Jamaican Chinese community

Directed by David Ritter-
Narration by-Rose Thompson
Music by Jason Duguay
This short documentary is a synopsis of the Jamaican Chinese community and their history within Jamaica and their cultural contributions and trials.
continuation of the Forgotten Faces of Jamaica series.
copyright 2011 David Ritter
Donations to help support this project and more projects aiming to provide education to the world about social issues within the west indies can be sent to - http://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=3267
Forgotten Faces is a video documentary project that raises awareness of and celebrates the minority ethnic groups of the West Indies. Many people are unaware of the existence of populations of Jamaicans and Haitians of white European, Chinese, East Indian, and Middle Eastern descent, living in Jamaica and Haiti. These ethnic groups are diminishing in the West Indies, but have played very important roles in the history of these countries and their culture. People interviewed are from diverse backgrounds, including: celebrity, middle class, those with political goals, those who wish to affect their country in massive ways, and those who simply want to live their lives in the country they love. General reactions to white Jamaicans and white Haitians range from amazement to shock and disbelief, and, even to hostility. These reactions are followed by questions: Who are these people? How did they get here? What is their "story"? How do other Jamaicans and Haitians feel about them? Forgotten Faces addresses these questions.

some of these minority groups have experienced racism and discrimination from both their governments and the general populace. Many of these incidents have gone unreported and have, in some cases, been renumbered in the history books of Jamaica, Haiti, and the United States. These people have a story to tell about their hardships and about their accomplishments

Category:

Education

Tags:

• chinese
• history
• Jamaica
• Jamaican Cuisine
• China
• Reggae
• Educational
• Documentary
• Documentary Film
• Culture
• Civil
• Museum
• News
• Bob
• Roots
• Marley
• Heritage
• Project
• America
• Bob Marley
• historical
• asian
• asians
• island
• racism
• race
• racist
• cultural
• kingston
• Asia
• cba
• kong
• chang
• ska
• Army
• Sound
• Cultural Heritage
• parish
• Hakka
• diverse
• diversity

[Bardo515]

As a child, I do remember my grandaunt saying that the Chinese people in Jamaica had a very elitist attitude, whereas, they did not associate/socialize outside of their ethnic group, they feel that they are superior to others, they were disrespectful to those they deemed “less than” (normally, the black Jamaicans) and that they kept the wealth amongst themselves and did not give back to the community. Essentially, they were racist, misers in her view!

[ForgottenFaces001]

@Bardo515 please watch the next segment titled Jamaican racial frictions and we discuss the mindsets your aunt speaks of. but plese understand your aunt was speaking in a genralized fashion just because there is a general mindset within a certain ethnic group it does not mean that everyone follows it. generalization is easy to do seeing people as individuals and as human beings takes more time and thought

[Ceejayanthirium]

good stuff your doing man, very interesting

[ForgottenFaces001]

@Ceejayanthirium thank you i have been working hard on these projects. it feels good to talk about things that so many people rarely ever discuss that i feel are so important

[venessa32]

@ForgottenFaces001 you should do Jamaican Indian,Irish, Scottish, Portuguese, Spanish, English and the real Jamaican with is our Arawak.the black Jamaican is mixed with the Arawak Indian.

[ForgottenFaces001]

@venessa32 either way subscribe to my channel if you get the chance and i will keep you updated on my future projects

[CharmingPhoenix]

@Bardo515 many of my extended family members have married into thw Jamaican Black population. (I happen to be the last WhiteChiney as they say). Breddrin, I can remember as a child pleading with my Grandmother to teach me the old Chiney Language because I was so fasinated by it -- sorry for being interested in my ethnicity) But so proud of my parents Jamaican nationality! Guess what? I speak Patois too!! :) But you know what Breddrin?I live in the US and am now a working professional

[CharmingPhoenix]

@Bardo515 involvement as she would have liked. (This also corresponds with the time it takes to have school-aged children) which would explain why your aunt would have seen changes in interactions from the older working generation of the time, and younger active Jamaicans of Chinese desent. Who were/are more Jamaican than Chinese. Slowly, my grandparents lost the ability to speak their native language, (Hakka),shunning all customes (except for food-- or should give that up as well??)

[CharmingPhoenix]

@Bardo515 for a few hours to start all over again the next day. This is why many of them lived in the store itself in the beginning. Let me ask you, if you lived this kind of life, would you have time to socialize with the community the way you would otherwise want to? I think not. People were not necessarily living the life they wanted, its called doing what you need to do to suvive. Fully assimulating can take at least 10 years(a decade)This is why your Aunt may not have seen as much community

[CharmingPhoenix]

@Bardo515 to go to a store to buy things to sustain yourself in your local community rather than commuting any way you could 3-4 hours just to buy necessities you need for the week? Keep in mind, this "shop" that you are going to, the owners have to pay rent, electricity, water, and so on just to keep the place running...after that, they only make a small portion of profit so they themselves can eat... And they start from 5 to open at 6am and close at 9pm to leave at 10 only to go home

[CharmingPhoenix]

@Bardo515 If you came to a country, didn't speak the language, didn't know the area, or the general way to go about doing things in everyday life; but still had to make a living right from when you arrived, wouldn't you have the tendency to keep to yourself and or others like you? Its not that they didn't want to mix in with the local people from the beginning, its that they couldn't at first. The only way that generation knew how to make a living was to buy and sell. Don't you like being able