Visit Our Store!
What West Indians Don’t Get About “Yankees”
Apparently the only confused black man on the internet
As the sole spokesperson for all West Indians living in the United States, let me begin by saying that we really like you guys. However, there are some fundamental differences that take more time to get used to than others. Many of us have managed to adapt to the cultural differences, but there are a few recurring themes that stand out to most West Indians. And as their sole spokesperson, I’m obliged to discuss them. It’s in my contract. Without further ado (or much ado at all):
1. Why so rude?
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve walked into common areas amongst people I’m not familiar with, said “Good morning” and have gotten a half assed seemingly labored mumble in return. I’m actually quite perturbed by the fact that people walk in to work and just “Hey”. Muhf*cka, horses eat hay…say Good Mornin’ fool! Sh*t, even thugs back home have manners. They’ll still jack you, but you’ll get a “Good Day” before the proceed to ruin it by asking you to run your sh*t. We call it “Felonies with a smile”. While this may sound like just a NY problem since people say New Yorkers are rude, I’ll can safely tell you it’s not. I got peoples in various regions of the country that tell me the same thing. And yes, without any additional empirical evidence or factual data, that last sentence validates my point. Brilliant…I know.
2. Why so spoiled?
It’s like watching the rich kid in school snort piss away his inheritance. Older West Indians will tell you that Americas, particularly Black American are spoiled, lazy, and have no ambition. I’m sure that’s what they may have observed in their lifetime, but I can’t quite say I’d agree that my peers born in the mainland are lazy, but I do think most people born in the mainland take a lot for granted that most West Indians usually don’t. I know what you’re going to say: “F*ck you, RCLS, you ol’ cane-shuckin’ bastard! I got tons of ambition 3 degrees, 2 jobs and a partridge in a pear tree. Stop generalizing!” If that’s the case, this song is clearly not about you. Yea, that link just happened. I’m just sayin…from the outside lookin’ in, y’all a lookin’ a little spoiled. #truestory
3. Can you beat your kids, please?
We can argue the merits of my first two points to exhaustion. But I have no problem going out on a limb and saying that Americans let their damn kids run wild. I remember the first time I heard one of my white friends use a curse word while talking to his parents. I was shook for him. I’m equally shook when I hear one of them cuss at their parents or hear a little girl adamantly tell her pops she ain’t ’bout to get out the pool. Did West Indians write the manual on proper child rearing? Probably not, and even if they did, who’d be able to understand a word of it. I’m just used to seeing a child having the living hell smacked out of them for acting up, I’m just wondering why folks up here haven’t tried it. I know there some people that put hands to their kids and a lot of you that have had hands put on you as children, but the hands really start to fly when your parents know there’s no real threat of Family Services or the cops stopping an asswhuppin’. I’ve actually had a cop explain to me why my mother whupped my ass after he stood there watching. F*ck the police.
Now I know there’s an opinionated that thinks it’s highly ignorant of me in this day and age to make light of these immaterial differences between people of identical ancestry who were systematically separated mentally and physically by slavery and have been kept divided by prevailing attitudes such as these blah blah blah…suck it. Sure, you do have a point, but there’s also the actuality of how subcultures relate to one another. Instead of hitting me with your logic and your theory, deal with the reality that some of these “stereotypes” may actually hold true, and that some people do feel this way, “misguided” or not. Go be the change and sh*t. Beat your damn kids.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Counter-arguments? Disagreements? Shows of anger and disgust? Insults, perhaps? Did you vote? Go vote. For us of course.
A polite rude boy,
54 Responses to “What West Indians Don’t Get About “Yankees””
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
Leave A Comment...
RSS & Twitter
-
Your African comrades can total understand all these areas…
Reply
Shout out for the West Indians. Daddy from Guyana, SA and grandmother from Barbados. Respect.
Reply
L. Dejean Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 1:18 am
My Godmother is from Barbados & my best friend is from Guyana! Much Respect.
