The Caribbean Association of Madison presents Caribbean Splash 2008
Awakening to the sound of the sea
Awakening to the sound of the sea
Trinidad,” Smith said. “There are many islands down there that have their own identity. We don’t all wear dreadlocks and we all don’t smoke. I did hear someone
who called himself ‘The Captain’ who was on WORT. He was on WORT and was interviewing someone who reportedly had been to Jamaica and had never
been there before. He came back here and was saying ‘Everyone down there smokes the weed and wears dreadlocks.’ And I asked ‘Where did he go?’ I’m trying
to dispel the thing. Yes, Rastafarian is a big part of our culture, but we are not all Rastafarians. When you go back home, Rastafarian is a religion, not a fad.”
The third reason is to provide service to the community. “We used to do little things like help children from Lincoln Elementary School with their homework,”
Smith said. “We would love to be able to get back into that mode where we can get in the community, be recognized as an organization in the community and
be able to speak up for ourselves.”
When asked who members of the association were, Smith replied “If the Caribbean Sea washes your shore, you are part of us. So we go from South
America and Venezuela — we had one woman who was from Panama who attended our meetings — to Trinidad and Barbados and St. Lucia, Antigua,
Martinique and all of those islands. There is Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands and all of those countries. It
is a very diverse group. We haven’t had much — because we don’t speak the language — participation from the Spanish speaking islands. We haven’t had much
of a rapport with that group. I’m sure the Latin group would be welcomed by the English group. But many of us do not speak the language.”
In order to “jump start” the Caribbean Association of Madison again, the group is hosting Caribbean Splash 2008 at Neighborhood House, 29 S. Mills Street, on
October 18, 7 p.m. to midnight. There will be dancing to tunes spun by DJ Trini, Caribbean foods and a lot of fun. Admission is $5, $8 for couples and children
less than 12 years old are admitted free.
Smith is hopeful it will reunite the Caribbean community. “Hopefully they will start contacting us again and we can make them feel welcome when they
come,” Smith said. The association will be welcoming like a Caribbean breeze.
who called himself ‘The Captain’ who was on WORT. He was on WORT and was interviewing someone who reportedly had been to Jamaica and had never
been there before. He came back here and was saying ‘Everyone down there smokes the weed and wears dreadlocks.’ And I asked ‘Where did he go?’ I’m trying
to dispel the thing. Yes, Rastafarian is a big part of our culture, but we are not all Rastafarians. When you go back home, Rastafarian is a religion, not a fad.”
The third reason is to provide service to the community. “We used to do little things like help children from Lincoln Elementary School with their homework,”
Smith said. “We would love to be able to get back into that mode where we can get in the community, be recognized as an organization in the community and
be able to speak up for ourselves.”
When asked who members of the association were, Smith replied “If the Caribbean Sea washes your shore, you are part of us. So we go from South
America and Venezuela — we had one woman who was from Panama who attended our meetings — to Trinidad and Barbados and St. Lucia, Antigua,
Martinique and all of those islands. There is Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands and all of those countries. It
is a very diverse group. We haven’t had much — because we don’t speak the language — participation from the Spanish speaking islands. We haven’t had much
of a rapport with that group. I’m sure the Latin group would be welcomed by the English group. But many of us do not speak the language.”
In order to “jump start” the Caribbean Association of Madison again, the group is hosting Caribbean Splash 2008 at Neighborhood House, 29 S. Mills Street, on
October 18, 7 p.m. to midnight. There will be dancing to tunes spun by DJ Trini, Caribbean foods and a lot of fun. Admission is $5, $8 for couples and children
less than 12 years old are admitted free.
Smith is hopeful it will reunite the Caribbean community. “Hopefully they will start contacting us again and we can make them feel welcome when they
come,” Smith said. The association will be welcoming like a Caribbean breeze.
By Jonathan Gramling
The Caribbean community in Madison has been rather invisible for the past few years. With
fewer than 100 people living in Madison, running into another person from the islands was a
coincidence at best. “We used to run into each other and say ‘Oh you are from here,’” said
Thomas Smith, the president of the Caribbean Association of Madison in an interview with The
Capital City Hues. “‘And you are from there?’”
Jah Tomey who used to have a Caribbean show on WORT-FM decided to do something
about it and helped form the Caribbean Association of Madison back in 1994. However, the
Caribbean community was very fluid and fleeting because most of the Caribbeans arrived in
Madison to attend the University of Madison. “They come and go and sometimes you don’t know
when they are gone,” Smith said with a chuckle. “Most of them come for the university. Some of
us stick around, but they get done and especially the women say ‘There are no men in Madison
for me’ and they go off to New York or Atlanta or a place like that.”
What allowed the association to organize was cooperation with the UW International
Students office, which would share information about students from the Caribbean with the
association. “We have been quiet,” Smith said. “Part of the problem why we got quiet was we
weren’t able to reach the people on campus. There is some privacy rule that they have over
there now. We used to go to the International Students office to let them know we are around and
ask them if there are people from the Caribbean at the school. They stopped giving us
information. So unless we know someone over there and ask them to see people from the
Caribbean and let them know, we don’t know them. We have to meet them haphazardly.”
For Smith, it is important to revive the association for three primary reasons. The first is for
their children. “Some of us have children and we want our children to have a sense of our history
and where we are from,” Smith emphasized. “When you come from down there and your children
are born here, they lose all of those cultural connections. We are trying to see if we can keep
some of that.”
The second is to dispel stereotypes of people from the Caribbean that are propagated by
American media and culture. “When you talk about the Caribbean, it’s not just Jamaica and
The Caribbean community in Madison has been rather invisible for the past few years. With
fewer than 100 people living in Madison, running into another person from the islands was a
coincidence at best. “We used to run into each other and say ‘Oh you are from here,’” said
Thomas Smith, the president of the Caribbean Association of Madison in an interview with The
Capital City Hues. “‘And you are from there?’”
Jah Tomey who used to have a Caribbean show on WORT-FM decided to do something
about it and helped form the Caribbean Association of Madison back in 1994. However, the
Caribbean community was very fluid and fleeting because most of the Caribbeans arrived in
Madison to attend the University of Madison. “They come and go and sometimes you don’t know
when they are gone,” Smith said with a chuckle. “Most of them come for the university. Some of
us stick around, but they get done and especially the women say ‘There are no men in Madison
for me’ and they go off to New York or Atlanta or a place like that.”
What allowed the association to organize was cooperation with the UW International
Students office, which would share information about students from the Caribbean with the
association. “We have been quiet,” Smith said. “Part of the problem why we got quiet was we
weren’t able to reach the people on campus. There is some privacy rule that they have over
there now. We used to go to the International Students office to let them know we are around and
ask them if there are people from the Caribbean at the school. They stopped giving us
information. So unless we know someone over there and ask them to see people from the
Caribbean and let them know, we don’t know them. We have to meet them haphazardly.”
For Smith, it is important to revive the association for three primary reasons. The first is for
their children. “Some of us have children and we want our children to have a sense of our history
and where we are from,” Smith emphasized. “When you come from down there and your children
are born here, they lose all of those cultural connections. We are trying to see if we can keep
some of that.”
The second is to dispel stereotypes of people from the Caribbean that are propagated by
American media and culture. “When you talk about the Caribbean, it’s not just Jamaica and