Caribbean American Stereotypes

Although I understand that Americans who have never visited the Caribbean can only believe what others tell them about it, negative American stereotypes about the Caribbean and its people are ludicrous and dangerous. In this extract from Ian Strachan’s book Paradise and Plantation, Strachan spoke about particular American stereotypes which insinuate that all Caribbean people speak alike, behave alike, and have the same practices. However, all Caribbean people may be of the same region, but we are not all the same. Therefore, these stereotypes are not only foolish, but also detrimental to the unique identity of the Caribbean islands and their reputation. People of the various Caribbean countries have their unique dialects. Therefore, the fact that Eddie Murphy used a Jamaican accent in one of his standup comedies to portray his idea of a typical Bahamian man is foolish. Bahamian dialect is Bahamian creole English, whereas Jamaican dialect is patois. So who is really the fool in this joke? Furthermore, I share the same objection as Strachan to Murphy’s “joke” because he disrespected our culture and it is certainly not a laughing matter. Additionally, Strachan spoke about the American stereotype by …show more content…
From Eddie Murphy’s portrayal of a typical Caribbean man in his standup comedy, Strachan interpreted, “The Caribbean man is supposedly beast-like, the object of sexual fantasy…waiting to insert into a tourist orifice.” Murphy objectified Caribbean people, portraying us as savage beast that seek only for sexual gratification. However, majority of Caribbean people are not sex beast as Murphy erroneously portrayed. Furthermore, this stereotype can be detrimental to the tourism industry of Caribbean countries because by portraying Caribbean people as wild sex beast, it will evoke fear in Americans of being sexually harassed or raped; therefore, they might avoid vacationing