dear npr, after listening to the lady from panama i had to erite to you. It is hard for us as caribbean people to understand what the black americans feel about racism. we never had jim crow. i came to the us from the virgin island frsh out of high school. i didn't see my self as a black american . it was ok to call me black , west indian or african. I was proud to be all of that except africn- american. It was in a conversation on race with a white friend who finally told me she didn't see the differnce that I saw except for my accent between me and the other african american although she found me easier to get along with because I didn't walk aroung with a chip on my shoulder. even now when i have a child and grandchild thats all american i still tell them the same thing that my motther told me before I left thats not your home,remember you can always come home.so while we want to sit here and think that obama is using the race card which i don't think he is, we as blacks of a different backgorund may face racism live with it etc. but we can never truely undestand it the way blacks here can becuase jim crow wasn't a part of us and we can always go home, where do they go. I left the caribbean at 18, and have live in the us from 1980,. so this should be home.

Sent by ezra bastien | 12:41 PM ET | 08-17-2008