Hello L&G,

Thanks for sharing your trip. The tour that you went on, was it a taxi tour or National Park tour?? Did you go out to lunch/dinner; which places did you try?

--Islander

Sorry you had to deal with Mr Regis on your tour. There is some truth to what he says about the blacks who wound up on the islands during the age of slavery....in such times, in African, the less "evolved" (as was determined by the Africans) Africans were sent to the US to be slaves. In other words, slaves were hand picked by Africans to be sold in the US. But, the more well regarded Africans (Royalty, powerful, well educated) either stayed in African or wound up in the Islands. Hence, the decendants of these royal familes who are now in the VI and other islands sometimes like to remind whites of who they are. i.e. "don't com here expecting us to bow and scrape for you like the black americans did". Coincidentally, the caribbean and african born/educated blacks are gaining admission to Ivy League schools at much highrer rate than any other underrepresented minority and are blowing the roof off of SAT scores and AP exams. So, when whites from the US show up, the Caribbean blacks just want to remind you that they are different than what you amay be used to when dealing with minorities in the US.

Umm excuse me.. as for your comment......
"As far as the islanders go, though, I don't think I've ever met a more unfriendly group of people anywhere."

That hurts my feelings as an islander. We have access to computers too, so we can see how you're trashing us. Are you sure you didn't do something to make us appear rude? Also, besides isolated people like that taxi driver (who I assure you, most people aren't like), in what ways were we rude to you? I would seriously like to know. Also, the good morning/good afternoon thing is a serious thing in the islands. As a kid, I have always known to say that to people when starting a conversation, especially older people. I think you should be more open minded, instead of thinking we're some kind of Disneyland where we are only sideshows meant to serve you tourists. Have some more respect instead of bashing us like that! *Cheese and bread!* *chuuuups*

Yeah, Steff good point. I'm an example of the Caribbean blacks gaining acceptance to Ivy League universities, what a coincidence (I'm sitting in my dorm at Brown University in Providence, RI)

Congrats Dominic! Brown is awesome.

I hope my description of the attitude of Caribbean blacks is on target. I am a bi-racial (half balck, half white) american. But, I spent a significant portion of my childhood living in the Caribbean. I can only hope that our american blacks can learn from your example and get it together! Good job!

Only when people stop thinking of themselves as black, whites, asians, etc. will the problem of racism go away. I don't really care what color someone is, but I despise people who seem to endlessly classify themselves. Only racists are obsessed with race.

Dominic,
We're sitting here suprised at the trip L&G had in St. John. Mark and I spent our days speaking with and getting to know the islanders. We never ran across any racism or feelings of unacceptance. As a matter of fact, everyone we met was excited about the fact we we're wanting to move to the island and live and become islanders. Of course, Dominic you know we were on StX. I guess we picked a good island.
Congratulations and Good luck at Brown,
L&G sorry some of your experiences were bad

First, I would like to apologize, Dominic, for hurting your feelings. I'm sure there are friendly islanders. My statement was too much of a generalization. Sorry. We met friendly people on St Thomas. It was on St John that we had some bad experiences, and that was really discouraging. Maybe it's that ferry commute to work that gets people in a grumpy mood? 😉

As far as whether I did anything to provoke this goes, I don't know. I don't think so. Is saying "Good Morning, is this the shuttle to Maho Bay?" bad? 😉 I didn't think that warranted a grumbled answer from a person who wouldn't look up from his newspaper to respond. I could be wrong, though. I also didn't think that when we asked where an item could be found in a grocery store that it warranted the response we got. My husband works in a grocery store, and wouldn't treat his customers that way... It was various experiences like this that were a bit upsetting.

I live in a tourist destination myself. I understand that tourists can be hard to deal with, especially towards the end of the season. When I play the role of customer, I'm polite and greet people with respect, rather than hitting them with a barrage of questions, as I've seen others do. I also believe, however, that it isn't only the customer that needs to be polite and respectful. In fact, when you're the person providing the service, it's not only good manners to treat your customers with respect, I've found that it's really in your best interests! Good business sense and all... I have a really hard time paying someone to treat me like crap. I don't know, I guess it's just this weird preference I have...

