Mohamed Mohamed
The first three chapters of Blood Relations provided enough information for me to get a clear understanding of the early years of Caribbean migration to the States. Some was new to me, but other information had me in deep thought. How diligently and ruthlessly migrants were willing to work in order to step foot on U.S soil just made me stop and reflect. Also, the fact that blacks from the Caribbean who spoke a foreign language were treated better than the native blacks left me confused and curios.
The effort of many Caribbean folks to migrate to the United States was, simply put, incredible. I want to begin with the discussions in chapter 2 and the Panama Canal project. A trip to the United States was expensive. Therefore many were seeking jobs in islands of the Caribbean. The Panama Canal project offered thousands of jobs, however it came with a disclaimer. The construction of the canal was a difficult and a dangerous project. It required hardcore labor and was very unsafe due to accidents and diseases. Sources claim that over 26,000 men were killed, 5,000 of whom were workers during the United States takeover of the project (Source 1 and 2). In spite of this, blacks faced mistreatment and injustice (after U.S took over the Panama Canal project and instituted the Jim Crow Laws). Blacks were paid in silver not gold and were not provided with free housing like the whites. Nevertheless, many Caribbean folks still took the job in the construction of the Panama Canal in hopes of migrating to the United States.
First, I was overfilled with gratefulness after reading this. Living in the United States I have access to a plethora of opportunities. Sadly many of these opportunities I have taken for granted. These are the opportunities that many migrants would have seen as chances to achieve greatness. Moreover, I am living in the United States and enjoying a great education thanks to the struggle of my father and grandfather. My dad’s struggle however can never compare to that of the Caribbean migrants of late 1800s early 1900s. Again this made me even more grateful for having an easy time immigrating. Furthermore, after reflecting I began to feel a great deal of empathy for these people. They worked very diligently day in and day out regardless of the little hope of making it to the States. Even if this hope becomes a reality, then what? They will still find themselves searching for a job and receiving the low level jobs in the slums of New York (If they were unskilled or not educated).
Finally, the first chapter discusses how the treatment of the native blacks was very different from that of the foreign speaking blacks. A Spanish speaking black man was treated better by society than a native black man. Today, the opposite effect seems to have happened. Nowadays, the English speaking black man is at an advantage over the Spanish-speaking fellow. He is more likely to receive the job offer and more likely to receive greater opportunities due to his familiarity with society.
