Reprint: I Was A Love-Slave In The Caribbean. The photos are from a St Thomas Virgin Islands Cruise Vacation. The opinion about her story is not a non-fiction view. Aren’t we all tired of The Waiting To Exhale, sneaky link excursions? This sense of experience love story puts the questions of fidelity on its fans. I’m not an Island Boy in Love with a rich white woman.
I don’t know why this story came to my email account, but once again there’s another self-acclaimed white woman, an author, who wants to bring light to her reverse discrimination plight. I’m just asking myself if she’s seeking acknowledgment? Hey lady, what do you want?
The story is set in St. Thomas Virgin Islands, which almost implies that the couple on vacation is surrounded by African Americans. St. Thomas demographics are Black 76%, White 15.6%, Asian 1.4%, other 4.9%. 17.4% identify as Latino.
The Love of Erie Astin’s life is a guy named Hector. Although, Erie never tells the readers about Hector’s ethnic heritage, most just assume he’s Latino.
In the first series of paragraphs in this love story Erie Astin’s greatest fear is dying, but the love of her life, Hector, insists they go on a cruise, take a local sky ride and visit an ocean cove to snorkel.
Erie recounts a situation that involved Hector and one of his friends while they were in University Pep Band.
Our friend Robert, who was also on the cruise and in the university pep band with us, had once shouted at Hector on a bus in front of the whole band.
“Erie’s your slave! She’s your slave!” he screamed. He snatched a textbook out of Hector’s hands, ripped out a chunk of the pages, and stomped to the front of the bus.
Instead of triggering suspicion, Erie Astins said, “I was too in love to be embarrassed, too proud of my place sitting by Hector’s side.”
At this point, while reading the story as a black man. I’m thinking okay… Here’s this white chick and her Mexican boyfriend on a Caribbean cruise vacation with all these athletic and well-endowed black guys in speedos, skin tight thigh shorts showing print, not wearing shirts.
Erie is suspicious about Hector’s sexuality because of his interactions with his homeboys while they’re in the university pep band bus.
As readers we are suspicious of Hector now too.
However, Erie Astin continues to write ‘her truth’s explaining why she is still blinded by love.
Erie Astin is blinded by how nice Hector looks, how good Hector smells, and blinded because Hector is a hard worker who has real world experiences with his friends and not really into the university school life Academia. And that is what intrigues Erie Aston about Hector. Erie is constantly saying how she is overlooking things that Hector does to signal their relationship is failing.
Someone who truly loves you would never ask you to risk your life on a cruise ship or on a sky ride. Spending time with the one you love always involves trust and respect.
Erie is a well educated Caucasian woman. She is an aspiring author seeking prestige and acceptance in the world of book writing.
Erie Astin explains later in the story that she chose to become a writer because she wants her legacy to live on even after her demise. She goes on to explain how Hector doesn’t have respect for her career or her profession.
While they were in St. Thomas the couple had to rent a vehicle and Erie describes the experience like this:
We puttered along on the left side of the road in this tiny vehicle similar to a four-wheeler, sharing the highway with zooming cars and semi trucks. Potholes were always looming. Once, I hit a huge one head-on and almost overturned us. And then Hector blamed her for the rental, “We could have died!” Hector screeched.
After they got back to the United States, Erie stayed in love with Hector on the college campus but later on she said, ” I got into Columbia, I had the sense not to accept. I couldn’t keep pursuing Hector as I was, and I didn’t want to live in New York City, anyway. Instead, I went to graduate school in beautiful Scotland.”
Then the reality set in that their relationship was over and Erie talks about how 3 years later Hector contacted her on Facebook and told her he was gay. Erie said she’s still in love with Hector, but she at least she’s not his slave.
White women are always going to tell the story from an alternative narrative that is confusing and basically a lie.
I Was A Love-Slave In The Caribbean is just another example of the white empiricist complex.
An empiricist experience on its face has nothing to do with race. However, race-relations are never going to change. Even if she’s your girlfriend.
White women are always going to look for another reason to mask bigotry and racist feelings.
Erie was also a love slave in Philadelphia and New York.
PACE TULSA 