

































The Influence of American Hegemony on Revolutionary thought

Kennedy-Jude Providence
University of Toronto
FAS Biology and Health and Disease/ Caribbean Studies

In May 2020, two months after the COVID-19 pandemic 
struck the world, forcing humans stationary...at home...and 
unable to work and carry out routine, everyday activities, 
the brutal murder of George Floyd was captured on camera 
and broadcast on social media. Largely peaceful protests 
against police brutality and systemic racism erupted over-
night, beginning in Minneapolis, and rapidly growing all 
over the United States. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) 
Movement’s quickfire blaze continued to spread from 
Minneapolis all the way to the West Indies within a week. 
The longstanding relationship between the United States and 
the Caribbean region is evident, leading to the populariza-
tion of the regional idiom, “when the US sneezes, the 
Caribbean catches a cold.” The impact of the BLM Move-
ment on the Caribbean is comparable to that of the Civil 
Rights and Pan Africanism movements of the latter half of 
the 20th century and reminds the world of the significance 
of regional revolutions such as the Grenada Revolution. One 
year into a crippling pandemic, the irony of this article will 
explore the aforementioned influences, comment on US 
intervention in Grenada and contextualize the adage- “When 
the US sneezes, the Caribbean catches a cold.”

A B S T R A C T

B I O

Kennedy Providence is a 4th year Biology, and Health and Disease double major, also 
pursuing a minor in Caribbean Studies. Having lived and grown up in the beautiful twin 
islands of Trinidad and Tobago, she studied the region’s history and culture all through-
out her pre-tertiary academic career.

© 2021 Kennedy-Jude Providence
Caribbean Studies Students’ Union, Canada - https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cquilt/

                       This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 
                       To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Social activist Dawn De Coteau and 
Soca star Hollice Mapp 

aka "Mr Killa" 

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64

    Mendes-Franco, Janine. “‘Born Fi Dead': The Caribbean Looks at the George Floyd Protests and Sees Itself.” 
           Global Voices, 3 June 2020, globalvoices.org/2020/06/03/born-fi-dead-the-caribbean-looks-at-the-george-floyd-
           protests-and-sees-itself/. 

.

       

 

1

The regional idiom, “when the US sneez-
es, the Caribbean catches a cold” is 
profoundly multifaceted and compelling. 
The ‘cold’ can be interpreted in multiple 
ways, from the direct influence and impact 
on Caribbean lifestyle, fashion trends, 
food, culture and music by American 
hegemony, to influences in historic 
movements and revolutions. The United 
States of America has an infamous reputa-
tion of intervention, interference and 
intrusion in the governance and politics of 
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) 
and land territories within the Caribbean 
basin often fundamentally changing the 
trajectory of the Caribbean’s revolutionary 
history. In 2020, this influence was seen, 
yet again, as the Black Lives Matter 
(BLM) Movement’s quickfire blaze spread 
from Minneapolis on May 26, 2020 to the 
West Indies within a week. Largely 
peaceful protests against police brutality 
and systemic racism erupted in response to 
the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George 
Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the preced-
ing generations of genocide faced by too 
many Black, Indigenous and other persons 
of colour within Uncle Sam’s space. 
Considering the aforementioned influenc-
es and US intervention in Grenada this 
research seeks to consider some of the 
positive and negative externalities result-
ing from the region’s proximity to US 
influence to contextualize the adage: 
“When the US sneezes, the Caribbean 
catches a cold.”