Reply
You had me to the kids part. I work in a clinic, low income, illegal immigrants and just plain liars are my clients. Immigrants, legal and illegal, let their children run buck a wild! They talk back, hit and just plain ignore their parents! It doesn’t matter if its mom or dad! All day, everyday the staff in my office is looking for a parent whose child is lost, telling someone not to let their child run or race cars on the floor, not to stand in the chairs etc! Maybe its the locales, I am in NC. The ethnicities run the gamut, Asian, African, Indian, Hispanic, Russian etc!
Reply
CHeeKZ Money Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 9:27 am
We can’t speak for all immigrant groups b/c we differ from each other more than we differ from y’all.
I mean seriously, what do I have in common with a Russian? We both kicked Napoleon’s @$$?
I will say, West Indians live in three locations in North America. Miami, New York and Toronto. Anybody else you meet claiming to be West Indian is a fraud.
Reply
The Honorable and Rather Articulate Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, LLC, Dark as the Night that covers me Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 9:49 am
LOL…nah Cheekz, you got pockets of West Indians everywhere…you know they like cockroaches and Chinese restaurants. Boston is quite thick w/ the sak passe posse. #truestory
Reply
CHeeKZ Money Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 10:05 am
I got cousins in Boston….
but they are all date a little too American
Reply
L. Dejean Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 10:49 am
True Lex cause when i went to UA (Alabama) i met a Trini that went to Auburn & a Bajan at my school but he transferred to Illinois…we’re everywhere!
Reply
shoutout to the yard…parents from JA…i support all three points.
proud member of #TeamWhoopYaKids
Reply
one question though…
did any folks from Caribbean backgrounds called older men/women that were your parents friends/associates… “Aunt/Uncle”?
or is that a worldwide thing? or just my family kinda thing? lol
Reply
L. Dejean Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 1:15 am
Nope, i do that too! My friends don’t understand but the way i was taught that it was a means of showing respect to those who are older & are like family! I used to call my next door neighbors Aunt & Uncle! I’m of Trini & Haitian decent though…
Reply
Nickerz Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 8:12 am
No.. it’s not just your family.. i HAVE to do that.. i have friends of my mother’s that i MUST call “Aunt Joy, Auntie Herma”.. that’s just the device they use to make sure you’re not being fahwahd an juss a call out di name suh…
I’m 32 (on Sat..) and i STILL have to do this. I’m wondering at what age am i allowed to stop.. But mi kinda scared a mi aunt joy.. she might cuss two bad word..
Reply
CHeeKZ Money Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Not just your fam. And anybody who I known for over ten years and is also from Haiti is my cousin.
Reply
iLoveit Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Everyone is an Aunty or Uncle and sometimes cousin.
Reply
Number 3 is the truth! My father is Haitian and my mother is Trini & trust if i put ONE TOE out of line, they have no problem “tanning my Hyde”…especially my father!
I’m an advocate and i tell people so but it has to be well deserved. Try cussin at me, you will get tumped across your mout’ one good time… tell me you aren’t getting out the pool, someone get me a leather belt so i can start snappin it (just caught a flashback) & they’ll have 1 second to get out before I go in. I won’t abuse my children but they will know discipline & respect, just as I did…timeout doesn’t always work.
One thing i don’t understand is why folks are so serious about dancing? In HS, the only folks who got hella sensitive about dancing were my American peers. One wanted to kick my tail cause I danced with her boyfriend (my ex at that but we were still friends) and it was QUITE clear that i didn’t want him in that way (no way was I letting my V-card go back then)…that situation was a mess… Also, dudes who think they can get some cause I danced with you…#cmonson it was just a dance, pump ya breaks! This is something that has stumped me for the longest!
Good post & the picture made me laugh!
Reply
Umm most American black folks I know beat their kids. Hell, if you leave your child in my care I tell you up front I will spank your kid if they are defiant or hit me.
As for the other comments I can understand why Caribbean folks feel some kinda way about these things.
