Carribbean

July 10, 2009 1:53 AM

Is this common in the Carribbean? Where are the local bars or clubs in St. Thomas or St. John where different races hang out together?

Is anyone familiar with St. Thomas or St. John? This is our first time in the Carribbean; we're staying in St. Thomas and have been catching the ferry over to St. John. We've been driving all over St. Thomas and have noticed that either there are places geared towards tourists or there are local bars and clubs that seem to either be all black or are all white, sailing-boaty type bars. The closest we saw to a mix of people was Coki Beach. We were there over the July 4th holiday weekend and there were a lot of locals there, but they seemed a tad resentful of tourists being there (expected and not surprising).

I'm from California and have been to Hawaii, Georgia, Tennessee, New York, London and some other places. I'm more used to people of all races mixing it up. I see a huge social discrepancy here between the tourists with money a lot of the locals who earn less, but the race division seems a lot more intense than I've seen in Georgia or Tennessee. (Although I haven't spent a huge amount of time in the Deep South).

Clearly we're just tourists and haven't seen it all, but does anyone know where the bars and clubs or restaurants or churches are where blacks, whites, and all other races just hang out in St. Thomas? Or is this typical for the Carribbean?

Please don't chime in just to rage - I saw the post about the swimming club in Philly. I know there is racism in the United States. But I see a lot more mixing in the U.S. also. I'm curious if the rest of the Carribbean is like this.

posted by gt2 to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

Can't speak for St. Thomas, but Cuba is one of the most-integrated places I know. Black-white-brown in pretty random distribution in any given bar, restaurant or neighborhood. It seems as true in the big cities as the small towns, also.

So at least it's not a Caribbean-wide thing.
posted by rokusan at 2:23 AM on July 10

People seemed pretty mixed in Grand Cayman back when I was there, but I noticed the same thing you did in the USVI.

I suspect that some of it has to do with St. Thomas being so high in crime (less so St. John). Crime fear -> distrust generally -> avoidance of the Other.

I suspect some of it also has to do with the local vs. tourist issue, which in the Caribbean is about a perfect proxy for race.
posted by dzot at 6:37 AM on July 10

a friend from columbia told me that due to the mixing of spanish, african and native blood, common people come in all shades. since there's no distinct columbian "race," people don't segregate along clear lines.

in places where the race/class lines are more obvious, our natural tendency to self-segregate is probably stronger, especially where the race/class barriers coincide - as they do in many places in south/central america where the upper class is spanish and the lower class is black or native.

this is, of course, completely speculative on my part.
posted by klanawa at 9:01 AM on July 10

We've gone to Skinny Legs in Coral Bay in St. John USVI a couple of times with friends who live there year round.

Judging from both what they say and the cast of characters there, it mighty be what you're looking for.

Very realistically rustic, and great food too.
posted by imjustsaying at 2:35 AM on July 11

Thanks for all the answers. We would love to go to Cuba and the Caymans one day and it's good to know that the separation isn't a Caribbean wide thing.

We'll try Skinny Legs next time we go to St. John (and there will be a next time, because St. John might be the most beautiful place we've ever seen).

We did end up finding a pretty diverse bar called Mooie's in St. John. It's around the corner from the ferry and is owned by the daughter of a former St. John senator. A lot of locals seemed to hang out there - cab drivers, ferry captains, and people from the AA group next door kept buying O'Douls, etc. The crowd was pretty comfortable.

St. John seemed a little more comfortable than St. Thomas. We'll have to try to find a more mixed crowd in St. Thomas the next time we go.
posted by gt2 at 6:13 PM on July 13