Adam Layedra

The Identity Question: An Oral History of Elizabeth Summers.

Elizabeth Summers is a senior citizen who came to the United States in the 1960’s from Jamaica. She has lived in 2 other states in America and she currently lives in Pembroke Pines Florida.

“Hard enough to believe, even as a mixed person, I’ve never experienced an identity crisis.”

I was born in Kingston Jamaica. I was raised with my parents, with two older sisters and an older brother. You can say I had a very happy childhood. When I was growing up in Jamaica, I lived near a farm type of area where chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats ran around in my backyard. So every day we would feed the chickens and ducks, give them fresh water and fed them. It was also close to the Caribbean Sea, where you can throw big chunks of seashells and clumps of dirt. I followed an order every day. For instance, every Sunday our family would walk to my grandfather’s house and eat ice cream after our visit. We had to eat the whole ice cream bar as soon as we got it, because we only had iceboxes back then. An icebox is created by using a large block of ice and putting it into your refrigerator to keep things as cold as possible.Every few days you would have to get a new block of ice.

When I got older I never really changed my identity or my view on things because I am who I am. I left Jamaica when I was 15. In Jamaica we had to study 13 subjects, but when I came to the United States I was shocked by how the American classes required only 4 or 5 courses in a semester. Also, in Jamaica we had to lug lots of textbooks and notebooks to school, so when I came to America I was able to easily manage my work and play. I enjoyed having fun, so I enjoyed the American studies quite a bit, because it gave me more time to enjoy activities.

When you become older you realize how important school is. I succeeded more here in America, too, in that there was not a lot of competition in school. When I came to the United States school work did not ever get in the way of my achieving anything, even though we had more distractions here in America, like the television. But we never grew up with the new stuff in the world like cell phones with texting, e-mails, etc.

When I lived in Jamaica, school was the priority during the weekdays. When we walked to school, we would always run into friends along the way, and do some socializing then. On the weekends we hung around with our friends. A lot of us young people used to sing and do amazing dance moves. Back then people would crowd around and sing Do-wop. Those times were fun. Back then boys and girls dated in groups and we all hung out together, so we wouldn’t get into trouble. We all had such good times singing and dancing together. We all liked the same kind of music back then, also.

I recognized myself as just an individual…a person. I was born and spent the first 15 years of my life in Jamaica. So the culture of Jamaica, which included having respect for adults, translated into my life when I got to America. One of the things I can remember seeing, is what I thought was the disrespect that some of the American students had for their teachers. I could not believe what I was seeing, because in our culture, students had to respect not only their teachers, but what we called the upper classmen (students in the upper grades). So when these upper classmen walked into the classroom, you knew who they were because the badges that they wore would tell you that they were upperclassmen. As they walked into the room, you would have to stand up to greet them, and you would have to show the same type of respect to the teachers. You always had to speak to them with respect. When I came to the United States and I saw how disrespectful some of the students were to the adults. I was shocked!

I can remember I had a home economics teacher. Every girl had to take a home economics class regardless of your plans for the future. I remember this girl had spoken back to the teacher. The teacher had spoken to the young girl because the girl had not been behaving properly. The girl answered her in such a way that I was shocked. Now I didn’t realize how expressive my face was, but I guess the shock of a student talking back to the teacher shocked me so much that the teacher looked at me and she said, "I can tell this is something not something you’re used to! I can see that you have been trained differently." She was correct.

I know people have identified themselves as Black American, White American or Hispanic or Latino-American, for instance. I just see myself as a person, whether it be a Jamaican or a naturalized American. I don’t think I have an identity problem, because I think I was well-rounded and well-grounded growing up. At school I would hear people talk about the prejudices that they faced. To my knowledge I never faced any prejudice here in the United States, because I did not know how to recognize it. So as an adult when I was working for a major company, they sent me along with other people to a training. This course was designed to help people to identify prejudices in the work force. At one point they were talking about the way white people would treat black people. Before I could say anything the facilitators knew I was from the West Indies. One of them, a woman, said, “I have had a few West Indians in the class and they say they have not faced prejudice, but they must have faced prejudice in their country." They cannot understand why we don’t face prejudice. Well I’m sure there are prejudices, but when I was growing up, the prejudice was not against skin color; it was against your status in life. It was whether you were rich or poor, whether you belonged to a society, or you can be prejudice against somebody who had bad manners. You would not go to school and associate with people with poor character. The class prejudice came out from Britain, because the British are very class conscious and Jamaica was a colony of England for a long time – until 1962.

As I was growing up, whenever people mistreated me I never assumed it was because of my skin color. I considered it to be because they were just rude. When I see racism I understand it but I choose not to let it affect my identity. I don’t associate with racist people.I have had friends that were hurt by things that seem to be racist towards them.

My best friends in Jamaica were Indian and Chinese. They were considered Jamaican because Jamaica wasn’t racist. They were kind, well-mannered people. Hard enough to believe I never experienced an identity crisis and my friends were from all backgrounds and had the same view on things as I did. I have a mother of English and Jewish background, and a father who was dark-skinned. I would be considered a mulatto (mixed). I do not consider myself black. They considered me black when I first immigrated to the United States. I couldn’t understand it. It was always Black and White talk. For example, Germany had the same thing happen as America. When Hitler came in he believed he was superior because he was White. Americans had the same philosophy that if you have one drop of black blood you are black, but many white people, have genetics linking to a black family member. Identity is such a complicated topic. For example it doesn’t matter if you are called Hispanic. If you speak Spanish and have a Spanish last name, then you can be considered Hispanic if you would like to. I would recommend to a person who is dealing with an identity crisis that it doesn’t matter what you are; you are human. If you are Spanish-speaking you are usually considered Hispanic. I have heard, however, that many people from Spain feel strongly that only people who were born there should call themselves “Spanish.” I think that everyone else who was born in a Spanish-speaking country should call himself or herself whatever they can relate to or where they were born, but not German. (laughs) Unless they are German.If a person is bothered by prejudice people daily, they must try to identify with people of good character, and they will gravitate toward you, also. For example, people in gangs gravitate to other people in gangs. College-bound people will gravitate to someone who wants to make it to college.

If you identify with people who have a racist mind-set then they may stunt your growth. You need people to have the same character as you. If you’re dealing with someone who has bad character they can tear you down instead of up, and when you hate someone based on race or anything else, you give away your control to him or her. The key to anger is you must have to control your emotions, especially around these people you dislike.Identity does not only have to do with ethnicity and race.I believe that a person’s character says more about their identity than anything else. Being an American is also an identity. I am Jamaican, but I am also an American, since I am a naturalized American.

People move to America everyday because it has many opportunities and education is free. In some countries, a public education is not available. There are a few issues that Americans face, like prejudice problems, and discrimination. The bad parts are the social justice system; the high crime rate; infiltration of drugs, and easy access to weapons. I’ve traveled over seas to African countries, Spain, England, Canada and my “hometown,” Jamaica, but I have never been to any place better than the United States, and I would never exchange living here for anywhere else. America provides a safe environment, opportunities everywhere, spiritual freedom, society advancement, and jobs. It also gives the ability for you to become part of the fabric of society, and become part of the melting pot. What affects one American affects us all.

Many people believe Obama will affect America’s view of race but I don’t think he will because he had to have been elected by a vast number of Caucasians. The fact that he became president has broken down many barriers, but many barriers still exists within many ignorant societies in America. I believe the idea of being an American is forgetting about racism and believing in the advancement of all people.