Does Barack Obama Presidency Affect Caribbean People?

Barack Obama Eating Doubles

Congratulations Mr. President

Barack Obama winning another term as President of the United States has very little tangible affect on Caribbean people.   

According to US Foreign Policy the Caribbean is lumped in with a Latin America Policy, it does not matter that most of Latin America speaks Spanish we are categorized right along with them.  

 As you may know, Caribbean people from different islands each speak with their own accent and colloquial language.  It’s so bad that sometimes we cannot even understand each other.  That reminds me. 

    

One day I boarded a bus in Boston, needing directions, I asked a fellow passenger with my heavy Trinidad accent.  “Which stop do I get off to be on Columbia Road” That is what I meant but I said it just the way I would in Trinidad.  The passenger looked at me weird.  

 I asked again before he responded with: I don’t speak Spanish and turned away from me.  I never forgot that because in my mind I was saying “I don’t speak Spanish either” 

That is an aside but there might be some validity in how the US Foreign Policy perceives the Caribbean.  The United States is Trinidad and Tobago’s primary customer for gas, oil and derivatives.  We are one of many suppliers.  If T&T stopped producing oil tomorrow it will be a mere ripple in the US supply.  This is a strictly business relationship.

It did not matter if Romney won the Presidency nothing would have changed. 

There is another compelling reason why the Caribbean and especially countries like Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Venezuela and Columbia are important to US Foreign Policy.  All these countries are considered trans shipment points for illicit drugs flowing into the US.    

As such, the Caribbean is important to the extent that the US can assist in stemming that flow.   You would agree that it’s pure self preservation on the part of the US so we could expect that it would have continued no matter who won.

But here is how President Obama affects the Caribbean.  We are proud of him.  There were very few Mitt Romney for President Supporters in the entire Caribbean.   As much as I hate to admit it, 

Caribbean people are mostly descendants of Africans and call it genes, hereditary or environment we support each other morally if not physically.  To put it plainly, it’s tribal, a matter of race black and white. 

Don’t get me wrong there is no hatred or racism involved.  Caribbean people tend to be more democratic than republican.  Issues such as women’s rights, immigration rights, human rights are issues that resonates with Caribbean people.  

 Choosing Obama over Romney was a good choice all around, proof is the majority of Americans who agreed, not all of them were black.