Steff, I appreciate hearing the history of an area when I go on a tour. It's one of the reasons I take the tour -- to understand more about the people and the area I'm visiting. What I had trouble with was the hateful emotion that was radiating from our tour guide towards us. Wow. I haven't experience that in a long time. Yikes. By the way, Islander, this was a taxi tour.

It's interesting knowing the history of the people in the area. I'm not so sure being royalty makes people any better or worse than anyone else, though. If I were a descendant of Prince Charles, for example, it's probably something I'd try to keep quiet 😉

So, as far as "reminding whites of who they are" so they don't go to the Virgin Islands "expecting [blacks] to bow and scrape.. like the black americans did" goes... I don't know... Do people actually go there with that expectation? I was just hoping to relax, have fun, meet new people, see a beautiful area, and hopefully kick back some margaritas.

I agree with ManhattanGuy on his views. I don't care what color people are, although I have a penchant for purple 😉

So, to the nice islanders out there, sorry for the generalization. It was only my experience. Unfortunately, it was a bad one, so I wouldn't go back or recommend it to others. Hopefully, I will learn from this and make sure I help people to enjoy their hard-earned vacations when they come visit our area!

Lighten up, have fun, enjoy your lives! (darnit ! 🙂

If the islanders treat the average tourist in such ways, why would any of us want to come back and the taxi driver would not have riders.

Cutting off the nose despite the face.

I am soooo sorry to hear that the attitude is changing on StJ. I have always felt comfortable there, but if I have to deal with the same "we are better than you" crap ,I will find another place to spend my money. I hate all racism. We go to this place to get away from big city mentality white or black.

Isn't there anyplace left on Earth that color doen't matter?

Unfortunately, the islanders endure a vast amount of distasteful attitudes from the American tourists, which spills over to the tourists who are not distasteful. You have to rememebr that when you approach Joe Islander on a bench with his newspaper, you are not his customer. He may be having a bad day..maybe his wife just kicked him out....maybe he just lost his job....and you want directions....he doesn't acre and is entiteld to be grumpy if he needs to. I live in a big metropolitan city. I don't expect the islanders to act any differently than people here. People here gove MAJOR attitide whenever they feel like it.....so what. That's life. Why do tourists expect to go to the islands and find everybody with happy attitudes and big grins? These people live life just like we do....and they aren't on vacation 24/7 like we are when we are there. We arrive happy, cheerful, ready to relax and be merry. They, on the other hand, are not on vacation. Some of them wil be friendly, others won't. No biggie. You are on vacation...roll with it. And, I like the point made earlier that the islands are not Disneyland. The residents are not paid to walk around smiling and cheerful. They are just like us....and sometimes life sucks for them.

My mom worked part time at Cardow jewelers while we lived in STT. She talked about how condescending the customers were. She always laughs because they would say to her "you speak so well".......They had no idea that she was the wife of a Gov't offical and just worked there beacuase she loved jewelry and needed to fill her free time and it really pissed her off to see her colleagues beign treated like dirt. She was very sensitized to the problems the islanders face with the maltreatment by the tourists......treating them like they are less than human. So, when you encounter an islander with a bad 'tude or their guard up, just remember than every tourists isn't as nice as you and people have been treated very poorly on their home turf.

