Sadly, no matter where you go in the world there will be people who are rude, disrespectful or just plain angry. The USVI is no exception. I hate you have to weave this memory into your others from your trip, but hopefully, with time, your other beautiful memories of your trip will rise above this incident and one day obscure it for what it was... an very unpleasant moment that can only rob you of as much of your vacation as you let it.

Blender,

I'm sorry you encountered a nut on your visit to Coki beach. I'm also sorry that the nut's behavior was construed as stemming from the U.S. taking the island from West Indians. Neither the nut's behavior nor the local's explanation for the nut's behavior is reasonable.

Most of the frustration among West Indians here is not racial but economic. As you noted, the islands rely on tourism, but tourist dollars find themselves in the pockets of transplants from the states disproportionately to the pockets of West Indians, perhaps because owning a business is generally more lucrative than cleaning rooms, washing dishes, etc. I 'm not sure it's reasonable to expect the economically disadvantaged to get over feeling oppressed by the more fortunate. It's human nature for the poor to resent the more affluent, whether the poverty and wealth is monetary or innate talent or something else. If someone works two minimum wage jobs, lives in public housing, and does not have access to decent public schools or medical care for her children, it seems normal for her to resent people who on a two week vacation spend more than she makes in six months. Tourists from the states may save all year to be able to vacation here but many folks living in public housing in NYC or Chicago or the USVI have difficulty affording food each month and no savings for either vacations or calamities.

Some people are nutty and unless they commit crimes, they're free to be nutty. The nut you encountered is as entitled to voice an opinion about you as you are to voice an opinion about him. Fortunately, immediately thereafter you had a positive experience with another local. Hopefully on balance you had more positive than negative experiences. I'm sure you have nuts where you live too. For what it's worth, when I travel to the states not all of my experiences with locals are positive.

Dntw8up,
to say this character is a nut is right on.....
However, to say that resenting those with more is human nature is just wrong (in my humble opinion).
Perhaps envy is a better way to classify what they feel.
I grew up poor, I didn't resent anyone, I envied them and worked very hard and made some tough decisions to make sure I wouldn't be poor my whole life, and thats what they can do too.
Anyone in the United States of America can!!
I don't accept that lousy schools are to blame. Not entirely. Many, many very successful people come from broken homes and lousy schools. Its about hard work and ambition.
Just one final thought...why is it that the locals have to clean rooms and wash dishes. They can start a business just as easy as the next person. There lots of examples of Islanders making a good living by opening businesses that cater to the tourists.
No disrespect, just my opinion.
Hmmmmm.....I feel a very long thread coming on........
Jay

Jay,

Merriam-Webster defines resentment as, "a painful awareness of another's possessions or advantages and a desire to have them too" so I think resentment is an appropriate term. Envy is listed as a synonym, so whether resentment or envy is used to describe the feeling appears to be nothing more than a matter or preference. With respect to what constitutes a natural human inclination, most Americans would agree that Biblical Commandments command against specific human inclinations. Since the terms envy and resentment are interchangeable and since the Bible commands against envy, I think it's fair to categorize resentment as a natural human inclination, especially for a have-not.

Some people can grow up poor and through hard work and good choices become successful. Others simply don't have the ability to do this. Not everyone has the same inner strength, the same will, the same capabilities to persevere when the odds seem stacked against them. Weaker individuals frequently have compensatory strengths, like superior empathy. You are fortunate to have the strengths you have but it is inaccurate to suggest that because you can achieve something, everyone else should be able to achieve the same thing and those who can't achieve the same thing are somehow less deserving of the things your success enables you to enjoy. Not everyone has equal opportunities or abilities to achieve.

Success is not just a matter of hard work and ambition. Education, health care, nutrition, and a host of other factors affect individuals, and every individual is affected by the absence of these factors differently. If I were an international competitor on the violin it would be wrong for me to assert that anyone who applies themselves to mastering the violin should be able to do what I do because numerous other factors, not the least of which is talent and aptitude, are required of an internationally competitive violinist. As you note, there are lots of examples of successful West Indian business owners, just as there are lots of successful stateside business owners, but not everyone has the creativity, initiative, capital, experience and aptitude for successful business ownership so many West Indian and stateside businesses fail. If hard work made one successful, there'd be a lot more successful coal miners.

