ABSTRACT
The Report on British Race Relations, published in 1969, claims that the disillusion and disenchantment were greater among the West Indians than among any other immigrant group because they expected so much. Disillusionment can occur only where completely wrong impressions have been given in the first place; and a realistic appraisal of social, economic as well as psychological factors existing in the host society might at least have prepared the migrants more adequately for the different social ethos that they were about to experience. Life in the West Indies is, for the most part, a life spent in the open air in a warm, sunny and friendly climate; and the warmth of the atmosphere is translated also in terms of human relationships. Verbal communication is, of course, very important; but there are deeper levels of communication where one might perhaps expect some sense of equality and identity.
