As people of this vibrant region that’s full of breath taking nature and diverse and deep culture, we Caribbean people truly hate each other. 
 
I use to the term hate to describe the level of animosity that is used when describing one another. Us hating each other doesn’t mean we don’t like each other. We have to like each other to survive but we have to love each other’s existence. Confused? Well allow me to explain. 
 
Xenophobia: intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.  
 
 
Xenophobic attitudes are worldwide and doesn’t stick to one society, however in the Caribbean we tend have those strong attitudes in every single one of our countries. 
Caribbean pride or unity is something that has been more prevalent over the last decade as we started to produce mainstream artists, world class athletes and other worldwide influencers. It’s a movement that encourages the region to be together as one. 
 
This type of Caribbean unity is needed in order for socio-economic institutions  such as the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to thrive. We can’t promote free movement of labour, a single market etc., if we don’t showcase that we can get a long as one. 
 
Here is the problem, we can barely see each other passing on the road. 
 
As a Seh Mahtener, I grew up in a society where this type of attitude is second nature. This 37 square miles is one of the most multi culture island in the region yet, for most of my child hood, many communities were (are) separated. 
 
In this xenophobic community of mine, we tend to place persons who are not considered “Seh Mahteners” into groups that are related to their origin: 

1. Haitians 
2. Jamaicans
3. Spanish (Dominicans, Venezuelans, Colombians, Panamanians) 
4. Dominican 
5. Other English Speaking Country People  

 
Xenophobia usually thrives when cultures clash. In this community, cultures clash ALL THE TIME. 
 
From simple debates to which island is better, to how they live, the purpose of migrating or to the simple fact that they are so many of them that live here. 
 
We have one of the biggest Dominican community, due to the fact that many men in the late 19th Century/ early 20th Century migrated to the Dominican Republic to work in the oil industry. Many of these men left families over there and when the economic declined in the country, many people who claim Seh Mahten heritage, among others migrated  for better opportunities.
 
This mass migration over the last 30+ years has annoyed the “locals” to the fact that they are the ones taking up all the social welfare, they are the ones that are always up late with their loud music and drinking. Some of these statements apply but they are usually filled with fear, hatred and simple disgust. 
The same goes for the mass migration of Haitians. Many people speak about them with distaste as they come with the idea that all of them practice witchcraft or obeah, or are a part of a super religious community or speak a language that no one understands so they are automatically talking crap about us. 
 
Many persons in the Haitian community would usually take the “lower class job” or become the street vendors due to the lack of proper documentation, or education in a way to provide for their family and that their children will be able to be educated and live the best life they can. 
 
Many of the other groups are looked down upon on as a way that they carry themselves or how they speak because it doesn’t fit in the narrative of the pride the “locals” deal with. 
However this is the gag (always wanted to say that), living in a multi-cultural society that is located on such a small mass of land, no one is truly “foreigner” or “local” anymore. Caribbean people have mixed and mingled among each other for years to raise their children in this community as branded as “Seh Mahteners” 
 
No one, is truly from here. My mother’s lineage is Antiguan, most of my classmates lineages are from the English speaking Caribbean, other Antillen (Dutch Caribbean) countries, Asian, etc. yet we still identified ourselves as Seh Mahteners. 
Why? It’s because the merge of the various cultures has become our culture and our identity.
 
Unfortunately this doesn’t stop the xenophobic attitudes within our local and  broader communities(the region). Social media has created a platform where persons who live on other islands are able to interact with one another on a regular basis. 
 
A great and current example of xenophobia throughout the entire region is the current debate over Rihanna’s new dancehall project as if it’s culture appropriation or not since she is Barbadian and not Jamaican.
Apparently a set claims that because she isn’t Jamaican she shouldn’t do it another set claims Dancehall is a regional genre another set says well if we can’t claim dancehall don’t claim soca and carnival another set saying this is just proof y’all don’t really like Jamaicans, and I Kamilah Gumbs is saying shut up because we are all sounding stupid. 
 
Yes, Dancehall is a genre originated in Jamaica. However Barbados, according to my mother who spent 4 years at the University of West Indies Cavehill Campus, is a very dancehall oriented island. Rihanna always stated how she grew up listening to the genre this becoming a part of her own cultural experience. 
 
Dancehall, alongside Reggae, Soca, Calypso, Zouk, Kompa, Boyoun, Bachata, Reggaeton etc., are all Caribbean genres that were created and specialized in different communities but has become of different individual culture experiences.  
 
Someone’s culture experience should not be an open target for your xenophobic attitude. Just because they aren’t from your island doesn’t mean they haven’t had a certain experience, just because they don’t speak like you or move like you, doesn’t mean you the other Caribbean person, the person that needs to representing Caribbean pride as a part of our socio-economic development, should not speak about your fellow brothers and sisters with words that scream xenophobia.  
 
