Rod 1

I think for most people as soon as they hear the question “Why Can't We All Just Get Along” their minds automatically go back into history to March 3, 1991, when Rodney King was brutally beaten. According to Tobar & Berger (1991), some white Los Angeles Police officers were recorded violently beating an unarmed black man. Despite recorded evidence, Rodney King the victim was not vindicated as the Police Officers were all found not guilty. The trial outcome left twenty-five people dead and hundreds of buildings in flames. I remember diligently following the trial of these four white men and felt that it was entirely a case of one race feeling superior to another. In this instant, the four white officers felt I believe that they were superior to the black man. History often repeats itself, and the evidence was such in the Cayman Islands. According to Craton (2003) one Nathaniel Glover, an American white male callously referred to slavery as existing in name only. Although the evidence surrounding slavery in these islands at the time suggested that negroes were suppressed, uneducated, stigmatized, brutalized and often kept away from their families. Although the formal freeing of slaves was done on August 1, 1834, emancipation which was supposed to be a time of apprenticeship to make the transition from slavery to full freedom easier, was canceled after six months. This means that slavery was still in full force as apprentices were not paid. In these islands, slavery was abolished, but the mentality of slavery still exist. People of means and what is considered the right color – white – often expect to be treated in a better way or consider themselves entitled to a particular lifestyle. In Little Cayman, I observed that most of the property was owned by the White population. While on the island I often heard it being referred to by the Whites as being ‘our’ island, and I felt again a sort of entitlement to the

properties they owned – after all, they are the ones that can afford it! Being a slave meant that you could not own property as you yourself was owned. Can’t we all just get along? Yes, we can if we understand that all men were created equal, if we stop judging each other by the color of the skin, if we treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated, and if we are fair, just and kind recognizing that we all humans.

References Tobar, H. & Berger, L. (1991). Tape of L.A. police beating suspect stirs Public furor. Retrieved from www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-tape-of-la-police-beating-suspect-stirspublic-furor-19910306.html. Craton, M. (2003). Founded Upon the Seas: A History of the Cayman Islands and Their People. Kingston Miami: Ian Randle Publishers.