el prejuicio de color

I have not found Jamaica to be as racially prejudiced as I have observed in other places. I would even say it almost doesn't really exist here. What I have seen however is a very clear prejudice of class and colour, and I find they go hand in hand. It is true that you will almost never find a light-skinned Jamaican in the slums... unless he bleached to get that way. Our history already dictated that fact, and the minds of the people have not changed these many decades later. The very act of bleaching tells the story. The fact that someone would think their skin colour unworthy because its too dark, reveals very strongly our bias for light skin and the associated meanings. For some, it means opportunity, wealth, beauty, upward mobility. Sigh.

I have grown up in an environment of beggars and sometimes I take it for granted. It's in our culture and I'm used to being begged. But over the past year I have noticed the trend increasing. Now, people beg us ALL the time. We expect begging at certain places: stop lights, walking along in New Kingston etc. But the frequency of the begging increases almost 200% when I'm with my light-skinned fiance over when I'm not. And all the time the beggars are hardly even looking in my direction. I am just now grasping what my light-skinned nationals have been plagued with all their lives. For him, the incessant begging is an everyday occurrence... and for me, I stand there in disbelief that he can't go anywhere without someone thinking he has money enough to give away some.

We still have a long way to go Jamaica.