Safe places to live on St. Croix

old is at least 20 years older than you are-so no, i am not old but i am white. i dont really hang out with a lot of people, so you really have no clue who my friends are and what their racial make up might be.

the other night when we were at duggans, there were about 10 tables-maybe. i would say about 4 of them were not white. i understand from locals ( the ones i talk to daily), they prefer to not eat out that much for whatever reason.

next time, try not to be so rude and ignorant. and meeting a person once, as you say, gives you no indication of a persons friends .

btw, very easy to edit

For me, I find that I can't edit after a follow up to my post, or after a period of time has passed.

See if you can edit your post after this reply or wait an hour.

There's a time limit for the ability to edit as CI mentioned.

thanks cruzian, i had no idea as i was able to easily edit my post.

and i agree with tammi , most divide is monetary and NOT racial .

you both are correct, if i could i would edit that statement out lol

"the other night when we were at duggans, there were about 10 tables-maybe. i would say about 4 of them were not white."

Are you seriously touting a restaurant in which the patrons were 60% white and 40% nonwhite [on an island that is 85% nonwhite] as evidence of the island being a melting pot? Respectfully, your argument is nonsensical and impedes our efforts integrate the society.Perhaps it was very diverse for you, given wherever you're from, but as a West Indian, the numbers are troubling.

There is a significant overrepresentation of whites in anything positive in the VI (boat parades, professions like law and medicine, good neighborhoods and restaurants, and great SCHOOLS), while the worst of the society (neighborhoods, schools, violence) is left to blacks and hispanics. This is not, as you claim, only economic in nature. Two weeks ago I partied on Buck island with my white friends, none of whom are wealthy. They are all bartenders or other service industry employees, yet they all live on the east end in safe neighborhoods and are exposed to the best of island life. Most of my black local friends have never been to Buck Island.

Quality of life in the Virgin Islands is heavily dependent on one's race, especially for Millennials. You can deny it all you want, but your denial hurts the Virgin Islands.

I frequent the "finest" restaurants (the ones usually mentioned on this board) on STX several times a week with friends, and I am almost always the only person of color there. The customers NEVER reflect the population of the island (80% black/hispanic). I'll be taking pictures tonight at dinner to post for our readers!

you did say that monogram. so you can mention color and no one else can?

and again-most of the local people i talk to on a daily basis do not like to go out to eat. they do not trust others to cook their food right. they are very picky

lets talk boat parade, jump ups etc. every time i have gone i have not seen one color heavier than the other-the only event i have ever been to that was heavier in the white department was tool time at gallows bay.

and your saying that your black friends dont go to buck island or live in the east end-whose fault is that? no one is keeping anyone away from anything. heck-there are people in fredericksted that have never been to christiansted-by choice.

i understand from locals ( the ones i talk to daily), they prefer to not eat out that much for whatever reason.

This appears to be you conceding to me. In other words, you agree that it's segregated, but your explanation is that well, "they prefer to not eat out." You can't have it both ways. Reasonable readers will see what's going on here.

It should disturb any non-colonialist thinker that a large portion of the native population in an area they moved to is, for whatever reason, not enjoying the finest experiences in the society.

There's a large degree of economic stratification in the Virgin Islands, and blacks/hispanic locals are largely at the bottom. Many people who move here are completely undisturbed by that obvious reality. They proceed to deny it like you did (and will likely continue to do). This leads to resentment from locals toward transplants. I wish more people were like Tammy, who admit their economic privilege relative to locals and dedicate themselves to doing what they can to improve the situation for the local people.

A transplant to Ethiopia or the Dominican Republic would likely not be so blissfully ignorant as to their privilege relative to the vast majority of locals. For some reason (maybe the history of the US?), VI transplants tend to be completely oblivious to their relative privilege. The only thing keeping the VI from "appearing" like Ethiopia is the robust welfare state. It sugarcoats the suffering. Remove welfare, and the cell phones, cars, and food goes out the window. All of the sudden, you'd need a bodyguard to go the bank or shopping, just like in the Dominican Republic.

