Perhaps the more fitting title would be “When Cultures Collide”.
This video is the official trailer of a documentary film,” Culture Clash: Caribbean Children of Immigrant Parents”, written and directed by Jean-René Rinvil. It’s centered around the challenges encountered by second-generation Caribbean immigrants in terms of forming or adopting an identity.
“Immigrant children and children of immigrants from the Caribbean often struggle with two cultures without fully identifying with either group.” They’re often faced with the task of unearthing the answer to what they are, a sometimes difficult one. Do they claim an ethnic identity based on their parents’ countries of origin? Do they embrace some elements of American culture and identify as Black Americans? Or do they just claim an immigrant identity?
“You’re not black you’re Haitian,” Martha McDougle says in the video as she mimics what others may say when they try to label second and 1.5 generation immigrants like her. “I am black and Haitian, but does black have to be synonymous with African American?” she goes on to say. These are the questions they try to answer or the situations they try to clarify in trying to form an identity. In the end, many factors affect or influence what identity they choose to adopt, including their parents, popular opinions or misconceptions of their countries of origin, and their personal experiences.
