Southern Caribbean - Jamaica Vs "The Smallies"

Jamaica Vs "The Smallies"

In the USA, Canada, and the UK, the non-Anglophone Caribbean community is mixed with many from the Anglophone Caribbean community. Some cases of segregation have arisen among West Indian people, however, which causes a commonly found rivalry between people from the larger island of Jamaica and those from the smaller "Smallie" islands of the Southern Caribbean. From the 1960s to the 1980s, many Jamaicans would not associate with someone from Trinidad/Barbados/Grenada, and vice versa. Tensions between the regions originate from the days of slavery, as both regions blame each other for "selling them out" to Europeans. During the 1960s-1980s, this racial tension reached a high point as many Caribbean people were discouraged from intermingling with those from other nations. They were even encouraged to marry only their "own people", that is, Jamaican man with a Jamaican woman, Trinidadian man with a Trinidadian woman and so forth.

However, it was not frowned upon for a Southern Caribbean person to marry another Southern Caribbean person (Trinidadian man with a Barbadian woman), as they classed themselves the same (unlike the Jamaicans). Jamaicans coined the term "Smallie" (meaning "small Islander") as a derogatory word used for Trinidadians, Barbadians, Grenadians, Vincentians, and St Lucians, as well as Kittians and Antiguans. For people who were not Jamaican, the Jamaican use of the term "Smallies" helped create a stereotype of Jamaicans being sneaky, common, and violent. This rift was well known in London until the Brixton Riots united the black Caribbean population, which now has a growing number of bi-national Caribbean descendants. Friendlier rivalry now occurs, such as the soca vs. reggae rivalry, which recently escalated between Jamaica's I Wayne and Trinidad's Bunji Garlin, after I Wayne labeled soca "Devil music". Other than that, the two regions challenge each other to who can "wuk up" the best.