Race and ethnicity have become rampant in most of the countries; thereby fuelling hatred and conflicts among the people. It has become a norm to identifying a person not by his name that on the basis of the ethnic community where they come from. However, it should be noted that ethnicity and racism have enormous effects on both the country and the individuals. It slows the economic growth of a country due to the uneven distribution of the natural resources and wealth. The vice comes about with an element of discrimination where a certain race is favored and developed at the expense of the other.
In the movie, ‘’life and debt’’, race and ethnicity in Jamaica have been clearly brought out by the characters. The movie starts with some white people in the airport with expectant grinning on their arrival. They perceived themselves as exceptions as they would be distinguished from the Jamaicans who in most cases are dark skinned. It shows that the whites would not interact with the blacks as they looked down upon them as inferior persons. Ethnicity comes in when there was no association between the two groups. The feeling of the superiority among the whites, therefore, pushed away the Jamaicans who would be willing to interact with them. Peaceful coexistence is not embraced thus the deterioration of the social values.
The issue of subsidized powdered milk from America being sold in Jamaica depicts the rate of racism and ethnicity in the two states. The Americans viewed Jamaica as a dumping site for their substandard goods. It also shows disrespect and hatred that the Americans had on the Jamaicans. The treatment as animals was inhuman as every individual deserves to be treated equally and not infringing on their rights and freedoms. Availing of the substandard powdered milk was an inhuman act and should be condemned by all means available. No one deserves to be mistreated based on their ethnic or race.
The IMF would lend money to Jamaicans on high interest rates. It was a form of discrimination as they would be locked out in borrowing due to the discouragement of the high interest rates. It was not good to impose the high interest rates on some individuals and lower interests on others. I believe this was done to ensure that the underprivileged Jamaicans lived in their deplorable conditions thereby; becoming easy to manipulate them as they wished.
The farm laborers in the banana farms in Jamaica would not be remunerated according to the amount of work done. They were being underpaid since there were no trade unions that would have demanded for their wage increase. The products would be priced differently not because of the quality but their origin, which should never be a criterion to use in pricing products. Most of the products from Jamaica would be cheapened to slow the economic development in the country. The Americans would overcharge their products leading to increase their foreign earnings that would help in the improvement of development project.
However, as a way of trying to shield her people from the effects of ethnicity, Jamaica decided to set aside areas where the citizens would assemble some of the products and be paid $ 30 weekly. They had been so much exploited by the Americans that they even felt insecure in the own country. It is not good for countries to amass wealth through unjust ways. It is a shame for the powerful bodies to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor due to their weakness.
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