'equally black'
page 1 of 3
contents
of issue 76
back
issues
the
gazette
recipes
small
ads
contacting
us
weblinks
Sorious Samura's Black on Black was recently screened by Channel 4 as
part of their 'How Racist is Britain?' season. Samura raised the question
of divisions that apparently exist between people from the African and
Caribbean communities in London. It was an eye opener.
I'm not naïve. I know that divisions have existed since the 50s,
when the first Caribbean and African immigrants began to settle here.
Even I confess that, like many Africans, I do sometimes refer to West
Indians as Jamos. Though not derogatory in itself - it's merely an abbreviation
of 'Jamaicans' - it is however inaccurate. Not everyone from the Caribbean
is Jamaican, so the term stereotypes and undermines the individual cultures
of the many other Caribbean countries.
But my parents were worse. As a youngster, I was repeatedly warned (for
the usual hackneyed reasons), to stay well away from what they referred
to as the Ajerekes. Word for word, that term means 'the sugarcane eaters'
- a much more insidious reference.
So I know what the deal is. But still surprising was the level of hostility
on both sides and, according to allegations made by the programme, the
occasional violence. And these polarisations don't just exist amongst
people from the 'old fuddy-duddy' generation. It seems that even present-day
African teenagers don't necessarily get along with their West Indian counterparts.
Nevertheless, I hope that the programme wasn't implying a rift between
the two
communities as a whole. In truth there are scores of Africans and West Indians who live together quite harmoniously.
