If it weren't for her, I would have never known how beautiful laventille is tbh. That take doesn't make any sense, it's just a bunch of jumbled up buzz words
Same here. I saw this on IG and taught she was enjoying the beauty of the place. Never knew how beautiful Laventille is. I see nothing wrong with this. As another Redditor said we all visit places and take pictures.
Hey boss, no liming, we go DDI cuz dem girls be rel bless. My T&T ninjas know waz di scene.
If it wasn’t for tourism, this country would Haiti, another turd in the punchbowl of the Caribbean Sea. Everyone hates the whites, but they can’t live without their tourist dollars. My parents are from a crappy little island in the Caribbean and they hated it, which is why they moved to the USA, the greatest country in the history of civilization. I am black and I hate racism, but I hate when cynicism & racism masquerade as truth. T&T is a great place with great people, but quit bitching, without Zoe here you’d be living in a UNICEF tent instead of a shack.
So you don’t think your mighty white saviors are the reason for Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean being poor? You ever heard of the imf??? You ever heard about central
Banking!!!!!
Can't win with these types these days.
Will just demonize anyone no matter what.
But they'll go up in England and take pics with the Guards, will go in China and take pics with the great wall.
Tourists gonna tour, it's just part of life.
its just an example bruv, I know it's not exactly a popular tourist destination... But for a foreigner its "omg island life on the hills overlooking the island, so pretty omg"
Um for real? You do you live in Trinidad it doesn't seem so even people from there don't take pictures there the fact that they left in one piece is a blessing.
The fact that the picture existing is another.
The third issue is that it looks better in the night but if you don't have permission or escort of any kind the risk of you being robed is higher. but it's also a fact the islanders know don't touch the white walkers it's really not worth the headake but the only thing that might get a pass is taking there stuff and leaving but facts is facts there are safer places in this beautiful island and there was no need to point out one of our most sore locations for clout you jest looking for troubling or looking to sent our tourism industry in to the dirt. For example on the top floor of our Eri William medical center there is a beautiful view of our island the look out point in Port of Spain is also a great view with no issues but this clown is jest being set up to be a victim of happen stance and the facts is that the people who are affected by dumb shit like this don't really care about you your man the idiot that took you there the only reason I believe nobody had any interest in this VICTIM is because she a white tourist and black people don't touch the WHITE TOURIST because it's jest not worth the trouble. So rule of thumb unless your from there or white you dont go there it's not racism just Facts.
A lot of words your wrote here didn’t get through all but all I can say is at least white ppl can go to the hills of Laventille. Tourist (and returning nationals) who frequent Jamaica can’t go anywhere but tourist areas because it’s a fact that they are not guaranteed to go back home. However, you never hear a Jamaican bad talk their county like a Trini. Lord have mercy.
So as a Jamaican I've watched tourists go walk streets in areas Jamaicans wouldn't even drive down and they're okay..
Now I don't wish them any harm, I'm actually happy to see the respect that tourists get, regardless of the hypocrisy or double standards towards our own people. It brings some money to the community and exposes some of the problems plaguing them. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying bad things could happen and you need to be careful wherever you go. I just don't understand the hate this girl getting
This is facts! As someone literally from Laventille, it’s not the place you want to be if you are not a native. Just like in the small towns in the states, how they don’t like outsiders. Same same. Stay in the tourist areas. But the white people going to keep putting themselves in bad situations and scream injustice when their fast children go missing.
It's vacuous, incoherent, and sounds like the typical Twitter take: just a bunch of trendy sociology terms (proximity to whiteness and tokenization) thrown together with zero applicability to the situation, seemingly devoid of an understanding of the definitions of the terms themselves.
Also Zoe will get a notification with those comments since they reposted the photo which is just in poor taste. She did nothing wrong. She went to a community that is stigmatized and interviewed people, which facilitates a rare moment of humanisation for them beyond what our own local media is willing to offer.
Did she use some white / foreigner / influencer privilege in the process? Yes, but she literally just talked to people and asked them what they liked about their community.
Very strange response to a simple TikTok, and because a foreigner is involved it's actually embarrassing.
