ABSTRACT
By the early twenty-first century Caribbean emigrant communities had produced a governorgeneral of Canada (Haitian-born Michaëlle Jean), a secretary of state of the United States (Colin Powell, born in New York of Jamaican parents) and an attorney general of the United States (Barbadian American Eric Holder). These achievers took whatever positive qualities they could extract from their Caribbean backgrounds and wedded them to whatever enhanced material and educational opportunities they could find in the metropolis. The combination proved irresistible. Even with the material and other drawbacks of colonized and recently independent developing societies, the Caribbean has long managed to produce remarkable examples of real excellence in many fields. As an increasingly improving material base combines with an already sophisticated populace, Caribbean society as a whole may well some day emulate the achievements of its athletes at the 2008 Olympics.