The 2020 declaration of the COVID-19 
pandemic initiated a wave of global 
lockdowns and everyday life stopped. 
Where physical or social distancing, 
quarantine, medical or fashion face masks, 
sanitizing formulae or frequent hand 
washing, structured coughing or sneezing 
and remote or virtual work and study 
became the new normal. Globally accept-
ed social practices like handshakes and 
hugs were replaced by routine temperature 
checks and mass testing. As a result, 
human populations were driven to expo-
nentially increased digital screen time and 
overall mass media consumption: virtual 
meetings, classes and gatherings were 
introduced, obsessive monitoring of news 
broadcasts for pandemic updates became 
routine. With increased media consump-
tion and time at home, when the recorded 
murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George 
Floyd went viral on mainstream media, 
nations around the world sat up and paid 
attention. Unlike other facets of society, 
the resulting protests benefited from “the 
COVID-19 domino effect”  and its influ-
ence on the media.

With no pun intended, virtually overnight, 
everyone with access to cable television 
and the world wide web morphed into 
protestors, activists, bystanders or critics.  
Caribbean commentary of the ‘rebellious 
and unruly’ and sometimes violent nature 
of some protests, sought to isolate US 
‘sneezes’ as not concerning the Caribbean, 
hinting that for the largely Afro-Caribbean 
population, racism and police brutality 
were not the norm. For the region 

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1

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65

    Noel, Melissa. “The Fight Against Racial Injustice Is A Caribbean Fight Too.” Essence, 1e7 July 2020, 
          www.essence.com/feature/united-states-caribbean-relations-solidarity-protests/.
    Wong, Melissa. Grenadian Activist: Prejudices and Racism Exists in the Caribbean Too, 18 June 2020, 
          www.loopnewscaribbean.com/content/grenadian-activist-prejudices-and-racism-exists-caribbean-too

.

       

 

2

however, “these ideals of togetherness and 
sentiments of being “one people” that are 
widely celebrated throughout island 
nations often overshadow deep rooted 
issues, which stem from the eras of slavery 
and colonialism.” 

Many Caribbean territories, not excluding 
Grenada, displayed an initial stance of 
solidarity with the BLM Movement, 
hosting island protests against systemic 
racism and police brutality. Grenadian 
activist Dawn De Coteau told Loop News 
Caribbean at a June 2020 BLM Protest, 
“the Caribbean must also face its own 
reality, as prejudices and racism exist in 
the Caribbean islands... when you look at 
the Black Lives Matter [movement in the 
region] it’s about the social injustices, the 
economic injustices, health, equality, 
employment and about people from white 
communities parachuting into islands and 
demanding privilege.”  

Though the duration of the Caribbean 
BLM protests seemed to have been 
short-lived, and their overall impact 
incomparable to that of the US and larger 
countries, I believe that these demonstra-
tions triggered in West Indians the promi-
nence of revolution in Caribbean history. It 
reignited conversations about racism, 
colourism, discrimination and police 
brutality that have been left ignored since 
the independence and decolonization 
movements of the 1960s and 70s. 

De Coteau’s remarks on the BLM move-
ment through a Grenadian lens, mirrored 
analogous sentiments shared by the former 
Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, who also 
aimed to advance and liberate Grenada 
during his dynamic 4-year stint in power. 
Bishop, along with the New Jewel Move-
ment and the Grenadian public, had led a 
massive demonstration that resulted in the 
dismantling of preceding Prime Minister 
Eric Gairy’s government. Achieving 
almost all of his goals, Bishop and the 
Grenada Revolution finalized the island’s 
divorce from its European Colonial 
forefathers by attempting a ‘popular 
Socialist’ way of governance. Consequent-
ly, this put Grenada under a microscope 
operated by the United States which 
already had a special interest in the 
Spice-isle due to pre-existing relationships 
cultivated by Eric Gairy. Because of the 
ongoing Cold War with the Soviet Union, 
anyone or any country that showed 
agreement or interest in anything Marx-
ist-Leninist or Socialist was swiftly 
blacklisted and kept under close watch by 
the USA

De Coteau’s remarks on the BLM move-
ment through a Grenadian lens, mirrored 
analogous sentiments shared by the former 
Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, who also 
aimed to advance and liberate Grenada 
during his dynamic 4-year stint in power. 
Bishop, along with the New Jewel Move-
ment and the Grenadian public, had led a 
massive demonstration that resulted in the 
dismantling of preceding Prime Minister 

2

3

3

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66

    Mullin, Corinna, and Azadeh Shahshahani. “To Organize in Times of Crisis, We Need to Connect the Dots of Global 
          Resistance against Imperialism.” Uneven Earth, 18 Apr. 2020
    Lewis, Hope. “Globalization’s People: Black Identities in U.S.-Caribbean Encounters.” 
          Law & Inequality 32, no. 2 (2014): 349–.
    
