There Is No Such Place As The "West Indies"(Columbus Day Special)

[brennaomi]

you are thinking of this too literally....like we are not proud to be black, asian, white , or east indian, etc. We have created a union of races in the caribbean. This union has produced a unique culture shared by us, west indians. This is why it doesn't matter what our race is or what we call ourselves...

[brennaomi]

what you are saying is literally correct but people from the caribbean are west indians regardless of race....yes it is an incorrect term from the beginning but it still stands today. Caribbean or west indies---we are west indians-----if you don't like this then hey, your opinion.

[jmp85usa]

I see what you're saying and it's interesting but there are certain things which are indeed uniquely American like baseball. Then there are things which borrow from so many cultures that it would be hard to call it a product of any other culture except American without giving a disertation. 

[jmp85usa]

Cultures never overlap? What about something like Rock and Roll which borrowed from many cultures and resulted in an amalgam which is distinct and seperate from it's progenitors? Chuck Berry invented it, borrowed from country, blues, gospel, R&B, and all of the cultures from which those styles of music were derived.

[jmp85usa]

Eventually instead of saying this is a combination of ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO and P we just say it's American. It's what we have today, it's what we have now. Sure it's a bit of a misnomer but it's easier to say American than it is to say United Statesian.

[pablo1079]

i know where you are coming from.. and it's very frustrating... people in the us don't give a damn about the facts-- they only want to have something to joke about over a beer and seem to be smart.-- i am though truly west indian and african, having both the arawak, portuguese, african, french, and scottish blood runing through my veins... there is really no hate in me save the hate of not asking first.

[bigcatlife]

well explain this to the arabs who call themselves egyptian

[coffee396]

if you take any "afro-american" and take his DNA there's big chances to find European DNA.

[coffee396]

are you Arawaks ?

[RedNProud]

Good piece (although Greenlands' part of the American 'supercontinent' as well). Sadly almost none of the original West Indian cultures survive since they were mostly wiped out through diseases they had no immunity too (mostly smallpox) or worked to death on the suger plantations. African slaves being brought over to replace them. I'd argue though that a distinct 'Afro-Carribean' culture has emerged which bridges ethnicity. You're dead on with the need for people to keep educating themselves.

[16Vraddo]

2 of 2:

Scientist discovered the earliest known human fossil near Ethiopia, Africa. He is dated to be 195,000 years old.

So the Truth is out Race is unknown, unless we say we are African.

[TacticusPrime]

There's no such thing as "race". There is vague genetic ethnicity, culture, and nationality. All of these are distinct descriptions. And we are all from Africa originally.

[katlass29]

@TacticusPrime We Are All Of THe HUman race but there are small distinctions between people of different races. I studied anthropology and scitist basically say that race is so complex it would be impossible to identify all the genes variations there fore saying Humans are all of one race. But you can indenitfy someone's "race" from genetics as well, so race does exist but with little mutation to the point where scientist say there are none.

And thats a theory that we are from Africa-not fact.

[tonylove16]

When he says "think we are sippin pina coladas on the beach" i get HELLA weak. I can't believe that he meets so many people who think that slavery only happened in America. I don't think i've met anybody like that yet. However, i live in California.

So TheDreamReborn, are you saying that real West Indians are the Indigenous people who were there when Columbus came along?

[TheDreamReborn]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. They were a new race of people. People fail to understand that. I've been told by many people that "every person in Latin America is of mixed race". When I ask them which races they could only come up with Caucasian, then they start listing Native American tribes which I always point out to them are NOT races. They rarely seem to get it though.

[tonylove16]

Yea I agree with that completely. Well mostly agree with them when they say "every" person in latin america is mixed. But not "mixed race." Mixed ethnicity is more like it. of course not ALL of them are mixed. but yes, i agree with you, the only way they can link themselves with the Caribbean and latin America is if they are mixed with an indigenous tribe or that their nationality is of a country in that region.

[AtomicZero]

Interesting topic but anyway, that's just how we were raised. Caribbean/Jamaican people called themselves as such because that's what we became. West Indian is not a race it refers to that pertaining to a locale...the West Indies as in the group of islands in the Caribbean. Therefore if you are from that region you are West Indian. that is still the modern use of the term, no one is to trying to say they are not from Africa....as you seem to be inferring.