Reply
Oh, does anyone kiss the head of the household on the cheek when they enter their house? I’ve noticed that those of Caribbean decent do but not the Americans… (I used to get funny looks from some people who weren’t West Indian and would get in trouble if i ever forgot with fam or Caribbean family friends)
Reply
Well yes some of us “Americans” can be rude. I think its more of a “Get yo hand out my pocket’ kind of thing. Some people think if someone is being nice they must want something. I can honestly say that I am spoiled but at the same time I don’t like to feel like a charity case so I work hard for the life I want.
I got plenty *ss beating as a kid and it still wasn’t enough. I’ve actually only seen this recent trend in not beating your kids in the last five or six years. I think that as the parents get younger the kids get wilder, you know the whole “babies having babies” thing.
Reply
I’m Jamaican born and raised. Matter of fact I’m on JA right now and the amount of time I’ve seen my cousins get slapped makes me smile. I remember growing up I would never dare talk back to an adult but kids today have no qualms about doing it. I call all adults Aunt and Uncle out of respect and now my younger cousins do the same to me. I can’t take the no manners thing either. My mom always said to me if we didn’t sleep together last night I’d better say something to you in the morning.
Reply
The Honorable and Rather Articulate Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, LLC, Dark as the Night that covers me Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 9:50 am
“My mom always said to me if we didn’t sleep together last night I’d better say something to you in the morning.”
To this day, that is Mama Steele’s favorite line.
Reply
***unfurling and planting Stars & Stripes. Does the same with Crescant & Palmeto***
As SC bred black man of a plain old SC field negro/Scottish/Welsh stock I will try to answer your queries.
1. Why so rude?
I’ll give you three answers:
1. Hoss it’s 7:30 I didn’t get enough sleep and I’m heading to a job that I hate with people I can’t stand…eff all that nice to meet you ish. 2. Many of us “Yanks” acknowledge each other with non-verbal ques. (Head nods and what not.) 3. Our rudeness is an adorable character quirk that we have. It just makes us, well us. #youregonna loveme
2. Why so spoiled?
“I?m just sayin?from the outside lookin? in, y?all a lookin? a little spoiled.”
Well open the door homie.
Lazy is world wide. I’m pretty sure that there are some negroes sitting under a tree in Kingston or Port of Spain when they should be working. I’m also sure there are plenty of rich West Indian kids of means pissing their parents hard work away. Dexter Winston Fenty is just as big of a slacker as Tyrell Jackson is.
3. Can you beat your kids, please?
Yes. The white folks I know actually lay hands. go figure.Hell my last beating as a child was with a fan belt.
Vaya con Dios.
Reply
The Honorable and Rather Articulate Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, LLC, Dark as the Night that covers me Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 11:55 am
Respect.
Reply
anonymous Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
I am totally co-signing on the lazy thing. Laziness is universal. The people that come to the US are more motivated than your average citizen. Therefore, it appears that they are more ambitious as a group. It is like comparing all of the A students in one school to the overall school population at another school.
Reply
anonymous Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
I soooo love your response. I barely made it to work after hitting the snooze button 10 times and now people want me to cheery at 7:30am in the morning. Give me some time to wake up!!
Reply
LMAO!!! The restrains of “you and me eye bettuh neva tek race” echo through my childhood memories. My mother didn’t play that. Shout out to West Ruimveldt Housing scheme!!
Ain’t no way I can walk into a room and not speak…I can hear mommy say “you don’t have manners?”
The issue with removing shoes in my house…I’ve had people want to cuss me for asking them to but that’s how I was raised and you in my house.
Reply
I’m not West Indian..but, I agree with you. I think Americans are some of the most entitled people you will ever meet in this world. I am American and this is my opinion.
I think the beating of kids thing has slowed up in this country because of all of the baseless child abuse cases being brought forth about it. Total strangers can call CPS on you..and once they get involved its very frustrating. I just hit my kids in the privacy of our own home where its safer..but, they still don’t get the extension cord, switch beatings that I got! LOL.
Why so rude? I know, right! I just chalk it up to folks rearing….my mother raised me to say “good morning” and all that…I tell my sons the same thing..when you wake up and walk into a room with other people you say “good morning”..its that simple.