.

       

 

4

Eric Gairy’s government. Achieving 
almost all of his goals, Bishop and the 
Grenada Revolution finalized the island’s 
divorce from its European Colonial 
forefathers by attempting a ‘popular 
Socialist’ way of governance. Consequent-
ly, this put Grenada under a microscope 
operated by the United States which 
already had a special interest in the 
Spice-isle due to pre-existing relationships 
cultivated by Eric Gairy. Because of the 
ongoing Cold War with the Soviet Union, 
anyone or any country that showed 
agreement or interest in anything Marx-
ist-Leninist or Socialist was swiftly 
blacklisted and kept under close watch by 
the USA.

Thus, when Socialist Cuba assisted 
Grenada in completing one of the major 
goals set out by Bishop, the surveillance 
being conducted by the US rapidly devel-
oped into a full invasion of the island. 
Under the pretence that Grenada’s airport 
would be strategic for Soviet missions – 
rather than tourism – and that another 
foothold in the region would be detrimen-
tal to the US, the 1983 Invasion of Grena-
da ultimately resulted in the assassination 
of Maurice Bishop and members of his 
Cabinet. If the US invasion of Grenada is 
examined in the context of the title of the 
article, the Invasion almost exactly justi-
fies the statement “when the US sneezes, 
the Caribbean catches a cold”. What began 
as the US involvement in the Cold War is 
equivalent to the “sneeze” and the neo-co-
lonialist invasion Grenada suffered can be 

be read as the “cold”. This tragic historic 
event is noteworthy as the US undermined 
a government with the help of spies and 
trampled upon past revolutionary success-
es by Caribbean peoples, leaving Grenada 
re-infected with another unforgettable 
Imperialist “cold”. 

As Mullin argues, the years following the 
1983 invasion of Grenada have witnessed 
a continuation, and in many ways, deepen-
ing, of both: the racism that underpins the 
violent dispossession to which marginal-
ized communities at ‘home’ and ‘abroad’ 
are subjected, coupled with the discursive 
infrastructure of a capitalist dominated 
media and public sphere designed to 
obscure and normalize this dispossession 
as well as to delegitimize resistance.

Regardless of these negative influences, 
the region has experienced positive 
externalities resulting from its proximity 
to the US. The US heavily influenced the 
political and revolutionary climate of the 
region throughout the latter half of the 
20th century, with the 1960’s Civil Rights 
movement, Stonewall riots and Women’s 
Liberation movement all leading to ripple 
effects in Caribbean politics. The 
African-American press played an import-
ant transnational role by reporting US. 
civil rights abuses to the world and by 
reporting African, and later, Caribbean and 
Latin American, independence and 
anti-colonialist struggles.

4

5

5

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67

    Lambert,Laurie. Comrade Sister: Caribbean Feminist Revisions of the Grenada Revolution. University of Virginia Press, 
           2020, pp. 3–4.
    Bishop, Maurice. “Revolution in Grenada: An Interview with Maurice Bishop.” The Black Scholar, vol. 11, no. 3, 
           1980, pp. 50–58.
    Lambert,Laurie. Comrade Sister: Caribbean Feminist Revisions of the Grenada Revolution. University of Virginia 
           Press, 2020, pp. 3–4
    
.