Let me put it this way--the VI has the second highest murder rate in the world behind Honduras. I suspect that the only thing keeping us at number two (instead of number one) is the white population. Let's say we remove whites from the statistical analysis. If the black/hispanic population in the VI were its own country it would likely by itself have the highest murder rate in the world. For your average black millennial Virgin Islander who went to public schools (the vast majority of them), everyday life is more dangerous than for a young person in Iraq. Even the poorest white bartender in the Virgin Islands doesn't have that reality. Local elites are still ensnared by violence. Senator Nellie's son, as you know, has not gone untouched by the lifestyle. Judge Willocks' son has been ensnared on numerous occasions: http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/superior-court-judge-intervenes-in-case-to-get-colleague-s-son-released-harold-willocks-jr-let-out-of-jail-on-order-from-judge-camacho-1.1086416

Saying it is just economics is intellectually lazy. This will be my last post on the issue. I hope you wake up and smell the coffee as to what life is like for most Virgin Islanders in my generation (a year out from college), and how racialized the outcomes are.

PS- I enjoyed the intellectual exchange 😀

lets talk boat parade, jump ups etc. .
.

I was talking about the boat owners. See pic:
http://nebula.wsimg.com/e99f79ba7a9fbf0afca50cdc7bedd041?AccessKeyId=A94B4AEDFCE3FDA3C273&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

The winners were: Bill Tabbert, Kirk Chewing, Pat Barsotti, Tony Sanpere. All white.

I could do the same for the sailing competitions, etc. Deny the segregation if you wish. It's really funny how mainland americans deny what's clearly before their eyes.
Oh, and my black friends haven't been to buck island because they don't have boats or know anyone with a boat.

Hope you enjoyed Duggans 😀

lets talk boat parade, jump ups etc. .
.

I was talking about the boat owners. See pic:
http://nebula.wsimg.com/e99f79ba7a9fbf0afca50cdc7bedd041?AccessKeyId=A94B4AEDFCE3FDA3C273&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

The winners were: Bill Tabbert, Kirk Chewing, Pat Barsotti, Tony Sanpere. All white.

I could do the same for the sailing competitions, etc. Deny the segregation if you wish. It's really funny how mainland americans deny what's clearly before their eyes.
Oh, and my black friends haven't been to buck island because they don't have boats or know anyone with a boat.

Hope you enjoyed Duggans 😀

.

Monogram, You make some really good points.

I saw this as a reality soon after moving here. My wife and I have only been here a year but there is a stark difference between the haves and have nots. It really is quite representative of the problem in the states but in a more obvious way. There is a small percentage of people that have enough to be able to enjoy all the things that St Croix has to offer and then some. Then there is the majority of those that are scraping by with just enough to have a roof over their heads and food to eat. The "middle class" on the island is small and consists of the service industry people and those locals that have their own small businesses(at least the more successful ones). I don't really have another big point to make with this but I do see the issues that Monogram's speaks about.

This is not putting blame on those that live here that have more wealth but to say that it isn't a problem is wrong.

The USVI is for all intents and purposes it's only little country that gets federal aid from the US. The US wants nothing else to do with the US territories beyond that it seems so whatever the solution to this problem may be it has to be done internally by the people that live here whether by birth or by choice. I wish I had that answer but having this constructive discussion is a start and could be a better start if it happened in a place where more people could participate.

monogram, was a class of people refused participation? Or were the winners just better than the others?

I didn't know blacks were not allowed to own boats here...What is keeping a black person from owning a boat?

That is a "part of the problem" response and doesn't address the real issue that Monogram is trying to speak to.

monogram, was a class of people refused participation? Or were the winners just better than the others?

I didn't know blacks were not allowed to own boats here...What is keeping a black person from owning a boat?

That is a "part of the problem" response and doesn't address the real issue that Monogram is trying to speak to.

So what is the real issue?