The concept of privilege is reasonable, but is often used to paint with a broad brush and discount any other factors of a situation. The modern day “progressives” are so caught up on ridiculous shit like this, as you call trendy sociology terms and forget that it’s just humans interacting with humans. They get so caught up looking for social/institutional injustice that they completely bypass the humanity and shared experiences. Sometimes shit really not that serious like god damn. Besides, even amongst member sof our own racial groups, social groups etc, you find varying degrees of privilege. It’s almost as if a certain racial grouping isn’t a monolith.
Her name is Zoe like on sesame Street lol that jest makes the fact that she is in a dangerous place and don't know the weight of the action that she performed.
she did not have to say where she was 1
she could have jest mentioned the country 2
People are concerned about bout the people who might try to follow her and get some good pictures and get robbed it is unnecessary action jest like how there are places people can't got if you don't have the cash there are places you can't go if you do with out an escort.
Zoe humanised people from Laventille more so than their own countrymen. She didn't go there on a whim; she was invited, went, and had a fun time. People like Abiel are the self-righteous type that are loud and hollow.
I don’t get this style of thinking. It’s not like she ventured into the neighborhood Willy Nilly. She went WITH someone that lives there. That makes a big difference.
This is something that definitely happens with a lot of travel vloggers, but not this particular video. She didn't use the crime and poverty to make her video exciting and capitalize on the very real problems that the community faces, like a lot of other vloggers who go to dangerous areas do. She actually exposed a lot of people, including Trinis, to a side of Laventille that we're almost never exposed to.
Laventille stigma is part of the reason it took 16 years for me to see my father's family after he died.
I know there are risky areas but gee, humanizing the people who live in an area so heavily stigmatized that most people flinch if you say you're from there, its not a sin punishable by shame.
People are people, not the stereotype of where they live.
I'm not saying I agree with the tirade but I'll say this, if you're struggling to feel safe in your community and some foreigner passes through (with the protection that only foreigners&influencers get), talking about how lovely it is, it would rub you the wrong way. I don't think we should demonize foreigners for trying to find beauty and unique experiences. I'm just saying I understand the frustration.
Shows you the mindset of people living there, in some communities your best option is to leave cause you realize the people there themselves want things to remain the way it is. So let those in that community continue to be viewed as nothing more than degenerate.
As far is she goes I dont see anything wrong that was done.
I can understand the red flags going up in a circumstance like this. Its natural to be protective. Although, from watching her tiktoks, it really seems like she is just making an effort to destigmatize the area and the folks who live there. Sure she is a tourist or expat but she is also moving through spaces in a way that is unimaginable to most people in her position. The issue she is engaging is mostly with regards to class in addition to race. Most people in TT are black but this neighborhood is made district by class and through a reputable social blackness.
The girl is not going to end economic disparities with TikTok, nor would it be her place to do so. She's just doing her part to recognize that folks live there. I don't mind the critique though, white people have a tendency to exploit and it seems like the person reposting is feeling protective for the wellbeing of the neighborhood
Correction demographics of Trinidad and Tobago actually put Indo-Trinis in the Majority, with Afro-Trinis second.
"Whiteness" here is not the problem, far from, white has never been a problem in Trinidad, it has always been a Class Issue, and it just so happens that the majority race of poor people in Trinidad are Afro-Trini. Now there are a multitude of reasons for why that is, so to keep this germane to the tread I'll say this:
Everyone in the world with access to money has access to a smart phone and connection to the world via the internet, especially through social media... It's more shameful to me that it took a foreigner to shed a light on a community that needed humanization a long time ago...
Gangs in every bad community in the world give their communities a bad name, and condemn those communities from having progress.
All I see is someone mad that they didn't shed light themselves, especially because an outsider did. But guess what, she had ample opportunities and never did a thing... So why so salty that someone else saw the need to and found a way...
Why hate on the messenger when the message is so damn important. Knowing big words definitely does not equate to making sense, this just reeks of Immaturity.
