Saying goodbye to a land called home can not be easy. The desperation for seeking a better life and broadening your opportunities. Many people left countries for religious persecutions, famines, jobs opportunities, and alike my family had the same intentions in mind. They knew that the pitch filled streets of Trinidad and Tobago was where they took their first walks, had their first fights, graduated from their secondary schools, but they understood that their was something more to the world and America was the link they were missing.
Binder says that “Brooklyn drew nearly half of the Caribbean black to homes in Bedford Stuyvesant, Flatbush, and Crown Height…West Indian music and accents became common, and travel agencies and stores displayed flags and other symbols of Caribbean nations.” I never understand how my East Flatbush community became cultivated by Caribbean affluence until now. I understand now that Congress liberalized the immigration laws to the West Indies in the 1950s allowing more West Indian immigrants to make their way to New York or even Brooklyn. Its no coincidence why the West Indian Day Parade is in Brooklyn and surprisingly enough you take a West Indian anywhere they will never leave their homes, instead they bring it with them which is why Brooklyn has transformed the way it did. I can always be reminded about my parents culture, I can just walk outside my house and hear music or smell the delicious foods. The East Flatbush community in Brooklyn has continued to embrace their distinct diversity and I for one honor it.