The lack of real opportunity for those that are poor to move up in the territory. What opportunities are there for a person from a disadvantaged family to move up while living here? It's the same issues that plague the poor and disadvantaged back in the states but is magnified even more so here. If you don't have money enough to really live, you don't have money enough to try for a better life off island. It turns into the racial issue because those that are here with "wealth" are often white transplants from the states and the native born population that is almost entirely black is stuck in the poverty cycle.

Seems a matter of choice if someone prefers spending money going out 4-5 nights a week or chooses to spend it renting a boat or going over to Buck Island. I've known very few black sailors here in STT over my lifetime here.

It's very different in the Bahamas where many more black locals participate in their sailing events and regattas.

so it is a financial issue and not a race issue?

monogram please don't give me any credit for improving the situation of the local native people of St. Croix. The only thing I do is not segregate myself from the local population or live in a gated community. I quite enjoy the local population and learn a lot about St. Croix.

There are quite a few other transplants who do the same thing but really work hard to make change on the island unlike myself. I know teachers who have come to St. Croix and others who jumped right in doing volunteer work helping feed the hungry and the homeless. Trust me, there are many people who have relocated here that are actually giving back to the community and they work hard.

I feel a little lost with this thread. I'm not quite sure what you are hoping to accomplish. Maybe I need to reread it. I agree that St. Croix is a dangerous place for young local adults and there is a huge divide between the haves and have nots. I also agree that more white and wealthier people live on the East End.

What do you think we should do?

hope you enjoyed all the finest restaurants where you are the only non white too-according to your words

this is more of an economic issue than a color issue and you should be smart enough to know that monogram

and yes i enjoyed eating at duggans, we h ad not been out to a nice restaurant in years. so yes-well deserved. but go read the post on restaurant ratings and you can even see what we had.

I've known very few black sailors here in STT over my lifetime here.

It's very different in the Bahamas where many more black locals participate in their sailing events and regattas.

Aha, now we're getting somewhere :D.

It is incumbent on us to explore why locals are so oppressed here, relative to the other independent Caribbean countries.

Why when an international company opens up in Jamaica, its entire staff is Jamaican and pulls poor people up from poverty:
https://instagram.com/p/3ywZmrvBKK/

But when a business sets up shop in the VI, the staff looks like this:

I could find 100 more pictures to illustrate this, but we all get the point.

I love my white waitress friends, but why do we fly in unskilled labor like bartenders and waitresses when there are poor young folks here who need jobs? It's almost sinful. There are deep structural issues at play here that need to be addressed.

And to be clear, white transplants aren't the only culprits. I obtained an Ivy League degree, but I've been passed over for jobs because I don't have the right last name. Even while the uneducated progeny of gov't officials were brought in. So I don't mean to downplay the effect of local corruption in all this! But the small business community /transplants' complicity in this also can't be ignored.

this is more of an economic issue than a color issue and you should be smart enough to know that monogram

You should be smart enough to detect the correlation between economics and race in the Virgin Islands. Again, I have a great time at these events/restaurants. Is it so wrong for me to also be concerned about being inclusive of the locals? Is it so wrong to feel sorry when a 23 year old friend who has grown up here her whole life has never been sailing, or to Buck Island, or scuba diving, or kayaking? Maybe I'm just young and care too much.

Is it so wrong to feel sorry when a 23 year old friend who has grown up here her whole life has never been sailing, or to Buck Island, or scuba diving, or kayaking? .

If she wants to go why on earth don't you take her? Just like several of my (gasp) white friends on STT have, over the years, taken out local (gasp) black youth on their boats and introduced them to the water and sailing. Just as, etc. etc. etc. I'm not disputing your intelligence but speaking in glittering generalities simply betrays your youth and inexperience cloaked in some sort of ideology which you present as something which only you have the perspicacity to recognize and bring to the attention of the masses. Oh, wait, I'm old which doesn't count. 😀

Is it so wrong to feel sorry when a 23 year old friend who has grown up here her whole life has never been sailing, or to Buck Island, or scuba diving, or kayaking? .

