After reading these articles, I was slightly surprised that the African Americans and the West Indian Blacks did not integrate when they immigrated. However, after a while I realized that the culture difference between the two groups is vast and cannot be easily breached. Despite the fact that the two groups share the same skin color, the various traditions would not be easy to translate into American culture. This is common among other similar groups. For example, even though the Indian people from the West Indies come into contact with East Indian immigrants here in America, the difference in the cultures is quite obvious. Although some of the practices are similar, there are still a lot of traditions that aren’t shared. It’s also quite funny too because when someone from the West Indies is asked whether or not they are from India, they are slightly taken aback. It’s not that West Indians are ashamed of looking like an East Indian, it’s just that there is a desire to be differentiated from that group due to the vast culture difference. This is also seen when members of the Asian community are mistaken to be from a certain country (like calling someone that is Korean, Chinese).
I suppose this is the same with the African Americans and the Black West Indians. Maybe it is possible that they want to be differentiated from each other in order to preserve the purity of the culture that was brought over from their homeland. Whatever the reason, it is quite understandable because maintaining one’s culture in a new country that is constantly trying to get people to assimilate. Overall, humans want to emphasize the difference between “us” and “them.” Whether it’s a defense mechanism to keep us separated from others or to maintain the culture, somehow we can’t seem to avoid flocking together.