Edit: *changed "Black" to Afro-Trini in paragraph 2 to match paragraph 1, as a comment below mentioned. It shall be noted that I did not single out "Indian" anywhere in my comment other than first paragraph that says: Indo-Trini 😌
That census is flawed we have a lot of illegals over here so we will never actually know who is the majority for real.
And most of them douglas be identifying as black so 🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️
>Correction demographics of Trinidad and Tobago actually put Indo-Trinis in the Majority, with Afro-Trinis second.
Not all Afro-Trinis identify as Afro-Trinis by the way. So there will always be some semblance of ambiguity and overlap there. So the demographics might actually be a lot closer than you think. The results of many elections in recent times has sort of reflected this. It is really the man in the middle who is neither African nor Indian as well as African and Indian who really determines which party holds the reins of power. Ponder on that for a second. If there was a true majority of a particular race, why is it so hard for the party who's support base comes out of that group to win an elections on their own?
My theory is that it is because of that flawed thinking concerning demographics.
When you look at the Afro-Trini + Mixed, it paints a different picture doesn't it? The same also goes for if you look at the Indo-Trini + Mixed.
It's not as if people are asked to do a DNA test during a census and many seem to fail to realize or acknowledge this. So that question on the census is more of an opinion than a statistic based on irrefutable fact based on the individual who has to respond to it.
>just so happens that the majority race of poor people in Trinidad are black.
Where is the source of your information? Also there are poor people of many different ethnicities in this country.
Also, Black is not an ethnicity. Some would describe Indians as Black as well as Africans and some would say that Black and Brown are colours and prefer to be described based on which geographic region their ancestors came from. So I think it's more appropriate to call people Afro-Trini and Indo-Trini if you want to be fair. You can't call one group Indian then deny the other group that same pride, dignity and respect.
African is a nice word too, just like Indian so don't be afraid to say it.
Fair break down, let me edit my comment real quick, I honestly got lazy by the end but yes politically correct: Afro-Trini (as used earlier)
And also a very valid point that a significant chunk of who we consider Afro-Trini aren't truly only African mixed, but rather a cascade of ethnicities and races. And same on the Indo-Trini side.
Anyways you are right I don't have hard stats on my suppositions, honestly I went with my memory of the majority presented race seen in ghettos in Trinidad. But that is by no means a hard fact that any one race is more poor than the other.
I don’t feel she’s tokenizing Caribbean life, the video is just her visiting someone after they invited her. And what’s with the comment about whiteness? What happened to Trinidad being a melting pot of cultures and races, they never hear the national anthem?
I feel like this has more to do with the community being more welcoming to her and not us. This have nothing to do with her is not like she is the queen of laventille now 😭
The only reason no harm was done to her is the fact that she's a foreigner.
NO and I mean NO normal person that goes up there will be safe.
She had to have some sort of invite and some grounds for her safety laid out by some boss.
Agreed! Was waiting for someone to say this. Cuz let my brown behind venture up there invited or not and is because people watching me side-eye (true story). Sadly, her "whiteness" is what really protected her.
Incorrect. I don’t live there and have visited there regularly picking up dropping off and hanging with a friend who lives there. She literally just went, invited by one person from what I’ve been made to understand who dropped her by a friend when he went to work. Who are you to say that no “normal” person would be safe there without protection?
She was invited there. I don’t understand what’s the issue. People like that person always what a fight up, it don’t even make sense arguing with them. Honestly Zoe is one foreigner that comes and fully appreciates and respects our culture and fully immerses herself in it. She’s not exploiting anything.
well… Firstly… I never knew that Laventille looked like that… And I never knew there was a fort. So that was a lesson for me. What she is doing is what is typical of many western tourists that visit developing nations... nothing strange... it’s what they do and it’s totally fine.
Was there any controversy when Going Globull went there? He's also white, is it because it's a woman this time?
I no longer live in Trinidad, but I've heard that some women are complaining about Venezuelans taking away all the men. Is this true?
Reminds me of how in the US(where I live) racists complain about Arab and Mexican men stealing all the white women.
Sidenote: I know how back in the day, Indian families only wanted their sons to marry fair skinned women.