If she wants to go why on earth don't you take her? Just like several of my (gasp) white friends on STT have, over the years, taken out local (gasp) black youth on their boats and introduced them to the water and sailing.

I haven't been down here (post college) long enough to save the world yet. Working on it! 😀

Ok, now we are getting somewhere. Deep End Bar and grill has some kick butt servers. One being a Crucian who is a good friend. She is a good friend who is usually working 2 or 3 jobs, one being a firefighter. I believe that most restaurants are looking for top notch servers and cooks. I for one will quit going to a restaurant if the service is bad. It is too expensive to go out and have bad service. So work ethic is involved in the choice of employees.

Also more whites live on the east end so it makes sense that people will try to find employment close to where they live so maybe more white employees.

Boat. I don't know why more black people on the island don't have boats. I know all the fishermen have boats but they use them to make a living or for family fun. Maybe they are not interested in the boat parade. They are not excluded. They choose not to join or maybe they are just too busy.

My closest friend on island, a man from Nevis who has been on island for about 40 years. He moved here when he was 16. He will not set foot in the water. Terrified of what might be in there and the only boat he will get on is a cruise ship. He's hard working and stays employed. His daughter is a teacher on island and his son is a correctional officer in the states. He encouraged his son to leave the island after high school to keep him away from the violence, gun trade and drug trade on the island. He didn't want his son to die and knew that employment opportunities on the island were limited for him.

You have an Ivy League degree and cannot find employment on the island because you don't have the right last name? You went to public school? It's called nepotism. If you had the right last name, lived in the right neighborhood and went to Country Day School you would have had a job waiting for you. Nepotism is huge in the VI. If you are related to the right folks you have no worries at all. I know someone who owns an apartment building who pays no wapa at all because of who she is related too.

When I go into any government building usually all the employees are black. The banks, the hospital, the BMV, post office, schools, the grocery stores, drug stores, auto parts store. I really cannot think of any industry in the VI that doesn't employ mostly black or hispanic people except for the restaurants on the east end.

I have a neighbor down the street who no one will hire for various reason but he does pretty well for himself, selling ganja, guns and breeding dogs. He's just happy he lives in Cotton Valley. We smile and greet each other every morning and afternoon. I don't buy his ganja and ignore what he does for a living but if I was in trouble he would be there. We are neighbors.

I'm trying to make a point here but I kinda got lost. I really appreciate your efforts to communicate your feelings and your desire to make a change for the people of the island. Maybe you have found your calling. You can help. Show people a better way. What it really boils down to is the desire for people to better themselves. Maybe they just need to be shown how.

I really don't feel that the few whites on island are oppressing the local population. I think it is the elite wealthy Crucians oppressing their own people for personal gain.

This is my opinion and I maybe completely wrong.

Seems a matter of choice if someone prefers spending money going out 4-5 nights a week or chooses to spend it renting a boat or going over to Buck Island. I've known very few black sailors here in STT over my lifetime here.

It's very different in the Bahamas where many more black locals participate in their sailing events and regattas.

My point was about people choosing what they wish to do, not about oppression. You choose to spend your money going out with your friends 4-5 nights a week rather than taking a trip to Buck Island.
No one is stopping you or anyone else from doing so or becoming involved with sailing. You make that choice as do many others, black or white.

If you want to make changes then donate your time, money or energy to do so, write your senators, vote, but stop preaching racism and oppression.

I know someone who owns an apartment building who pays no wapa at all because of who she is related too.

I really don't feel that the few whites on island are oppressing the local population. I think it is the elite wealthy Crucians oppressing their own people for personal gain.

WOW at that WAPA thing. Unbelievable! [well, not really, given the the governor's efforts to milk the treasury for personal gain--what an example!]

I wanted to divert the conversation away from blame. I don't think it's any one group's fault either, my main point was to slap down speedy's argument that there's no segregation. It seems like the more reasonable among us agree that it's there, but we disagree on the cause(s).