Staff writer - Maria Costa
When Bob Marley insisted that ‘No Woman, No Cry’, were the Caribbean men listening?
Growing up as a young girl, there was never a shortage of females ready and willing to impart their wisdom on men – Caribbean men in particular.
”You can’t trust no black man! He’ll ‘dun’ leave you with his baby and move on to the next” became the mantra of mothers, aunties, cousins and friends.
Initially, this served as a humorous parody of black men but it soon became evident that I couldn’t see a Caribbean man in the same way thanks to the comments that had been so indelibly etched in my young mind. Every time I was presented with a Caribbean man in a romantic fashion, I would detach myself and in a fabulous twist of irony, hurt the man in question.
Was this really fair? The pressing question presented itself in every pair of brown eyes I encountered. Where exactly did this loaded vista of black men ill treating their women arise from?
The cold, hard truth is that men from ALL walks of life cheat on their women but
Legendary Robert Nester Marley
it’s the black men who carry the boulder of this dismal fact day in and day out.
Could it be that Caribbean men are more expressive in their betrayal of their women? With their sensual manner and (God Given?) talent at making women feel special, perhaps they end up simply hurting women more resulting in a more vocal outcry from the female race.
Whatever the reason, it is a fact that if you expect someone to behave in a certain way, they’re going to do it anyway. This sadly, results in a self fulfilling prophecy that with a little bit of trust and respect could have been pre empted and prevented. So whilst women may have a duty to trust Caribbean men more, men take note! The power to change an antiquitous mind set is within you;
We don’t want to hear ‘Soon come’ when we ask you when you’re coming home and we don’t care how ‘Hataz’ that girl is, it’s the woman at home you want to be watching. After all, Yuh can’t suck cane and blow whistle.