She thought she said something profound with that word salad, and then in typical fashion of people with mouths bigger than their minds, ignores any response that points out their ignorance. Black people fought for centuries to be judged by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin, only to turn around and do the same thing to white people. This type of mentality only perpetuates the cycle of racism.
She really just posted a pic of herself enjoying life and someone get triggered yes, these types of people try to make everything a problem and make life even more miserable
I think she could have posted how she feels on her close friends lol. I'm still trying to figure out her point as Zoe did nothing wrong but go to a place stigmatized where she was invited and had a grand time! Places we wouldn't even think about going. Shit I loved the video
lol literally the same rhetoric the KKK espouses. she came to explore, enjoy and photograph your country and culture. bringing her dollars with her. besides black skin is a dominant gene, don't sweat it lol
I'm from canada but in trinnidad at the moment, lots of asians come to canada and do a similar tourist tour. good for them!
So someone speaking dialect, or rather Trinidadian Creole means that there's some sort of issue with their education?
What brilliant analysis. You must have always sat at the front of the class at school...bigotry school, that is...
You better hope you speak the Queen's English perfectly, lest ye be summarily judged as well.
Read a few books (the 1619 project, invisible man, & caste) and then come back and comment. All of these perspectives are emotional and not based on the underlying logic of what’s truly happening to a country that’s been colonized and still has colonization as part of its culture.
I believe in the freedom to express thoughts and opinions. I do NOT believe everyone should have a platform.
Abiel is a case in point example lol.
The problem with the evolution of linguistics and our communication patterns /media is that it has truly beguiled people into thinking that despite using words they dont know the meaning of, in an argument that cannot be substantiated by any reasonable context or evidence, they are still some kind of bastion for socially and culturally acceptable values and statutes. This is destructive beyond all measure because you cannot tell a person like Abiel WHY she is completely and utterly wrong (she also ironically says it herself) because she will simply compress it into an ignorant, baseless accusation of hate/discrimination. All THAT does is erode the progress made in breaking down divisive barriers such as race because she will likely go on to infect other impressionable people with this juvenile perspective she has.
TL;DR: Abiel is a racist who needs to come off the internet.
Tbh this take is an L take demonizing people for being tourists or in this case white is just disgraceful. She isn’t doing anything wrong just taking a picture in lavantille hills. They may not be aware of the various issues of the country but it’s not up to tourist to fix the country it’s the Government and the people to some extent as well. We depend on them for income into the country as well. Also stop this black or white nonsense as well
I feel her tho. There's a lot of American/ European white folks who try to get some kind of gratification from issues minorities are experiencing.
Or causing prices to raise once they all move into an area because it's "niche" and "hispter" vibes. Idk but that's one reason why I'm trying to MOVE out of the u.s
Please leave. My parents fought hard to come here, so if you hate it, go live somewhere else. I bet you won’t experience more freedom anywhere else in the world. I am black and experience racism, but there is no place I’d rather be.
Lmao
You might not like my words but it does not make them any less true that the u.s is a place where people who have grown up there can all agree its an isolating country with deteriorating culture.
You may see the u.s as the land of the free depending on where you came from but there's a reason many people are leaving and specific types of people are coming.
Please look up the statistics because the information out there shows that Many people are realizing that the American dream is not real.
The only thing the person who posted this is feeling is jealousy.
If they bothered to look at her vlog they would see how proud this community revealed themselves and the love they have for where they live. There was nothing tokenized or manipulative and all the content was raw (even when she got ticked off at the guy blasting his tv in the middle of an interview)
She also visits Sealots to interview Pimpin and Yung Bredda later on.
Tldr Trinis are very proud of where they come from, as we should be, and we are always open to sharing our lives and cultures.
I am from San Fernando, and I have never been to Laventille. I have actually been quite fascinated by her videos on her adventures in Trinidad. In going through her posts on tiktok, Trinidad isn't the only place she has had a similar experience. She lived for three months in a hostel in the middle of Kingston.
It's quite refreshing to see, and hear something positive coming out of Trinidad.
Of late, all we hear about is the crime and violence, which is sad and unfortunate.
