Am I xenophobic?

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Dear Sir:

I refer to the editorial "What is the problem with new Caymanians?" in the June 21 issue of the Cayman Net News.

The Cambridge Advanced Learner Dictionary defines Xenophobia as "the extreme dislike or fear of foreigners, their customs, their religion, etc."

Am I xenophobic? because I am Pro Caymanian; because I believe in sustainable development which is not possible when thousands of status grants are made in one year; because I realize that I am now a minority in my own Country; because my culture is not embraced by the majority of new Caymanians; because the only time I can look around and recognize friendly Caymanian faces is one day before a Hurricane is projected to hit;
because I want the education and training of my people to take priority over road development to accommodate a population explosion.

I do not know what Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand would look like had their immigrants not become citizens, however- I would like to think that Australia and New Zealand would still have a dominant population and culture of Aborigines and Maori. Ask the Canadians how they feel about the influx of Asian immigrants, especially those of Islamic beliefs?

About Commitment by the New Caymanian, I agree they should be committed, however, residency and land ownership alone do not prove commitment and entitle one to be part of our community-our process must include impact on infrastructure and social harmony. Ask the New Caymanians what their answer is when a new acquaintance asks them "where are you from?"

Comparison of Cayman with Countries such as the US and UK is inappropriate -our limited resources, land size, and the stage of our development - do not compare.

Caymanian by birth or status will always be an issue here (you only need to ask those people from First world countries about their experience when they move to a small town from a large City within their own countries).

The bigger issue for us is to find a sustainable way to give priority to the education and training of our indigenous people, while we increase the population with people that are committed to being part of our community, embracing, adding to, and respecting our culture.

Where in the world, in this day and age, could you live where the indigenous, yes indigenous people are outnumbered, AND there is no significant outburst of social disharmony?

Isn't this an indictment of acceptance by Caymanians of immigrants? Isn't this an indictment of Caymanians' understanding of Immigrants assistance in the development of our Country?

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