When I first decided that I was going to leave my comfy existence in Brooklyn (Where Brooklyn At???) and move "down south" to study Afro-Caribbean life in Atlanta, I honestly didn't know what I was going to find. I mean, as a good sociologist-in-training, I did my research. I read the everything I could find about Caribbeans in Atlanta (literally a few sentences here and there in few books and articles). I went over the census data (over 70,000 people of Caribbean ancestry in metro Atlanta in 2007). I googled "Caribbean Atlanta" and saved everything I found (Taboo tool, baby!). And, I had many (many many) conversations with scholars that study Caribbean migration in the US and with those who study other topics, friends and family (even though those who pretended to undersand what I was talking about.. Thanks), and Caribbean folk that actually lived in Atlanta. One year later. I still didn't know what I was going to expect.
My heart raced (I actually almost had a panic attack) as I thought about what I might find in Atlanta--bad curry goat, empty dancehalls, all crunk music and booty-popping and no soca music and whining, to name a few things. As I got closer to my move date, I thought: Why would a Caribbean person leave Caribbean New York for Atlanta? What do Caribbean people do in the land of "Real Housewives," chicken and waffles (some of my (large)Dominican family still doesn't undersand how that goes together), and swag surfin? What would I find down in the A the A the A??
On May 20, 2009 at 11:30am, I stepped off the plane at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport and officially began my search for Caribbean Altanta. To get a sense of Caribbean life at its height in this southern metropolis, I made sure I arrived a few days before its annual Caribbean Carnival. I had experienced carnivals in Dominica, Boston, Toronto, and New York (of course!). But, I never thought I would ever go to a Caribbean carnival in any southern state outside of Florida. I didn't know Atlanta had a carnival until I came across a website for Atlanta Carnival during one of my many google searches. I was surprised to learn that there was not only a Caribbean carnival in Atlanta, but that it was also over 20 years old. 20 years?? I'm 25. This means that this carnival has been going on most of my life. Yet, I had never heard about it. I was even more surprised when my own father (Mr. Caribbean...more about that later) told me that he knew about it for years. But, even he, who has been to carnivals all over the eastern hemisphere, has never been to carnival in Atlanta. My best friend--a mixture of the Spanish and English Caribbean with Cuban and Guyanese parentage-- lived in Atlanta for 3 years and heard not a peep about a carnival.
So, naturally I am both worried, and intrigued, about what kind of Caribbean life I will discover in Atlanta aka the "Dirty Dirty". And, for the next year I will be searching for Caribbean Atlanta and let you know what I find.
One Love.