       

 

6

Various West Indian countries protested 
racism, colourism, the removal of an alien 
Head of State, along with other remnants 
of colonialism that stained the region. 
Unlike the BLM Movement, the Grenada 
Revolution, along with other movements 
endemic to the West Indies, did not model 
their demonstrations after those of their 
Northern Neighbours, but took advantage 
of the influential political atmosphere and 
implemented many inimitable riots and 
revolutions. As it relates to revolution, 
what we see in the Caribbean “is an 
original pattern, not European, not 
African, not a part of the American main, 
not native in any conceivable sense of that 
word, but West Indian, sui generis, with no 
parallel anywhere else.”  

Maurice Bishop did not draw inspiration 
directly from the US Civil Rights Move-
ment and the Pan-Africanism movements; 
instead, he studied the leaders of these 
movements in depth, translated the issues 
being fought abroad to fit the Caribbean to 
evoke change. For Bishop, “there had not 
been any one single” point of influence. 
Rather, he “concentrated at one time his 
attention on Frantz Fanon, and on 
Malcolm X, Fidel, and Che, [as well as] 
Nkrumah and […] many different socialist 
and progressive thinkers.” . As demon-
strated in these examples of positive 
externalities, while United States “sneez-
es” may be the initial impetus for West 
Indian Movements, for a lasting impact, 
the leveraging of the Caribbean “original

pattern” is needed.    It is imperative that 
any revolution be bespoken to the region, 
related and implemented to suit each 
individual country. 

While the 2020 BLM Movement achieved 
tremendous stimulation and awareness 
demanding justice for people of colour in 
the United States, its iterations in the 
region failed to successfully leverage 
Caribbean issues of inequality and racial 
injustice. It is important to note however 
that the tragedies captured on camera that 
fuelled the BLM Movement are not 
foreign or far-fetched in the Caribbean, 
and it is quite possible that after years of 
futile pleas for change falling on deaf ears, 
people have merely become desensitized 
to police brutality, violence, and racism. 
Just like the United States, the Caribbean 
“will only be able to truly realize the 
ideals of togetherness when conversations 
are had, and actions are taken to fully 
address racial inequities and discrimina-
tion” .Perhaps there are still opportunities 
to embrace the political climate, revive our 
innate revolutionary spirit and lobby for 
level playing fields. It is yet to be seen 
when this revolutionary fight in the region 
may occur again. 

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8

8

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68

   Wong, Melissa. Grenadian Activist: Prejudices and Racism Exists in the Caribbean 
          Too, 18 June 2020, www.loopnewscaribbean.com/content/grenadian-activist-
          prejudices-and-racism-exists-caribbean-too.
   Noel, Melissa. “The Fight Against Racial Injustice Is A Caribbean Fight Too.” 
          Essence, July 2020, www.essence.com/feature/united-states-caribbean-relations-
          solidarity-protests/.
   Mendes-Franco, Janine. “‘Born Fi Dead': The Caribbean Looks at the George Floyd 
          Protests and Sees Itself.” Global Voices, 3 June 2020, 
          globalvoices.org/2020/06/03/born-fi-dead-the-caribbean-looks-at-the-george-
          floyd-protests-and-sees-itself/. 
   Mullin, Corinna, and Azadeh Shahshahani. “To Organize in Times of Crisis, We Need 
          to Connect the Dots of Global Resistance against Imperialism.” Uneven Earth, 
          18 Apr. 2020.
   Lewis, Hope. “Globalization’s People: Black Identities in U.S.-Caribbean Encounters.” 
          Law & Inequality 32, no. 2 (2014): 349–.
   Comrade Sister: Caribbean Feminist Revisions of the Grenada Revolution, by Laurie 
          R. Lambert, University of Virginia Press, 2020, pp. 3–4.
   Bishop, Maurice. “Revolution in Grenada: An Interview with Maurice Bishop.” 
          The Black Scholar, vol. 11, no. 3, 1980, pp. 50–58.

Works Cited

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