Why do Caribbeans talk bad about Black Americans as if they are better than them?

Question

I know this is true because I live in Brooklyn, New York around a lot of them. My friend Lou Lou is Hatian and I once was at his house when his sister got into a fight. Their mother told her not to be an ignorant ***** like these Black American girls here. LOL, she really said that. I got so offended since my mother is from North Carolina and is far from being ignorant. When I told her this she was surprised because she said she thought my mother was Guyanese or Trinidadian. They don't know each other but she had seen her a few times and probably made a careless judgment that she was one of those because of her light complexion, and the fact that she said my mother's nice and doesn't act like that. Also an ignorant thought being that many Caribbeans feel that if you act proper or like you have some sense you are a foreign black person and can't be Black American. It's not just Caribbeans, it's also Africans. Particularly Nigerians. My father is from Sierra Leone, West Africa, but always has defended Black Americans when his mostly Nigerian friends talk about them. He's also done it out of all places at church! Most of the churches we've been to are majority Caribbean and a little African. My mother is usually the only African American there. I don't count my brother, my sister and myself because our father is foreign. But what makes these black foreigners come to this country thinking their better than the Black Americans here? Not all of them, but too many to count that I've encountered living in NYC. There are more examples but I don't have the time or space to put them here. For the foreign blacks that look down on Black Americans, why do you do so? Sure there are bad ones....but there are bad people in ALL groups of people. Are you forgetting that it was Black Americans that fought for your civil rights? Without that these same Caribbeans and Africans would be just like the Black Americans here. With no rights and being treated worst than the vermin. Do you think the white powers that be would've said, "Wait a minute, these ******* aren't American. They're Caribbean and African. Let's treat them a little better." NO! All of us came from Africa originally and all of us have black skin. WHY?

Answer 1

Black cultures around the world typically dislike each other.  I think the Colonial mentality, or Colo mentality is to blame.  This basically means that Africans and Caribbeans will mimic the thoughts and opinions of the ruling class in hopes of being accepted in their new country.  This explains why Africans and Caribbeans will exalt whites or Arabs, while disparaging each other.   Black cultures have to deal with similar situations in the UK and South Africa.

Answer 2

I'm Latina Caribbean with ebony skin( first language is Spanish).. I had never talked or hear any of my family and or close friends talked bad about African American.. We should be careful about generalizing.. No every one is the same.. I consider myself totally different from African American not because I'm better, but obviously reason WE HAVE DIFFERENT CULTURE!..

  

Thank you!

Answer 3

". Are you forgetting that it was Black Americans that fought for your civil rights?"

The major civil rights movements occured what, the 60s?  West Indians came here in the 1920s and they came to areas in the North so they didn't need anyone fighting their battles for them.  West Indians have to deal with Jim Crow and "you can't drink here because you're Black" in the West Indies.  And Malcolm X's mother was West Indian, and many West Indians have fought for equality.

You're also forgetting that African Americans used to make fun of West Indians and Africans all the time.  I'm half West Indian and half West African myself, and I can tell you that, even in the 90s, I had to hear stuff like, "African booty scratcher" and "Your mother doesn't LOOK African" (I guess because she didn't have a grass skirt and a bone in her nose.  Whatever), as if all Africans fit the stereotypes that people see on TV.

So, we dealt with our hatred from African Americans as well, so the "superiority complex" that many West Indians seem to have was pretty much in defense.  

Also, you have to understand that West Indian and African culture is a little more...tough when it comes to behavior and education, so you can probably imagine how weird it was for immigrants to come to places like New York and hear African-Americans calling themselves the N-word and "Black this and Black that".  We didn't grow up with that.  I never heard the N-word used in my house, and I'm 22!  

So yes, that could be the reason.

Answer 4

I think this topis is very boring

Answer 5

I remember listening to one of my coworkers from Ethiopia tell me that he didn't like black Americans and didn't want his kids hanging out with any of them, and it shocked the h**l out of me (I'm white, my best friend is black).  I asked him why he felt that way and he said the same sort of rhetoric that you hear from racist white people about them being criminals, lazy, etc.  His whole thing was that he was working two jobs to support his three kids and his wife was working full time as well; they didn't get any government assistance and he was raising his kids to be hard workers and go to school.

I tried to convince him that it wasn't right to think that way; plenty of African American parents are doing the same thing for their families and it's not cool to just make ignorant assumptions.  I think that maybe some of it is that they come here and they see the negative stereotypes that people have of black Americans, and they don't want to be subjected to the same treatment, so they try to separate themselves.  I don't know, just a thought.