KISS

Regional Intolerance - Meguel's Interview

"Well what I can say about myself; my name is Meguel Doobay and that alone is quite some information to go on even if you've never seen me before. My name is a mixture of Spanish and Indian origin; and even then I'm proud of my names let alone because of their uniqueness through rarity and spelling." As you can see so far he has a unique way of speaking, I had to ask him to clarify what he meant for me, "Well okay," he laughed, "my first name; Meguel, in thought actually came from Venezuela where a good friend of my father lived- his name was Meguel and spelt specially with an 'e' instead of the generic 'i'. My last name Doobay, all the way from the motherland India; so very special that no one I knew has the name except family. Although I have seen variations of the name, I'm proud it is a rarity." He smiled eagerly. I asked him to tell me more about himself, I was surprised and yet not; his story is similar to most in the Caribbean of his age but intriguing nonetheless. "I was born in Guyana to an Indian father and African mother but migrated to Barbados in my very early years where I lived for the past nineteen years, so much so that now anyone I meet just calls me Barbadian or Bajan as so many just love to say. I would always say that I am from Guyana but on a mentally inclined level we are all just from the Caribbean. Don't take what I said to heart so quickly, even though that is something true for all of us it comes down in the end- through curiosity, wanting to know where those we come in contact with were born. And even that is an evil I can be accused of- however in my defence I don't do it with the stereotypical mindset most others would want to know, I do it in search of knowledge; the knowledge of what lifestyle can be so similar or different from mine because we grew up in different islands." He got passionate and is talking- teaching with his hands. I nodded in agreement and intrigue, I wanted to know more about him but we had a specific task for this interview. In my thought process with the theme 'The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels' in mind, I urged him to go on while the triggering word of stereotype played at the back of my mind. "well quick example, umm, okay; to a passer-by they're seeing three of us: a light-skinned guy and two Indians. Assumptions surmise an American- point blank and two Caribbean nationals. In truth there's you- a Trinbagonian, my friend from Jamaica and me- a Guyanese- stereotype 1. Now let's say that passer-by comes close enough to hear us speaking, none of us speaking colloquially. They may pick up his Jamaican accent, your Trini accent and my Bajan accent. Stereotype 2 suggests from just listening that we're nationals of those respective islands but I am Guyanese, I just live in Barbados and would speak with a stronger Barbadian accent." I smiled at how humorous yet true his analogy is, I questioned myself of being that stereotype. "Stereotype 3 is where the issue lies; after gathering 'much' of the information wanted we start to formulate and associate- or disassociate and judge. And I air quote 'much' because it is only the information that passer-by got from observing, did they ask any questions? And that's where we stereotype." He animated with his hands again, I didn't want to cut him off and remind him of the topic at hand but his suspense was unnerving. "The passer-by immediately turns up their nose in disgust after thinking I'm from Barbados but why? There's a stereotype of people from every island etched into our minds. They saw me and probably assumed I was also Trinidadian because we're here at S.T.A but after hearing me there's a disgusted thought, a disgusted feeling, a disgusted look on their face because this stereotype about Bajans exist. Where did this stereotype come from? I mean, I don't know if they had an altercation with a Barbadian national but does this mean most everyone else did? What I'm saying is that these thoughts and feelings we harbour inside didn't just originate overnight- these are destructive mindsets of the past that is destroying our Caribbean community now and making it worse for our future. I mean, I've also noticed a resilience in the upcoming ones now against prejudice and that's fantastic but how long until the traditionally imposed stereotypes burn onto their conscience also? Those stereotypes are the cause of your intolerance and mistrust issues my good sir." I smiled at his eloquence almost getting lost from the task. My first question to him was plainly what he believes caused the intolerance and mistrust. "My parents. Your parents. His parents, her parents, those parents over there by the nursery. If you haven't caught the drift yet- it's tradition. I don't mean tradition in terms of family customs, its traditional that these things were passed down. And where were they passed down from? That takes us back to history." I laughed and stopped him, he was jumping the gun on the interview and it was clear to see how taken by this topic he was. The next