West Indian Roots/North American Soil: Caribbeans in the Motor City

Within the past few years, Detroit has seen the rather conspicuous emergence of an almost unnoticed ethnic group which, although on the scene for decades, had never received much public attention. Detroiters who have slowly become aware of the presence of the Greeks, the Latinos, the East Indians, the Africans, the Ukrainians, the Serbo-Croatians, and other local ethnic groups through their festivals, concerts, churches, and other cultural manifestations, are finally beginning to see and feel the special vibrations of the people of the Caribbean - the West Indians are here!

Are we getting a new flow of West Indians from the Islands? No -- in fact, there has been a rapid decrease of immigrants from the Islands since the United States has begun in recent years to curtail the issuance of visas to people from the small Caribbean nations. These West Indians are already here, as they have been for several decades since this country started accepting immigrants from the Islands. But after a long period of assimilation and cultural self-negation, the West Indians in Detroit and the Midwest -- some 46,000 persons living in the area between Cleveland and Chicago -- are at last beginning to reclaim and reinvigorate their native heritage.

Most of the West Indians in the Midwest seem to have entered Michigan and the rest of the northern farm-belt as a result of the farmworker's plan, through which natives were recruited from the Caribbean to work on U.S. farms.

The state of Michigan, with its rich soil, had its share of immigrants, working on apple, cabbage, bean, sugar-beet, potato, and celery farms. Michigan was the destination of many of these farmworkers because farm owners in this region usually pay a higher rate, through "piece work," than most states, and the work was much easier than cutting sugar cane in Florida, picking cotton in Tennessee, or farming tobacco in Connecticut. The immigrants from the Caribbean were such diligent workers that many of them were chosen to remain on the farms by the owners for long periods of time after their contracts had expired. They would come to the city only for entertainment or shopping and always returned to the farms, the only life they knew.

When most of the West Indian islands became independent nations, a much more sophisticated brand of immigrants poured into the U.S. These were younger natives, exercising their newly-gained freedom and expecting a better life than those their forerunners had known. They were seeking professions, trades, opportunities, education. Many of these young people came and joined their relatives, still living on the farms in lower and upper Michigan. They brought with them a new sense of reality, an urge for a better tomorrow, and for the first time -- the farmers from the Islands heard of a better life than on the farms. They soon began an exodus to the city, where the automobile industry was offering more opportunities than the farms.

Most of the farmworkers, though unskilled in the factory, did not take long to procure a place among the higher-paid workers. They learned well and they learned fast, and soon they were "one of the guys." And that's where they remained, lost in the mainstream of the American way of life. They made good for themselves. They and their families did not see the necessity to live among their fellow West Indians. Most of their friends were non-West Indians, working in the same factories, on the same assembly lines, doing the same kind of work that they themselves do. They bought their homes next door to the guy who worked on the same shift with them. They attended the same church as their neighbors, wore the same clothes, joined the same clubs, and their cultural heritage as West Indians was lost and forgotten. 

The younger, more self-conscious immigrants, in search of a better life, found much success. They became lawyers, doctors, engineers, and similar, successful professions. They did not lose their cultural heritage in the flow of the American mainstream; instead, they became so involved in their professional activities that they simply had very little time to relate to their "yesterdays," thus out-growing the simple and humble life they had once known. They sat and sipped champagne and joked about their old ways while basking in the sophisticated way of life they now enjoyed. Their heritage was in their past, and they now belonged to a new and modern society.

The natives back on the Islands, being constantly exposed to their heritage, cultivated it to keep abreast of the modernizations that were taking form, as brought about by Independence. It was now their country, their nation, their life. And so a cultural evolution began.

Independence celebrations and festivals brought out many artistic talents: poets, artists, writers, singer, actors and actresses, musicians, dancers, and other artistic gifts which would normally have faded without the opportunity to be cultivated. With ever-gathering momentum, these talented natives began expanding and reaching for higher grounds, available only outside their own little nations. They hit the European and Canadian cities, and now those of America and another evolution took place.

The West Indians who had deserted their native culture because it was not in line with their new, advanced way of life, saw a brand new interpretation of their own cultural heritage unfolded before their eyes. It was there on their huge color-TV screens, on their new electronic radios, and in their elegant concert halls, and the more prosperous West Indians, along with those factory workers who had discarded theirs to embrace the homogenized ways of their co-workers and neighbors, eagerly came forward to claim the now-attractive culture which was rightfully theirs. A new awareness was born within the hearts of many West Indians living in these modern cities, so far away from home. Their cultural heritage was reinvigorated, and they were ready to get in on it as soon as they could. 

When the Mighty Sparrow, from Trinidad, made his first appearance at Olympia Stadium in Detroit a few years ago, this marked the first appearance of any West Indian entertainer in Detroit, and hundreds of West Indians came out in support of the "calypso king of the world." Along with his music and songs, he brought with him something to which natives living here could relate and be proud. He brought their culture back to them.