[Crazii3Compl3xLuV3]

If his day is celebrated, so should Hitler's.

[JoeHova420]

good video

[bazodee2]

didnt lord shorty i fuse calypso with east indian riddims and thus invented the early version of soca? that could pass as a 'west indian' thing?!

[NeCacaluXuxultic]

You seem to be WAY TOO INTELLIGENT to be from the Americas,,,,where are you from????

[TheDreamReborn]

Thanks. Trinidad & Tobago

[NeCacaluXuxultic]

Really!? FUCK...is the education there really good?..'cause you're intelligent........me...I am a minority in the USA..I try so hard to separate myself from the typical american idiot HAHAHA

[TheDreamReborn]

It's certainly superior to the education system in America but there is room for improvement. It's based upon the British education system. It's so sad that people know that I'm not American based on my intelligence.

I don't think the system is where most of the blame should be placed though. The kids just aren't motivated enough over here.

[NeCacaluXuxultic]

........*eyes twinkle*..sir...you are my new best friend! XD

[MrEddieBTV]

I feel you on that one man!

[NeCacaluXuxultic]

YEAH!!!!!! Intelligent people RULE!!!!

[MrEddieBTV]

True that!

[sry4gotmyusername]

Also, about the culture thing. I dont know what culture you're thinking about when making your video but Im haitian and haitian culture is CLEARLY a mix of a bunch of different cultures; french, spanish, african and even TAINOS. This is present in our arts, in our food and even in our language. Beside that, I think Columbus day is a joke, that guy came into the west indies, killed the natives and stole all the gold he could find and people made a day in his honor...

[TheDreamReborn]

I was speaking from a Trinidadian point of view. I said that in the video. Please listen to the video again. Thanks.

[sry4gotmyusername]

Seems to me like you were speaking about the WEST INDIES and not Trinidad in particular concerning this issue, I could be wrong though. Im not gonna listen to the video again, its too long.

[TheDreamReborn]

I definitely said "Trinidad". I even went as far as saying I was speaking about "Trinidad" and not "Tobago".

[Eddiepsp]

I see what you mean bro. I'm Puerto Rican. Puerto Rican's are a mix race of Taino(West Indies), Afro, Spaniard, white etc. Where mix race. My people called them self Borike. As for the Taino culture it was destroyed by the other two kingdoms Spain and France. All I know is West Indies is incorrect. The Taino had there own culture. Which was erase. The only thing I know is that Spain slaved the Taino Tribe. They got sick and die. So they bring the Africans over to the islands.

[sry4gotmyusername]

I disagree with you on this issue. First of all, in the example you gave of an african couple giving birth to a black child in Japan, would it be false for this kid to say that he is Japanese? If he indeed holds japanese citizenship, then it is true. I think you're digging too deep into the issue, when people say they're west indian, they probably mean that its where they were born or their parents were born. Beside, 95% of the native tribes that lived in the carribeans were exterminated.

[TheDreamReborn]

I never said that a baby born in Japan is not Japanese. Please listen to the video again. Thanks.

So, because 95% of the Native American tribes were "exterminated", does that make it right for another group of people to step in and claim the term "West Indian" as their own?

[sry4gotmyusername]

Well exactly my point, if your japanese example holds true ground, why you getting pissed off at people who say they're west indian? And I think you misunderstood me, I said that most of the native tribes of the Carribeans were exterminated, which means that a very few number of people in the Carribeans are ACTUALY west indian natives and the ones that do are mixed with other races as well. So in the end, I dont think theres such a thing as a real Carib, or Arawak or Taino anymore.

[TheDreamReborn]

In the video I said a baby born in Japan isn't automatically Asian. I don't see how you could have misunderstood that. I totally understood what you meant about the "extermination" of the ACTUAL West Indians.

Thanks for listening to the video.

[sry4gotmyusername]

I understood that. What I dont understand though, is if a person is born in the west indies, why cant they call themselves west indians? When people talk about the west indies, never or very rarely do they refer to the indigenous population that lived there. It might be true that they arent REAL indigenous west indians, just like the black baby born in japan isnt a real japanese.

[NeCacaluXuxultic]

Ther are still native Americans in the Caribbean but they are RARE!!!

[dizzmatic4]

there in panama also

[NeCacaluXuxultic]

....duh! the CHOCO tribe are a prime example XD