Take Thanksgiving for instance. Are Caribbean people celebrating the actual story (if you don’t know why I said “story,” click here<\/a>) or is it just another super long weekend? For us, it is a reason to get together with friends and family. Most of the time, the centerpiece of American family Thanksgiving dinners is absent from the table – unless it is a jerk turkey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Related: What Does Your Caribbean American Thanksgiving Look Like?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today is “Independence Day” in America. The Fourth of July. <\/strong>It is the day where Americans dress alike in red, white, and blue, wave flags, attend fireworks shows and parades, and of course – shop the sales. But do Caribbean Americans, the majority of whom are black or people of color, really feel right celebrating independence, especially now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a subset of the black community in America, the Caribbean American community has been hit hardest by the COVID-19. America praises the sacrifices of the frontline workers, but in the war against the coronavirus, (especially when the epicenters, New York, and now Florida), we are less frontline hero and more sacrificial lamb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of those in the health care field that have come to the United States as immigrants, “66 percent of immigrant health-care workers from Mexico and Central America, 60 percent from the Caribbean, 48 percent from Africa, and 47 percent from South America were employed in health-care support occupations.”<\/p>Jeanne Batalova. “Immigrant Health-Care Workers in the United States,” MAY 14, 2020<\/strong> – MigrationPolicy.org<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/socamom.com\/w\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/fourth_of_july_caribbean_2.jpg\")
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