One of the many islands which have given West Indians so much of which to be proud is the Island of Jamaica. The biggest and perhaps the most advanced of the Caribbean nations, Jamaica flooded the Western World with its new brand of music, a slow and steady syncopated beat called the "Reggae," a word meaning "natural" in the Jamaican dialect. This new beat attracted the attention of many top international entertainers, and soon the Jamaican reggae hits were appearing on top charts around the world. Ironically, Jamaicans were given little or no credit for this new sound, as entertainers like American soul singer Johnny Nash, Britain's Beatles, and Eric Clapton made much success by recording material written by Jamaicans. And West Indians in American went back into oblivion. False alarm. They could not relate to something brought about by non-West Indians. They did not need an alien medium for their own culture.

Europe, the first foreign country to recognize West Indian musical artistry, could not help but make big names out of West Indian entertainers. A number of major recording companies shifted their West Indian bases to the metropolitan cities of many European countries, and top West Indian performers were featured, claiming raving reviews all over the continent. One of these many superstars was a popular Jamaican singer-musician named Jimmy Cliff. He had rocked the entire Caribbean with his early hits, such as "Miss Jamaica," "Lion Say," and a very moving ballad called "Hard Road to Travel," which was later recorded by several international entertainers. He became the first West Indian to make the top charts in the U.S. His song "Wonderful World" was to be the beginning of something big for other West Indian entertainers. Cliff's record was preceded by a hit from another Jamaican great, Desmond Dekkar, with "Poor Me Israelite," but before West Indians could get used to hearing their own voices on the American airwaves, they were replaced by the Elton Johns, the Paul Simons, and the Herbie Manns, all doing reggae. And once again, West Indians became just a mere cell in the American bloodstream.

Although West Indians were not getting their records played on the American stations, a few major cities were getting their share of live West Indian entertainment. Top groups were making frequent appearances in cities like New York, Washington, and Chicago. Over in Canada, they were hosting groups in Montreal and Toronto. They were bringing with them the real grassroots sounds of the Islands. Bob Marley, Za-pow, Toots and the Maytals, Byron Lee, Chozen Few, Fabulous Five, the Mighty Sparrow, the Merrymen, Calypso Rose, and many others all performed before full, sold-out audiences. People in these areas were getting a first-hand experience of the "Caribbean soul," white others in the Midwest regions were literally ignored. Understandably, West Indians in these areas, not being able to share in this resurrection of the Caribbean culture, again faded into the background. 

When Jamaican superstar Bob Marley was scheduled to appear at the Detroit Showcase Theatre, the four-day advance notice was not enough to convince the West Indian communities that they were at last being treated to something of their own, and that resulted in a five percent West Indian support of the show. Even the local West Indian Radio did not learn about it in time. Days after the show, the station was flooded with calls of people wanting to know when Bob Marley and the Wailers were appearing. They had missed the opportunity to come out and participate and claim the attention that was now focused in their direction. Only this time, they did not go back into obscurity. When the news went out that the festival champions of Jamaica, "Toots and the Maytals," were coming to Detroit, the West Indians were ready.

The Heatwave Express, a top Caribbean group operating out of Detroit, procured a billing on the show with the Maytals. West Indian Radio worked closely with the promoters and relayed the news to West Indians, not only in Detroit, but as far away as Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Pontiac, and Windsor (Canada). West Indians were again coming out to acclaim their heroes. They had missed Bob Marley, but they were now even more enthusiastic because Toots and the Maytals was the group they had given five out of a possible thirteen awards for the top festival group. They had won more times than any other group.

As fate would have it, the show was canceled. Toot was hospitalized. Many were disappointed, but a certain momentum had gathered with the scheduled appearances of these top entertainers so then the demand went out for more West Indian entertainment, and various West Indian groups and organizations took up the slack. Cabaret halls and auditoriums began to feature West Indian entertainment. The West Indians came out and came out swinging. 

Unfortunately, the appearance of Toots and the Maytals last weekend, opening for The Who at the massive Ponmet Stadium, again denied local Jamaicans and other West Indians a chance to celebrate their own culture even though it was present in the area. The prohibitive price, distance, and setting kept the Jamaican group's many Midwestern fans from their native land out in the cold, but at the same time, the introduction of the band to a large audience of non-West Indians may have helped secure future bookings for Toots and other Caribbean superstars. This would make them available in a more intimate setting where their countrymen and women would feel more at home with their music. 

In the meantime, while a happy and long-awaited new wave of activity on the West Indian front begins to gather and crest here in Detroit, Caribbean people and other lovers of West Indian culture can keep up with what's happening through West Indian Radio, a twice-weekly broadcast of music, news, and other information concerning people of the Islands. West Indian Radio can be heard every Thursday at 12 noon over WIID-AM (1090) and every Tuesday night at 11:30 p.m. on WDET-FM (101.9). It is the main source of information on West Indian activities in Detroit, its suburbs, Pontiac, Windsor, and if the past few months are any indication, there will be only more and more news from now on.

Horatio Bennett, a native of Jamaica, has spent the past several years in the Detroit area. Organizer, leader, and lead singer for the locally-based West Indian band, Heatwave Express, Horatio Bennett also hosts the West Indian Radio programs heard on WIID-AM and WDET-FM. He will continue to report on activities in the Caribbean community for The Sun.