question was if he believed any event/s in our history would have encouraged this behaviour. "Oh of course! Most definitely! Absolutely! Now I want to back tract to the first West Indians, even though they aren't as many to testify about it now but their intolerance of others basically started when they realized the Spaniards were a threat to their livelihoods. From that the mistrust started; the overexploitation of Africans in the Slave Trade- who thought slavery here would've been similar to West African Slavery, the deception of the East Indians and Chinese in the Indentureship Scheme – they came believing they would've gotten a better life but were subjected to mistreatment, overwork and underpay. You see all the races involved here were betrayed, misled, underhanded, cheated ... however you care to look at it- the thing is it was bad." I nodded once more, I countered him saying that would only build a prejudice against the ones who masterminded it all, his response; "while that is true, once your trust is broken in someone and in great measure; you tend not to trust anyone fully after that. Now equate that to an entire race or three and tell me what you get? This may not be the only point that justifies today's issues but I strongly believe it is one." Before I continued with my questions I asked him why he believed so strongly, his answer was aggressive and mind-blowing. "I don't think cricket or carnivals ever pushed ethnicities of people away before. I also don't believe we've ever had an inter-regional competition where Trinidadians hate Venezuelans and Barbadians hate Guyanese and Vincentians and Grenadians don't get along. I would straight up call it pettiness but it goes deeper. It's this thing called pride and ego, in educational terms you would know it prejudice and ethnocentrism." I commended him for being on the ball with his thoughts, my third question was if he believed their was any factor besides history that also played a role. "That is a good question but I don't believe I know of one, what I can say is that there is a high intolerance we have to each other, factoring in ego- we look down on each other and it shows in everything we do. For instance one time I was conducting business; the clerk heard my accent and called the name of a local Trinidadian company, when I told her the company was based in Barbados she had an entirely different ethic in handling the situation. There was a similar case when I was purchasing snacks and I was casually asking the cashier the price of items that didn't carry the price tag, I remember taking up a pack of Crix and asking the price also, she looked at me and simply asked, "ent you from Trinidad? All Trinis know the price of Crix." And her hospitality had changed. I don't know where or why the people of the Caribbean had ever gotten that mentality from but it shows when you see for yourself the prejudices that exist. I know factually that Barbadians have a bias towards Guyanese- something I have been victim of when I moved and up to date. It was a problem about Guyanese entering the country and taking jobs that could be done by Bajan locals, similarly I've heard of cases where Jamaica and Trinidad suffer the same intolerance. Likewise where Guyanese would migrate to Barbados for a better living, the same for Venezuelans and the bias against them from Trinbagonians. My thing is, all these things exist but for what reason? That's why I call it pettiness but it is strongly our prides that really cause the separations. Then, as it is passed down the generations; they grow up with a hatred imposed on them and it naturally flourished into a hate for everything the people (society) in that island do (culture and ethnocentrism). My fourth question targeted the antagonistic belief that there was potentially some tolerance and trust among people but may just be ignorance. "My question to you before I answer that, would you rather be contextually ignorant or be apart of the ignorance? I ask that to say this; there is an antagonist outlook, it's a minority, I am apart of that minority and I would rather be ignorant to whatever information is misleading these people to more or less 'hate' each other than to join it. Just as a child is ignorant unto harm until it knows what hurt is, I rather be that child instead of giving in to societal pressure and following a mental intangibility. His words sounded wise, there were many more questions I wanted to ask but I let him add any closing words. "I strongly believe in myself that this intolerance is a petty situation- yes I will be redundant because that's what I'm seeing. We can't let the past drive our future motives against each other- especially when we're to depend on one another. Our governments strive for integration and equality as a community and as one people. We are no longer mixed races of Black, White and Indian, we are over two hundred years of our own race- West Indian. That is what I believe and there's a number behind me, even if it's the minority that believes as well. We aren't born prejudice so it shouldn't exist.