Dispelling the Myths About Jamaica and Jamaican People

1) Jamaica is NOT in Africa

This is especially for many Asians and Eastern Europeans that know nothing about the Caribbean.

And for whatever reason, most Jamaicans want to be recognized as a Jamaican and not African.

Just like how Japanese don’t want to be recognized as a Chinese or Korean and how Greeks don’t want to be recognized as Turkish.

Though we can’t tell the difference.

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2) We DON’T all smoke weed

I’ve never smoked weed in my entire life.

Neither do I have any interest in doing so. Smoking is just not my thing.

As far as I know, none of my family members ever done this before.

I do have friends who do it occasionally however.

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3) NOT everywhere in Jamaica is Dangerous

Just like anywhere in the world, there are also dangerous places in Jamaica as well.

But generally speaking, if you stay away from the danger zones and just don’t be stupid, you are pretty much fine.

Here might be dangerous

Here is quite safe 🙂

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4) We are NOT all Black

Yes the majority of us have black ancestry but most of us also are mixed with some other race.

1% of the population is Chinese. We have Jews, Syrians, Europeans, Indians… Its a big mixture of people and cultures.

My friend M…Who is of African, Jewish and European ancestry

My cousin with African and Syrian ancestry

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5) We DON’T all lay on the beach and be lazy

While there are some lazy Jamaicans who don’t want to work or do anything for that matter, there are many Jamaicans who are very hard working.

Honestly… not all of us!!

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6) We DON’T have straw houses

Unless it’s a hut or a shop or something like that, there are no buildings made of straw.

You probably won’t see a house like this in Jamaica

We do have these though  🙂

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7) Most of us know about Bob Marley but DON’T know him personally

He died in 1981, I wasn’t even 1 yet.

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8) A good amount of us either never saw or don’t remember about the movie Cool Runnings

In my case, I remember watching the movie years ago but for the life of me  I can’t remember it’s contents.

It was too long ago!! The only thing I remember about it is some Jamaicans entering bob sleigh which is a winter sport, but we don’t have cold winters in Jamaica.

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