I will say Southern born and raised people share the same kinda values as West Indians in many respects. My people are from the rural South and these values get passed down thru generations….
Reply
Let’s just say I got something else to Eff on Friday.. My comment disappeared..
and i ain’t got the kinda time (right now) to write it over..
i’m fresh off a dog-sitting gig so i will say what i don’t understand about Yanks..
1. How yu just let di dog sleep in the bed with you? From a hygenic standpoint that ish don’t make NO type a sense!! i just walked him, saw him poop and he’s supposed to jump up in the bed? WITH ME!? that’s a negative. The owner told me “Joey likes to sleep all curled up under you.” Joey tried to jump on the bed the first day. I aborted that mission with a quickness. “Cum off di bed.. a wha wrong wid yu!?”
2. I can understand this is america, but Jamaicans (In Jamaica) don’t buy dog food. Dogs get the bones and scraps from what everyone ate mixed with some kind of cornmeal porridge to add body and that’s it! AND the dogs stay outside. Although Chubby (my aun’t dog) came inside when hurricane did a pass tru.
I’ll be back..
Reply
Mrs Smiley Face Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 8:55 am
I can’t breathe for laughing at this!! All I could do is nod my head in agreement. Back home dogs eat fish, sago, stew bones, provision anything that we ate they ate and all that kissing in the mouth…? Negative.
Reply
QueenT Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Girl you are funny! You know in America they treat animals better than they do the homeless and dis-enfranchised!
Reply
iLoveit Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
…And this is the #1 thing I will never ever ever understand with Westerners (cause them people in Europe do the same thing).
Reply
“Beat your damn kids.”
I think you just showed up in the US too late. Not that I’m that old, but my dad, mom, grandma, and two aunts could write a book on whoop a$$ery with accompanying instructional video. Several old ladies in the church got us too. Then told my parents and we got it again. My dad was better with a belt than Robert Jebediah Freeman. And this was just the eighties. Now you can’t even talk to a child that’s not yours without a cop showing up at your doorstep.
Reply
The Honorable and Rather Articulate Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, LLC, Dark as the Night that covers me Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 9:58 am
“I think you just showed up in the US too late.”
I’ll buy that. I know a lot of cats in my age range that tell me they were catchin’ the same types of whuppins in the 80′s, but I think that’s where the phenom of ass whuppin has stayed.
Reply
Hilarity! I remember when I first moved back to The Bahamas, after growing up in Florida and my brother gave me a set of “rules” I had to know. On the top of the list was, no matter what don’t forget to say Good Morning, Good Afternoon or Good Evening when entering any kind of business establishment or household. I thought it was weird but I later came to realize how rude it really is when folks don’t say it back. That’s the friendly-ness of us island folk. And I just love how when you don’t say Good Morning people will ask “what’s wrong with you, we slept together aye?” Lol.
You wanna know just how serious it is? My boss fired a few people on their first day for not saying Good Morning to him when he said it first.
Reply
West Indian aren’t the only ones who’ve noticed my friend. My mother was just complaining about #1 the other day (she sure is feisty)…but yeah she ignores all of her Yankee coworkers if anyone steps to her talking before a proper greeting.
We Africans (as well as other multicultural friends of mine) co sign numero dos as well. They just don’t appreciate what they have, since its kind of always been there…at least for recent generations in terms of Black Americans.
As for #3…*sigh* My mother used to tell us to call the police because, “They are going to take you and put you in a foster home where they will beat you, rape you, and won’t give you any food and you’ll never see us again!” as she beat us with anything she could find.
SN: Those white people cursing at their parents gets me shook every time. SMH! I wish a n*gga would curse at my mother or father.
Reply
You ever see some child talk back to their parents and YOU (with your grown tail) start ducking out of fear of something being thrown at you??! LOL
Reply
iLoveit Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Good God. Yes
Reply
Ladycakes Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Yes. I was with my mom and she gave the eye then.
Reply
Seattle Washington Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 11:40 am
I was in a grocery store and I saw some kid talk back to his mom. I cringed expecting that child to be hit and was severely disappointed afterward. Smh at “timeout”.
