IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

On the topic of Black Figures.....

Do you think that a mentor/role model should be the same race/culture as yourself to be effective?

Absolutely not. It may help some, but it is certainly not a prerequisite.

It would help a great deal -- it certainly helps to have such a person who relates to the people s/he is trying to help -- but it indeed is not a prerequisite

So yuh cyah relate tuh someone who eh of your race? I think it
has more to do with experience dan race.

agreed. I had a mentor who is white. He taught me a lot about business and how to hustle in ways people of color (that I knew at the time) had no knowledge of.

Apparently yuh eh understand the meaning if the word prerequisite, or perhaps you didn’t see that part?

In any case empirical evidence shows that it does indeed help when someone who can relate to your experience serves as a mentor or model. Evidence also shows what happens when we fall into the trap of thinking that models, morals and experiences are universal. What applies to one person or culture may not apply to another. In North America alone the cultural realities of a Canadian will have certain differences with someone in Texas or even Montreal as opposed to Calgary.