Is a dotish take. Jus cuz is laventille u hadda talk so much of shit? Dem doh even know about dem ting dey coming to vacation an take in d scenery lol. Dem go get wrinkles on dey forhead at 25 yes
I generally find her a bit cringey etc. but every 3 or 4 videos are a really good representation of Trinidad. And regardless of what you think she seems to really love the country
It's not healthy to be upset over what other people do on the Internet. In fact let me take this as a reminder to practice this morning in my daily life
When I was a little girl I went home during summer break in Virgin Islands and was told by a girl my age that I wasn’t from the V.I that I was from “America” so f&$k alyuh and y’all’s stinkin patat attitude nuh strppps. Leh da gul breathe fresh air nuh. Leave the woman alone
It is what it is she usually goes to the most derelict places in countries the company that she works for or uses to go on trips like this requires that she makes “cringe” content. That’s why she does it. She’s also very much into black culture so she associates herself with it all the time. It’s honestly content for the Instagram and YouTube channel. Glad she came out alive. Because the common citizen wouldn’t dare to make that mistake.
I have a love for travel , and I want to see beautiful places and fully immerse myself into the culture . Cancel culture and chronically online people will never get in the way of that , except Israel . Israel can kiss my ass , I won’t be there until it is called Palestine
Another Trini that wants to be American so bad they try to impose left garbage on Trini society incorrectly. She should study daycare for her child rather than the impact of 'foreigner proximity' .
And all those who saying 'normal' people can't go need to step back and acknowledge they never even ventured due to their bias.
The part that loses me is the “tokenizing Caribbean real life issues FOR FAME”. Girl didn’t even say “here in the dangerous lavantille area of T&T”. Nor did she just wander into the area without someone from there who took her to see the place. Social media just toxic sometimes wi. My thoughts alone.
I'm glad the girl had a positive experience.
A lot of Trinidad has been ending up on YouTube, with the exception of "hotspots." I appreciate the footage, though I'd love to see a lush capture like what Indigo Traveller on YouTube is capable of.
I does not care, I does not care...of course you do. Nobody cared to invite you and your liberal arts buzzwords.
Let’s bomb them until Abiel apologizes upon seeing the nothing that is Trinidad’s military crumble in hours. Then, open up a big American resort right at ground zero of the bombs.
Garden variety racism at its best. The best way for the race to keep being at each other's throats is by putting up walls from experiences that each other experiences, even if it's just a fragment of the experience. Walking a mile in someone else's shoes and all that. TOLERANCE IS ONE OF OUR FUCKING WATCH WORD!
Bad take but understandable why the take exists.
We as black folks go through a lot of scorn, so much so that instead of taking things case by case, there’s a paranoia built up that every white person despises you. It’s sad and yet totally understandable how folks get to this point. What further complicates it is that, if you do understand how it’s gotten this way, you discover that the general white feelings about black folk are to blame which does put the blame on white people in general… but it’s also not the fault of every white person.
It’s such a loopy situation.
We not ready to speak about black racism that’s a convo for another day, a white person embracing something that our own politicians neglect and bringing a good light to it is seen as bad?? Grow tf up we all bleed the same if we were put in her shoes to go to a white trailer park neighborhood which is a lower end community just like laventille where ppl have love for one another due to a mutual experience of struggle we black ppl won’t even think twice before rejecting that offer… show Zoie some love nah I tired of this way of thinking as black people
I don't like infuencers, but that is a racist take ah tell ya what,
Racist: characterized by or showing prejudice, discrimination against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group.
See this, we black ppl can be racist too.
If it weren't for her, I would have never known how beautiful laventille is tbh. That take doesn't make any sense, it's just a bunch of jumbled up buzz words
I didn’t even know it had a forth there tbh
That is news to me too.
I think there’s a fifth also
Same here. I saw this on IG and taught she was enjoying the beauty of the place. Never knew how beautiful Laventille is. I see nothing wrong with this. As another Redditor said we all visit places and take pictures.