It seems to me that you are saying they are not good enough to become successful.

If a person is not a talented violin player, maybe he should try something else.

As far as a coal miner, I would be willing to bet that, in West Virginia, coal mining one of the higher paying jobs....but thats not the point, the choices we make are. If there are no opportunities where an individual may happen to be, one should search out those opportunities in the field that interests him or her.

There are many opportunities in the USVi, one could start a business doing anything they want...he or she only needs the desire to work hard to make a decent living, you can use disabilities and health and education for an excuse for some, but in my travels I have seen to many people in tough situations become very successful by just working hard.

I never said that anyone is not "good enough" to become successful and I do not denied that many people in tough situations become very successful by just working hard. What I said was that many moe people in tough situations do not become successful despite working hard and a desire to work hard does not translate into the ability to start a business any more than hard work ensures success..

Don't know about the 'we took the island from them' part, but I can assure you I send no one there! Too many dope dealers, as well as people who harrass visitors there. Not worth it on vacation. It's too bad as it's really a beautiful beach!

RL

Many of the Coki vendors are locals, and they are making a good living from their concessions at Coki. They may not look upwardly mobile, but most are earning a decent living. Don't let the Coral World employee give you a "woe is them" sob story.

Because it's a public beach with easy accessibility and is popular with the tourists, it attracts some questionable characters. It's best to just adopt a "sticks and stones" mentality, and remember, he's hurting himself more than he did you.

Blender
I really don't know why some vacationers from the main-land think that people on the islands resent them for what they have or where they live. The reality is that everyone on the island knows that people everywhere have to work hard and save their moneys to enjoy the better things in life, like taking a vacation. That is just a big misconception that someone would tell you that the locals resent people because they may feel that you all took the islands away form them. That is just nonsense. The fact is that we islanders are very proud to be American citizens and if someone tells you different I would totally disagree with them. With all the exposure now via cable TV, Internet we know that everything in the states is not all that peachy, people all over like here on the islands are struggling to make a living.

I'm wondering why you would post this ? You had ONE bad moment with ONE person. It happens ! Think ...have you been "on" every day of your life ofcourse not. It sounds like it really upset you ( or someone with you ) it may have even scared you a bit ....but to say a certain place is no good because of one time is well not very logical.

My last visit to Coki was well...perfect. yes there was a guy beach bartender I think that had the makings of a poor attitude, I simply looked at him as colorful. The lovely woman selling beads and things more than made up for it with her charm.

O.K. you have a sore memory of Coki but to anyone thinking of going for their first time , you may just Love it.

Mike

Please read the last 3 sentences from the original poster (Blender), again. That mentality is exactly why most of the world has animosity towards the US. I'm just gonna throw this out there and suggest your attitude prevoked this certain incident. As for calling you a "bigot". . .if the shoe fits. . .

I don't care where you are in the world...if what happened to Blender really happened, then it's wrong....period.

The last 3 sentences are also true. If there wasn't any tourism on St. Thomas, then WHAT would there be? Word of mouth spreads fast and people who have never been to these islands would definetly consider the attitude of the people that live there before they go. Just as Jamaica has gotten a bad reputation in the past, so can St. Thomas.

And my biggest question is.....WHY would he call Blender a bigot when all he wanted to do was NOT snorkel. Little extreme I think.

Coko is a little different of a beach. We didn't have any problems there, but I've seen different message boards where people have had a difficult time. So.....if the shoe fits :o)

I think he was just crazy. There is a lunatic sometimes on Coki. He walks back and forth really fast - and he talks smack. He isn't always there...but he sometimes is. I had a longer post, but I accidentally sent it to the moderator instead of posting it.

Don't make more of this. He's just one crazy nut. The islanders do not feel that way. I am sorry you had this experience. Nuts are everywhere. Some guy walked up my street last week and cussed me out about Budweiser - I was sitting on my porch. He was a nut.

They are everywhere...especially on the islands!!! So sorry 🙁