The hostility of Caribbean children to African classmates

[...] At primary school, the fact my name sounded different, and that English was not my parent's first language, made my brothers and me a target for unprovoked teasing from some of our West Indian classmates. We expected it from white pupils, from whom we also received it. But, sadly, instead of our cultural attributes being viewed as enriching, they were used by some of our fellow black pupils to fuel an ignorant depiction of Africa as one large jungle, where people spoke a funny language and roamed about naked with the animals. We should have been united in the fact that our skin colour often meant our white counterparts treated us less favourably. But instead, having parents from the Caribbean meant you were cool and accepted, while having African parents was seen as something to be ashamed of. Read more