L&G: The Commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, Andrew Rutnik, would probably be very interested in your story. He was on the hot seat during a governmental committee meeting the other day (April 15th?).. This is from the story in the Source- www.onepaper.com- the on-line newspaper:

Rutnik said the taxi drivers are their own worst enemy. They "are getting hit very hard with complaints from the seaports and airports," he said, citing numerous complaints he gets daily about their attitude, and about the prices they charge passengers for baggage.
"The law states $1 per bag," Rutnik said, "and they don't tell people ahead of time. The passenger gets to his destination and finds he is paying $12 for fare and $30 for baggage. The drivers say they won't lift big bags for $1. It's deteriorated to the point where hotels provide their own transportation."
Rutnik said the entire taxi industry "is overrun with problems. I feel very strongly that the industry needs major reforms to save itself. There are some very troubling events going. Unless they begin to reform, they'll lose market share."
He said he has met with all of the taxi associations. One of his main objectives is a training program for drivers. "If you don't want the government to do it, develop it yourself," he said. '"You need a training program; you can't have drivers telling tourists that Fort Christian was built by the English and bombed in World War II. It's not about literacy; it about dealing with people directly."

Commissioner Rutnik's e-mail address is: [email protected]

Steff, I hate to correct you again, but I never approached Joe Islander on a bench, asking directions. I asked the man sitting in the driver's seat of the bus if this was the correct bus. And, no I don't expect every person on the island to be happy and smiling, and I never said I did. What I do expect, is common courtesy. I'm sorry you have such a problem with this. Understand that it is your problem, though, and not mine. Good luck in life. You'll need it.

Thank you East Ender.

L&G, what exactly did they do? Besides the prejudiced ("prejudice is the proper word instead of racist) taxi driver, how were they rude to you? What exactly did they say, and how did you respond? Can you give us a synopsis of how these conversations went, as to illuminate the image you're trying to give us?

L&G-

I wasn't directing ANY of my comments to you. If I had been, i would have opened my post with "L&G-" (as I did here). I was directing my comments to the general public and basing them on personal experience.

"I'm sorry you have such a problem with this. Understand that it is your problem, though, and not mine. Good luck in life. You'll need it."

I see. Well, I suppose this attitude mugh be the reason why you got an earful from the cabdriver. I hope your next vacation returns you with a better attitude........gheeesh.

No, I'd have to say racist is the proper word to describe the tour guide we had.

From the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:
racism - The notion that one's own ethnic stock is superior.

The tour guide's racists beliefs were illustrated by his *repeated* statement that blacks all came from "religion and royalty" and the whites were "all criminals", with side stories on how the whites stold land from the native americans in Colorado when they found gold there... and various other historical "facts" that didn't have anything to do with the Virigin Islands...

Nope, I'd say racist is definitely the proper word. Thanks for trying to help, though.
That's all for this discussion. Adios!

It's true. Not everyone is friendly.
I read somewhere---I think it was in one of Guy Benjamin's books, but apologize if I'm in error--on the place of greetings in West Indian culture, that greeting someone before getting around to business doesn't necessarily make someone want to be my friend, What it does show is that I was raised properly.

And if I can throw my 2 cents in. This taxi driver and others, who do represent us so badly, are most times never from the Virgin Islands. With a name like Regis, I can tell you he is probably form Dominica and may have a different concept of how to welcome people to our island than what he does back home. This is one of the reasons that Commisioner Rutnik will be trying to start a training program for them. I know it will not change their nasty personality, but may guide them in the direction of what a tourist expects from them, especially on a tour. His attitude wasn't racist, nor prejudice, just sheer ignorance. If he oonly knew or understood that it was his African brothers who gathered up the Africans in question, to sell them to the slave traders, he may look at i t differently. Just food for thought.
Ronnie

Ronnie-

Maybe the Commissioner would be willing to start a "secret shopper" program for testing the cab drivers. All of the cabbies should go through a training program and be made to sign a code of ethics. Then, there could be a program where unknown parties take cabs, acting as tourists, to see what kind of service they receive. This might be hard to do on such a small islands where everyone knows eveyone. But, maybe the Secret Shopper could be from STT where there are more people and they aren' t so recognizable and could "secret shop" on all 4 VIs.

Or, the commissioner could just hire me to do it and fly me down once every other month:)