Passing as Black:How Biracial Americans Choose Identity

[Assasin]

at least Jamaicans them know the heros. Some Americans would eat Obama on Bulla.

[Reggaedoc]

Yankee boy and gollywog sound like moral equivalents to you. They are happy to be called Yankee. Their most successful sports franchise has that as part of it's name.

[Assasin]

"They are happy to be called Yankee"
I hope you didn't mean that because I think you should know better.

[Islandman]

What I am saying is that Jamaicans and other Caribbean blacks know more about thier history than African Americans do. And they are more exposed to world events about black people than African Americans are.

It is not particularly thier fault, they learn little about it in school and if they don't go to college and do a specialized course they learn little about it after school , then they see little of it in the news.

And yes, I think if you went to the average Jamaican who finished grade 6 they could tell you the basics about Bogle, Garvey, Sharpe and other such historical figures. If you were trying to be a showoff and ask them for a dissertation on Garveys philosphy, then clearly they would not know that level of detail.

Ask the average black American if they ever heard of Sojourner Truth and I would be surprised if they had even heard her name.

[Jawge]

I beg to disagree. Blacks in the inner city does not represent blacks across america ( who number some twenty odd million) The sheer weight of number outstrips a population of two odd million.

[Peter R]

The thing about Caribbean peoples is that we are a realtively new nation; the slave traders did absolutely nothing to keep records of the origins of individuals. Those who came latterly to the "New World" might have had a better chance to track down their roots. The Indian and Chinese indentured labourers had a better chance of tracking their individual roots as I believe records of names and places of origin etc were kept. Inidans and Chinese have been in the West Indies barely 200 years max. It is not surprising then that many of these folks know exactly where great great great grandpa came from etc.

Other groups that came voluntarily as adventurers or traders (e.g. colonials, Lebanese , Syrians) usually have their family history down pat, including having family ties back in whatever the "old country" is.

It is up to us to create our history for our kids, and with modern technology this has become a whole lot easier. My cousins' created a website dedicated to our family (my mom's side) ... we post pictures etc etc and even have q&a's regarding family history.

Hopefully, the generations to come will be able to answer the questions that you ask, at least with respect to their own family.

As far as knowing the bigger picture historically, well also have a part to play in passing the knowledge along to the younger ones.

[Assasin]

Are you saying rural blacks are more educated than innercity blacks? The blacks in the suburbs are no better than what I-man said.

[Assasin]

Going to the US national Archives and seeing others get information. I sat down and check, nothing Jamaican, nothing and I said that because other countries have their records online.

The problem is, we archive nothing. Nothing is saved from JBC and other institutions. One thing Americans are big on and that is family reunion so it maybe easier for them to track their family history.

This might sound bad but how are some people going to track their grandparents when they don't even know their fathers? Overall we have to take family more serious and archive the info.

[Jawge]

Please read over what I said. Thanks.

[Jawge]

okay

[1of1]

dem say dem don't smile in a while

[Reggaedoc]

That's absolutely not true. That's simply a myth. Even the kid going to a one room school in rural Geargia or Mississippi knows more Black American history than the average Jamaican child knows about his own history. Now if you are using some unmotivated child living in the Marsey Projects in Brooklyn as your yardstick then that might be true, and I said might, because JayZ who grey up in those projects probably knows more about his black American heroes than Movado, Kartel or Ninja know about ours. Be careful how you talk.

[Assasin]

As the man say most may know about Martin Luther King and a few current leaders but that is where there knowledge end.

By the way Vibe Kartel is not dunce and also read a good amount. You might be surprised.

[Reggaedoc]

Really. You think Kartel knows who Claude Mckay was. I am almost sure that JayZ can tell you who Langston Hughs was.

[Assasin]

ofcourse Kartel know that. Again one thing you can say about Kartel and that is he is not dumb. I have met him once while my friend was doing promo and I can tell you he is not Dumb and he reads. Almost everyone who went to high school or all age school in Jamaicaknow who Claude Mckay