Reply
I cosign this list. My people have tendencies to be rude too (we have the worst attitude on the African continent apparently) but I’ll be darned if you can’t greet people. I can’t go to my neighborhood soul food place because the owner, waiters and waitresses act like I offended them by coming in to give them business. I try to support the lady who owns a hair care shop near me but it is just difficult. I have to go there when I am in the best of moods because she has a way of making you mad with her rudeness.
The spoiled thing…yes, yes, yes. Education is huge in my part of the world and people do all kinds of things to get through school (even if its just secondary school)and we hardly have the grants, scholarships, foundations, fellowships…heck even loans to get through school but folks make a way. You have an education then you venture into whatever you want to do, be it business, entertainment. Its hilarious because about half of our popular rappers are trained engineers and one is a doctor. If or when music/sports don’t work out, they have a back up plan.
I won’t even speak on the discipline thing. That just hurts my heart.
Reply
yikes-my american is showing.
Reply
Wu Young Agent of M.E. Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 10:56 am
“yikes-my american is showing”
You should feel entitled to let it show.
Reply
sweeping generalizations. but I’ll let yall live today.
southerners are friendly. and yea I am spoiled. but I’m okay with that. lol. americans also beat their kids, but probably not to the standards yall would approve of.
Reply
Wu Young Agent of M.E. Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 11:00 am
americans also beat their kids, but probably not to the standards yall would approve of.
Yes we American children have been beaten about the head with everything from Hot Wheels tracks, rulers, house shoes, wooden brushes, switches from random trees, hands, and lord knows what else.
Reply
People are rude. Its especially disturbing when its the older generation that’s been through the fire and survived that cant muster up the gumption to utter a return hello. The cleaning lady at my job is a prime example, now mind you my heart goes out to her for having to clean the womens bathroom, however, I didnt just drop the load that clogged the toilet so please dont take your angst out on me! I swear she growled at me the last time I spoke.
Spoiled? From a family of 9? Its hard to get spoiled on hand me downs from my older sisters. Trust there are some of us who ‘preciate the things they have and would like nothing more than to stone those who do not and take life and good fortune for granted.
Beat you kids? No diggity no doubt! People always compliment me on how well behaved my kids are. Home Training! My 18 year old daughter bless her little itty bitty self didnt require to many beatings…my muscular 6’1, 14 year old son who tells me eat eats my punches for breakfast? Yeah I’m devising a new take down method for him because he thinks that just because I’m 5’2.879″ that I cant or won’t get with him…poor misguided soul he is will soon learn experience and smarts beats muscle er’time.
Reply
Please Excuse Your Significant Other Reply:
August 5th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Your son sounds like me at 14. My mom is 5’7 180ish. I was 6ft 280ish. Just hit him like a man and threaten to kill him if he hits you back. Sounds bad but I turned out alright
Reply
Anonymous Reply:
August 5th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Im still quicker than him and momma fights dirty so in a pinch he’ll go down – hard. Sometimes I punch him just because I can and so that he know’s that I will. Wow you were a good size 14 year old! I’m dreading schools shopping, thats definitly gonna be something to eff!(segway)
Reply
As a Haitian descendant, I approve this message..
As an Afr Amer descendant, let me say that this isnt ALWAYS the case. The beating of the kids? AA’s do it but West Indians are the innovators of violence. Word up.
We beat everything into our chirrens.
Funniest thing is being in a haitian house with all caribbeans and that one AA kid. Watching your homeboy get cursed out by parents. None of the caribbeans flinch, except the AA kid or white kid thats like “Holy sh*t bro you ok?”
lol
Reply
My brothers and I got beat. Well me not so much because I was smart but I did notice a difference when I went to go visit my cousins in Tobago. Screw face after instructions smack. Sucking teeth after instruction smack. Breathing too heavy after instruction smack. I’m not saying momdukes was lax with me but I did have some freedom to speak my mind as a child.
