I found Constance R. Sutton’s “The Caribbeanization of New York City and the Emergence of a Transnational Sociocultural System to be almost a culmination of several topics and issues we’ve discussed thus far, almost like transnationalizing our class discussions. Firstly, there is then notion that Afro-Caribbean is not a represented ethnicity, therefore those who identify as such are forced to categorize themselves as either Black or Hispanic on the census. Similarly, West Indians and Indo-Caribbeans, those who were part of the “second migration,” also do not have census recognition and have to identify as Asians, as we learned at the Jerry Vattamala talk. Secondly, in reference to transnationalism, as opposed to some of the other groups we’ve studied, Caribbean embrace this pan-Caribbean pluralism to advance their own agendas and preserve their culture (in true enclave fashion), going so far as to call the city a “Caribbean crossroad.” There were a few other notable points I noticed, especially in the context of current events. In the opening, Sutton briefly touches upon the migration from the Caribbean islands to New York and the ties between colonies and their mother countries and I thought of the crisis going on in Mali right now. France is stepping in to try and appease the situation, which begs the question of whether a colony can ever truly break free from its mother country. (We had a whole war with England, yet today it is one of our greatest allies.) Also, in discussing how many Caribbean immigrants work menial jobs, I was reminded of an article explaining how the fastest growing job in America is the home health care aid, often an underpaid, overworked, immigrant woman. (This could arguable be linked to the rise in foreclosures outlines in the NEDAP report.)

What was perhaps the most interesting point Sutton brings up is why these Caribbean immigrants do not want to identify as either black or Hispanic, or Americanize in the traditional sense at all. These groups have “experienced over time more downward than upward economic mobility.” (20) (This also again lends itself to the race-foreclosure correlation.) With the lowest high school graduation rates and highest unemployment rates, it is quite understandable that Caribbeans do not want to self-identify as such: “there are few incentives to become Americanized.” Essentially, the notion of shedding a cultural heritage with no socioeconomic gain contradicts the whole idea of assimilation at its core.