Sherri-Ann P. Butterfield’s study on the way West Indians are identified versus what their ethnicity actually is, reveals some harsh truths about the way society views people. At first glance, people usually don’t take the time to ask where a person is from, much less what their ethnicity really is. As a result, we often go on quick judgments based on the color of a person’s skin to get an initial idea of who they are. However, this can be quite misleading seeing that people can have the same skin color but have extremely different cultures. For example, among the West Indian community, many of the people are often mistaken to be African American.
Although we are told not to judge people by the color of their skin, we still end up doing it. In the case of the West Indians, they are often seen as African American and are subjected to the same stereotypes that the African American people face. Obviously, this isn’t very fair to either party because their cultures are vastly different along with the history of their ancestors. Nevertheless, the way American society views the West Indians ends up causing a slight identity crisis among the second generation West Indians: should they keep their traditions or should they blend into the African American culture?
Being in America has created some changes in tradition of the West Indians. This can be seen in the gender roles now compared to what it used to be. Typically, American women aren’t expected to be subservient to the men in their lives. This contradicts the tradition of the West Indians where women would be the homemakers and the men would be the breadwinners. As a result, West Indian women of the second generation stray away from the tradition and have become more independent. Still, many traditions are kept to this day, such as the music and food.