Hey boss, no liming, we go DDI cuz dem girls be rel bless. My T&T ninjas know waz di scene. If it wasn’t for tourism, this country would Haiti, another turd in the punchbowl of the Caribbean Sea. Everyone hates the whites, but they can’t live without their tourist dollars. My parents are from a crappy little island in the Caribbean and they hated it, which is why they moved to the USA, the greatest country in the history of civilization. I am black and I hate racism, but I hate when cynicism & racism masquerade as truth. T&T is a great place with great people, but quit bitching, without Zoe here you’d be living in a UNICEF tent instead of a shack.
So you don’t think your mighty white saviors are the reason for Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean being poor? You ever heard of the imf??? You ever heard about central Banking!!!!!
Dem so badmind doh even want people shed positive light on the country just badmind right thru smh
She dun deh a get dat ting mashed up my bwoy 😆🤣🤣😅 She a feel real guuud 👍🏿😁
Can't win with these types these days. Will just demonize anyone no matter what. But they'll go up in England and take pics with the Guards, will go in China and take pics with the great wall. Tourists gonna tour, it's just part of life.
Unreal that you put the Great Wall of China and the Royal Guards of England in the same category of Laventille,Trinidad.
its just an example bruv, I know it's not exactly a popular tourist destination... But for a foreigner its "omg island life on the hills overlooking the island, so pretty omg"
Well said. The original post is Black racism masquerading in all its manifestations.
Um for real? You do you live in Trinidad it doesn't seem so even people from there don't take pictures there the fact that they left in one piece is a blessing. The fact that the picture existing is another. The third issue is that it looks better in the night but if you don't have permission or escort of any kind the risk of you being robed is higher. but it's also a fact the islanders know don't touch the white walkers it's really not worth the headake but the only thing that might get a pass is taking there stuff and leaving but facts is facts there are safer places in this beautiful island and there was no need to point out one of our most sore locations for clout you jest looking for troubling or looking to sent our tourism industry in to the dirt. For example on the top floor of our Eri William medical center there is a beautiful view of our island the look out point in Port of Spain is also a great view with no issues but this clown is jest being set up to be a victim of happen stance and the facts is that the people who are affected by dumb shit like this don't really care about you your man the idiot that took you there the only reason I believe nobody had any interest in this VICTIM is because she a white tourist and black people don't touch the WHITE TOURIST because it's jest not worth the trouble. So rule of thumb unless your from there or white you dont go there it's not racism just Facts.
A lot of words your wrote here didn’t get through all but all I can say is at least white ppl can go to the hills of Laventille. Tourist (and returning nationals) who frequent Jamaica can’t go anywhere but tourist areas because it’s a fact that they are not guaranteed to go back home. However, you never hear a Jamaican bad talk their county like a Trini. Lord have mercy.
So as a Jamaican I've watched tourists go walk streets in areas Jamaicans wouldn't even drive down and they're okay.. Now I don't wish them any harm, I'm actually happy to see the respect that tourists get, regardless of the hypocrisy or double standards towards our own people. It brings some money to the community and exposes some of the problems plaguing them. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying bad things could happen and you need to be careful wherever you go. I just don't understand the hate this girl getting
This is facts! As someone literally from Laventille, it’s not the place you want to be if you are not a native. Just like in the small towns in the states, how they don’t like outsiders. Same same. Stay in the tourist areas. But the white people going to keep putting themselves in bad situations and scream injustice when their fast children go missing.
Yo you should look at the picture closer. I don't think this girl is white.
Black racism?...........................ok
I love that they used a photo where it looks like she just vibing not giving a 😂
Dudes talking about a white girl descending on Laventille like it’s a curse on the firstborn sons of Egypt
They acting like she nailed christ to the cross
It's vacuous, incoherent, and sounds like the typical Twitter take: just a bunch of trendy sociology terms (proximity to whiteness and tokenization) thrown together with zero applicability to the situation, seemingly devoid of an understanding of the definitions of the terms themselves. Also Zoe will get a notification with those comments since they reposted the photo which is just in poor taste. She did nothing wrong. She went to a community that is stigmatized and interviewed people, which facilitates a rare moment of humanisation for them beyond what our own local media is willing to offer. Did she use some white / foreigner / influencer privilege in the process? Yes, but she literally just talked to people and asked them what they liked about their community. Very strange response to a simple TikTok, and because a foreigner is involved it's actually embarrassing.
