Do We Really Care About us?

I would like to give my perspective here. I think that as human beings it is in our nature to be kind and to help each other. We were also taught this in our schools and in our homes. In the USA this practice (the golden rule) has not trickled down to us as black people who have been regarded as the underclass. It has also been brought to our attention that there is a certain impression that the locals in Costa Rica have of "gringos" which includes us as black people.

As black expats and future black expats in Costa Rica, we are concerned about this image (which we don't believe fits who "WE" are as a people) and want to do our best to negate the stereotype. Firstly, we will not be competing for jobs here but we do understand inequality. As the CR people are poor by our standard, they have the highest standard of living in Central America. I do not think that we are trying to devise a big monolithic plan to come in and as a group, swoop down and "save" Costa Rica LOL Instead this has been a much needed eye opener that we should be good ambassadors for our people. As I have mentioned many times before, be kind, be respectful, get involved in the community, help where you can and remember we are "guests" in their country. Now, what I would like to see is a plan and/or some suggestions for how we are going to help "us"! We are a very wounded and traumatized people, suffering from Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome who are leaving to make a new life in another country. We can breathe here and hopefully live a better life (at least one free from the boot of white supremacy) however to do this we also need to heal ourselves.

Your thoughts/What say you?

Anyone is free to comment here but for those in the Black Expats in Costa Rica FB group - Please make your personal comment on the FB page.

Thanks