Stressors

My husband told me that when he was a child he experienced racism. This was his story:

One day while walking down the road with a group of friends, we were approached by two older males. They looked about 18-20 years old. The two males asked us where we were going, and we told them that we were on our way to the park to play basketball. One of them snatched our basketball and threw it into the woods. The other one shoved one of my friends onto the ground. It was four of us and only two of them, so we tried to fight them. Unfortunately, the two guys were a lot bigger and definitely a lot stronger than us. They beat us up pretty bad. Once the fight was over, they spit at us and laughed. One of my friends yelled at them to go get our basketball, but the response we received upset all of us. They told us to go fetch our own ball and called us “stupid “N” words. After we found our ball, we went back to our neighborhood and told our parents. They were not happy about the situation. They sat us down and explained to us that the world still had ignorant people who don’t care about other people and their feelings. They also told us that some people do not agree with equality and that racism still existed. They told us that we need to learn to ignore people like those boys. Ignoring them is better than giving them the satisfaction of our reactions. Having that talk made us feel a lot better.

• In Jamaica, the stressors that I always read and hear about are poverty and violence. When a lot of us think about Jamaica, we think about the beautiful resorts and beaches. There is a totally different side of Jamaica. There are really poor areas in which people are living in poverty. Along with living in poverty, a lot of people, especially women, experience violence. I once saw a video online that showed a man violently beating up his girlfriend. The bystanders did not help the woman…they only watched in horror. It was very sad to see. As I observed the surroundings, I could tell that it was a very poor area. According to Ross Sheil, a writer of the newspaper, The Guardian, posted on January 13, 2013:

 Poverty, gang violence, guns and the mistrust of police remain serious problems on the Caribbean island

“Owen Ellington, the commissioner of the Jamaica constabulary, has worked to increase public confidence in his officers and promised to crack down on crime and corruption, but still the island is plagued by violence. Ellington has promised several new crime-fighting initiatives this year.”

To read more visit : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/13/imani-green-murder-violence-jamaica