Reply
There is definitely a difference between the old school Black way of raising your kids and the new way. My parents were older when they decided to have children, and both hail from the South. They are old enough that both contributed to the Civil Rights movement. And all of the complaints that are listed simply did NOT go down in our house! Rudeness? Not unless you wanted an a$$ beating to remember! Laziness? Same answer AND you got grounded to study harder and additional work from my mother! Beat your kids? WHAT? For elementary school – my sisters and I attended a private school in which parents signed permission slips allowing the teachers to spank the children who were out of line. My parents couldn’t sign that thing fast enough! And simply put: getting in trouble just wasn’t worth it – got it at school, then got it from mom when the teacher told her what happened, and finally – got it from Dad when he got home from work and Mom told him.
Bill Cosby said it best: “I brought you in this world, and I’ll take you out!” I remember when one of us threatened to call DYFS. PLEASE! My mom grabbed the belt, stood between us and the phone, and simply said “Go ahead.” THAT was an a$$ beating to remember…
Reply
Cute. However, as a “halfie” (Daddy from Antigua, mother African-American) raised in America by my Af-Am mother, I have to say in our defense….
I am UNFAILINGLY polite — even in the face of rude-*** m****f****s who knock into me, shout over me, and otherwise display an appalling lack of etiquette (more of whom are West Indian than I care to admit). Saying “Good morning, how are you?” is just something you do, and you LISTEN when the person tells you how they are (if you don’t want to know, you shouldn’t ask!). My mother would roll over in her grave if I did otherwise.
Spoiled…. Nope. Not this kid. In fact, I can’t wrap my brain around all the “rights of privilege” people who’re walkin’ around nowadays — where did they COME from? I was raised to believe in hard work (and hard play, but you earned that by workin’ hard). You have to have a standard by which you live.
And, umm…. chile. You don’t KNOW from beatings ’til you’ve crossed an angry American mom. At least, MY mom. She was a great believer in “spare the rod and spoil the child” (as am I; I once gave my child a spanking and I was the one crying — but she needed that discipline).
I’m not sayin’. I’m jes’ sayin’. Big ups to the halfies, we’ve got the best of both worlds!!!
Reply
Let me start by saying dual citizenship rocks! Therefore as a Bajan American I 100% endorse this list!
I have to add (as mentioned above by someone already) the one thing missing from this list that kills me everytime is people not taking their shoes off when they enter someone’s home. How rude is it to drag outside dirt throughout someone elses home?!? I give any & everyone who I see do this a stern Ay Ay
Reply
As far as Northern/Midwestern people, the rudeness is usually based on the “get yo hand outta my pocket” thing someone else brought up. I live in the South now, and trust and believe you better greet everybody. The only people who don’t return the greeting are the West Indians who work at the restaurants in my city. Rudeness defined.
Every black child I know got beat. And they plan to beat their children.
The entitlement issue is a little more complicated. Yes, there are a lot of privileges that Americans take for granted, even with all the effed up structural and systemic inequalities. But let’s play devil’s advocate. West Indian countries have black populations that dwarf black america (% wise). What have these populations done in their own countries? Why is it even necessary for them to emigrate to have a certain level of success? Why is “formidable” west indian work ethic coming up short in the communities that they have direct control over? Just sayin…
Reply
Nickerz Reply:
August 5th, 2010 at 12:48 am
“Why is it even necessary for them to emigrate to have a certain level of success?”
Opportunity.. opportunities aren’t everywhere.. Especially in a 3rd world country where last time i checked the rate was $70-something Jamaican dollars to $1 US…
that’s just the way that goes..
Reply
I’m a day late and a dollar short, so lemme get my penny for these thoughts and give u my 2 cents.
West Indians are very similar to black folk w/ common sense. It just so happens that you aint meeting black folk w/ common sense. My mom used to make me start my day all over if i didnt say good morning. Like literally get back in the bed and start all over. My mom also whipped my arse like I was a man. And I was not allowed to be lazy as I can now cook & clean like a maid. I’m convinced that ya cross the water ppl just meeting the wrong damn yankees
Reply