara – Chad, Mauritania, uhm it’s like a dry belt and it’s had bad situations with drought. So you get involved with that at that level and on the college level, you had struggles with English department, uhm, dominating the African Studies department. Things like that… and it’s not just the, uhm you know, race or anyting like that. I did a lot of stuff: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch…
Revolution
Neville, a 63-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, reflects on why people leave the safety and familiarity of their home countries:
Yeah, [Jamaicans] migrate a lot. It’s what they call, um, a pressure release? People migrate because if, uhm, if it wasn’t for migration, then you’d have revolution… because there would be no outlet for individuals to acquire what they’re looking for, what the government can’t give them.
Shocking Street Language
Neville, a 63-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, reveals a light-hearted anecdote on his introduction to American slang:
Uhm, a part of it is that culture thing, that language, the jargon, the street-language. I heard for the first time the word “MF.” Right? How I heard “MF” was that one young man introduced me to, uhm, his friend. And uhm, he said to the — in the course of talking, he said “You are a MF” and I took it literally!… And I-I-I just couldn’t even look at the guy, you know?… When the person left and the next person came up, another person called him the same word. I noticed that when they were using the word, they were smiling! Then I-I asked what that meant, and they said no it’s just an expression, you know. It was one of the things I had to go through, you know. It doesn’t necessarily mean how it sounds.
The Jailhouse Lawyer
Neville, a 63-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, discusses how he combats discrimination, not only for himself but also for those who cannot stand up for themselves:
Well I’ve experienced discrimination on the job. You experience it back in the 60’s, 70’s yeah… What happened to me was that I had a good sense of self. On the job, wherever I worked, I was the jailhouse lawyer, you know. What that meant was individuals who were not treated fairly and needed formalize their grievances with the company, I would write their letters, when nobody knew. You know, so individuals– sometimes people are about to be terminated, and uh, we’d just talk and I would write the letter personally with them and they could put their letter in the file and they’re still on the job.
Neville
Neville, a 63-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, has been living in the United States for forty-five years.