As I mentioned that I am still living in a xenophobic society, despite of all the cultural changes. EVERY CARIBBEAN ISLAND HAS A XENOPHOBIC ATTITUDE WHETHER IT’S UPFRONT OR BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, AND WE NEED TO CHANGE THAT NARRATIVE IN ORDER FOR US TO BE UNITED AS ONE REGION AND IN ORDER FOR US TO MOVE FROM THIS STAGNANT PLACE THAT WE’VE BEEN SITTING IN FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR LOCAL AND REGIONAL SOCIETIES. WE, MEMBERS OF CARICOM, OECS, SPANISH SPEAKING NATIONS, AMERICAN OVERSEAS TERRITORIES, DUTCH CARIBBEAN, FRENCH CARIBBEAN NEEDS TO GET OUR ACT TOGETHER AND LEARN THAT OUR DIFFERENCES THAT WE ARE SO AFRAID OF, IS ONE OF THE MINOR ISSUES TO THE SIMILARITES THAT WE SUFFER WITH ECONOMICALLY AND SOCIALLY IN THIS REGION.
 
So can we, kindly, end this stupid debate, realise our flaws (because I’m just as bad as the next man) and better ourselves? 
 
Come do bettuh nuh man. 

Feel free to discuss your opinions with us on twitter @islandgalting or comment below !

​Hello. I’m writing this letter from my humble home on our beautiful island of Saint Martin in the year 2018. Today I want to talk to you about how the news have an effect on my thought process. The news always send my brain into a slight overdrive, but certain topics tend to plague my mind for days, even weeks.
 
On Monday 9th July 2018, reports regarding the insurance company in the Dutch Caribbean, Ennia and how the handle their pension finances shed a new light on the business is truly operated. You can read the article from stmaartennews.com here.
Now I’m not an expert on insurance or how insurance companies and this letter has nothing to do with the high level of corruption within the company. This letter has to do with a specific fact that was highlighted in the aforementioned article. 

​After reading that final paragraph of the article, I got more annoyed and upset at the entire situation. I quickly sent the article to Tori and we had various exchanges of capitalized “BREHS” and “BRUHS” because of how ridiculous that one specific fact is; THE GOVERNMENT OF SINT MAARTEN HAS GIVEN AWAY SO MUCH LAND.
 
How, you may ask. Well there is this thing I like to call a blessing and a curse and it’s simply called long-leased land. Long-leased land was basically an initiative that would allow locals to be able to afford to purchase land and pay for it for a long extended period of time.
 
Dear past and (long term) present leaders,
I know that prior to the 1960’s our island didn’t’ have a set industry that provided a sustainable income to our economy after the closure of the salt factory. The revolutionary idea of going into the tourism industry has given us a steady stream of economic growth that has helped us to be some-what sustainable and has attracted many migrants from across the region and the world. 
This beautiful land that we call home,  has also attracted a lot of foreign investors who would help develop many of the major hotels on the island. This was the beginning of a new era. However, my great leaders, there were too many flaws in this great tourism start up that has put the people of the nation in great distress.
 
Public Enemy Number 1: Land.
 
How can you sell cooperate investors land on the same long-leased rates that were in place to help the people of Sint Maarten? Were you not aware of how much money we lost out by selling millionaires who know how to invest and sell, watch the price increase and sell again or did you not care about the money that the society would lose out on and was just worried about the initial money that would grace your pockets?

Selling land to these investors at such a cheap rate has allowed for an environment for serious corruption to thrive. This has helped major companies such as Ennia to practice their unmoral activities in the dark for years and other sketchy business practices such as importing cheaper labour and working around many tax holidays. These major businesses that swore they help our economy, are masters in finding the many loopholes that were never patched to make their pockets bigger and hardly contributing to the society that they function in.

Among that, you never put emphasis on the importance of keeping our culture alive, proper environmental planning and preserving our national monuments. The lack of foresight on these subject matters has put us behind many years are we are trying to rush to create a concrete cultural identity and suffering with the environmental harms of our dump and loss of eco systems around our ponds and bays.
 
It was evident that the dollar sign had more importance that the proper development of this nation. Thanks to the lack of people over self within your various governments over the decades, we are now in a position where we are constantly screaming “WE NEED TO FIX THIS.”
 
Going back to the capitalized fueled conversation between Tori and I, we realized once more that we really need to do something to change our society. The question is, what can we do to fix this issue?
The answer is not a straight forward one. Unfortunately we don’t know. The issues that we are dealing with traces back to policies and decisions that were created 40+ years ago and the lack of files and data doesn’t make the process any easier. 
 
I conclude with this. Thank you for initiating the tourism era and all the good it has done for this nation, however thanks to you, we have more work to complete and more things to regulate.
 
Sincerely,
Annoyed Youth, Kamilah S.N. Gumbs