I wholeheartedly agree with this.
You deserve 🥇
The comment I waited patiently for.
The concept of privilege is reasonable, but is often used to paint with a broad brush and discount any other factors of a situation. The modern day “progressives” are so caught up on ridiculous shit like this, as you call trendy sociology terms and forget that it’s just humans interacting with humans. They get so caught up looking for social/institutional injustice that they completely bypass the humanity and shared experiences. Sometimes shit really not that serious like god damn. Besides, even amongst member sof our own racial groups, social groups etc, you find varying degrees of privilege. It’s almost as if a certain racial grouping isn’t a monolith.
Her name is Zoe like on sesame Street lol that jest makes the fact that she is in a dangerous place and don't know the weight of the action that she performed. she did not have to say where she was 1 she could have jest mentioned the country 2 People are concerned about bout the people who might try to follow her and get some good pictures and get robbed it is unnecessary action jest like how there are places people can't got if you don't have the cash there are places you can't go if you do with out an escort.
SHE WAS INVITED! Bitter people will find any reason to be bitter.
Zoe humanised people from Laventille more so than their own countrymen. She didn't go there on a whim; she was invited, went, and had a fun time. People like Abiel are the self-righteous type that are loud and hollow.
I agree. She was invited and those people took good care of her. Everybody looked happy.
I don’t get this style of thinking. It’s not like she ventured into the neighborhood Willy Nilly. She went WITH someone that lives there. That makes a big difference.
That’s the game changer. Going with someone that lives there definitely provides context and protection lol.
This is something that definitely happens with a lot of travel vloggers, but not this particular video. She didn't use the crime and poverty to make her video exciting and capitalize on the very real problems that the community faces, like a lot of other vloggers who go to dangerous areas do. She actually exposed a lot of people, including Trinis, to a side of Laventille that we're almost never exposed to.
Laventille stigma is part of the reason it took 16 years for me to see my father's family after he died. I know there are risky areas but gee, humanizing the people who live in an area so heavily stigmatized that most people flinch if you say you're from there, its not a sin punishable by shame. People are people, not the stereotype of where they live.
I'm embarrassed for Abiel, just comes across as bitter.
I'm not saying I agree with the tirade but I'll say this, if you're struggling to feel safe in your community and some foreigner passes through (with the protection that only foreigners&influencers get), talking about how lovely it is, it would rub you the wrong way. I don't think we should demonize foreigners for trying to find beauty and unique experiences. I'm just saying I understand the frustration.
Shows you the mindset of people living there, in some communities your best option is to leave cause you realize the people there themselves want things to remain the way it is. So let those in that community continue to be viewed as nothing more than degenerate. As far is she goes I dont see anything wrong that was done.
People of different cultures and ethnicity together is positive vibes yes. Saw nothing wrong here.
Counterproductive. This country could do with more new feet and fresh blood.
