“Capital of the Caribbean” by Jason Parker is about the fight for Independence in the Caribbeans before and during World War II. The Capital of the Caribbean in many ways was Harlem. Harlem was a center for political developments. When Italy tried to Invade Ethiopia, many African Americans as well as Caribbeans spoke out against colonialism. Ethiopia was a country that is important to many black people because it was the only country that retained its freedom from colonialism.
When the British needed American Destroyers they agreed to trade Atlantic base sites for American destroyers. The U.S government under Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a man named Charles Taussig to learn about the base sites and the people as well as their culture there. Taussig was able to learn to about the people was able to tell the U.S government to be sensitive to the local customs and to hold an anti colonial outlook.
The Anglo-American Caribbean Commission (AACC) was formed with the United Kingdom to improve the economy of the Caribbean region and the standard of living among the people there. Also when the British government announced that Jamaica would get a new constitution the next year, there was a fight between the Norman Manley’s People’s National Party (PNP) and Alexander Bustamante’s Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) to get the chance to govern over Jamaica. Although many people in Harlem raised money to help the PNP party, they still failed to get the leadership position. JLP won the election.
What I found really interesting was that even though Harlem is considered the capital of the Caribbean and much of the political development was also affecting Harlem, the ideas of the Caribbean people and the people of Harlem was quite different. This I felt was noticeable in the election of the JLP party over the PNP party that was being supported by the people of the Harlem Community. I also felt that colonizing countries seemed much more easygoing during this period of time than with other large nations that had to fight for their own Independence. In a sense the Caribbean people also had to fight for their Independence but at the same time it seems as though Britain and the United States gave the Caribbean people their Independence with a lot less struggles.
The First two books of Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall is about a young girl named Selina who is behind her friend Beryl and her sister Ina. Selina is still a “Kid” while Beryl and Ina were becoming a woman. In the beginning we see Selina as she is jealous of her sister Ina who is skipping the “awkward faze that Selina herself seems to be going through. Selina seems to like her father, Deighton, more as he is a dreamer who always has dreams of moving his family back to their home in the Caribbean. he has received a piece of land from his sister and he dreams of making a lot of money and moving back to the Caribbean and building a large and nice house on his land. Selina’s mother, Silla, on the other hand doesn’t seem to believe in dreams. She has had a tough life as a child and has always had to face the hardships of life as she work in a plantation and was mistreated by the whites there. Now she is working hard to provide for her family while Deighton almost ignores his duties as the head of the family and is constantly going after a dream that he either ends up giving up on or being unsuccessful. Deighton while he is not working to take care of the family, he also doesn’t want to sell his land to pay the bills. On top of his lack of responsibilities he also has a open mistress.
Over all I like the structure of the book and it gives you a sense of a Caribbean immigrant’s life here in Harlem. I think many immigrants can side with Deighton as he dreams of going back to his life in his homeland. while at the same time, the hardworking Silla also gets the reader’s sympathy for the harsh life she has led until this point and he unwillingness to give up on life. She faces reality and works hard to gain a stability in their life. Selina as a little girl reminds me of many other little girls who often have friends like Beryl who are already on their way to womanhood while the others are still in an awkward faze before becoming a woman. I am curious to see how this book goes because I will get to experience, through the book, the life of another women as she is on her way to adulthood.