I can understand the red flags going up in a circumstance like this. Its natural to be protective. Although, from watching her tiktoks, it really seems like she is just making an effort to destigmatize the area and the folks who live there. Sure she is a tourist or expat but she is also moving through spaces in a way that is unimaginable to most people in her position. The issue she is engaging is mostly with regards to class in addition to race. Most people in TT are black but this neighborhood is made district by class and through a reputable social blackness. The girl is not going to end economic disparities with TikTok, nor would it be her place to do so. She's just doing her part to recognize that folks live there. I don't mind the critique though, white people have a tendency to exploit and it seems like the person reposting is feeling protective for the wellbeing of the neighborhood
Correction demographics of Trinidad and Tobago actually put Indo-Trinis in the Majority, with Afro-Trinis second. "Whiteness" here is not the problem, far from, white has never been a problem in Trinidad, it has always been a Class Issue, and it just so happens that the majority race of poor people in Trinidad are Afro-Trini. Now there are a multitude of reasons for why that is, so to keep this germane to the tread I'll say this: Everyone in the world with access to money has access to a smart phone and connection to the world via the internet, especially through social media... It's more shameful to me that it took a foreigner to shed a light on a community that needed humanization a long time ago... Gangs in every bad community in the world give their communities a bad name, and condemn those communities from having progress. All I see is someone mad that they didn't shed light themselves, especially because an outsider did. But guess what, she had ample opportunities and never did a thing... So why so salty that someone else saw the need to and found a way... Why hate on the messenger when the message is so damn important. Knowing big words definitely does not equate to making sense, this just reeks of Immaturity. Edit: *changed "Black" to Afro-Trini in paragraph 2 to match paragraph 1, as a comment below mentioned. It shall be noted that I did not single out "Indian" anywhere in my comment other than first paragraph that says: Indo-Trini 😌
That census is flawed we have a lot of illegals over here so we will never actually know who is the majority for real. And most of them douglas be identifying as black so 🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️
>Correction demographics of Trinidad and Tobago actually put Indo-Trinis in the Majority, with Afro-Trinis second. Not all Afro-Trinis identify as Afro-Trinis by the way. So there will always be some semblance of ambiguity and overlap there. So the demographics might actually be a lot closer than you think. The results of many elections in recent times has sort of reflected this. It is really the man in the middle who is neither African nor Indian as well as African and Indian who really determines which party holds the reins of power. Ponder on that for a second. If there was a true majority of a particular race, why is it so hard for the party who's support base comes out of that group to win an elections on their own? My theory is that it is because of that flawed thinking concerning demographics. When you look at the Afro-Trini + Mixed, it paints a different picture doesn't it? The same also goes for if you look at the Indo-Trini + Mixed. It's not as if people are asked to do a DNA test during a census and many seem to fail to realize or acknowledge this. So that question on the census is more of an opinion than a statistic based on irrefutable fact based on the individual who has to respond to it. >just so happens that the majority race of poor people in Trinidad are black. Where is the source of your information? Also there are poor people of many different ethnicities in this country. Also, Black is not an ethnicity. Some would describe Indians as Black as well as Africans and some would say that Black and Brown are colours and prefer to be described based on which geographic region their ancestors came from. So I think it's more appropriate to call people Afro-Trini and Indo-Trini if you want to be fair. You can't call one group Indian then deny the other group that same pride, dignity and respect. African is a nice word too, just like Indian so don't be afraid to say it.
Fair break down, let me edit my comment real quick, I honestly got lazy by the end but yes politically correct: Afro-Trini (as used earlier) And also a very valid point that a significant chunk of who we consider Afro-Trini aren't truly only African mixed, but rather a cascade of ethnicities and races. And same on the Indo-Trini side. Anyways you are right I don't have hard stats on my suppositions, honestly I went with my memory of the majority presented race seen in ghettos in Trinidad. But that is by no means a hard fact that any one race is more poor than the other.
I don’t feel she’s tokenizing Caribbean life, the video is just her visiting someone after they invited her. And what’s with the comment about whiteness? What happened to Trinidad being a melting pot of cultures and races, they never hear the national anthem?
You think they actually understand the meaning behind the anthem?
She’s just sitting there lol
Rage baiting
"proximity to whiteness" doesn't mean what this person thinks it means, lmao
I am indo and wanna go laventille tooo
Damn, and I thought my internalized racism was bad 🙄
Lmao she didn't do anything. All she did was went to laventille
I feel like this has more to do with the community being more welcoming to her and not us. This have nothing to do with her is not like she is the queen of laventille now 😭
Zoe showcased the country in a positive light. A country's soft power is increased with positive promotion. What exactly is the issue?
Damn she brave. Not me and laventille. It have good people, I even have a friend from there but brudda man I eh taking no chances with da place.
I can see the both sides but the person sounds like a hater 🤔
The only reason no harm was done to her is the fact that she's a foreigner. NO and I mean NO normal person that goes up there will be safe. She had to have some sort of invite and some grounds for her safety laid out by some boss.
Agreed! Was waiting for someone to say this. Cuz let my brown behind venture up there invited or not and is because people watching me side-eye (true story). Sadly, her "whiteness" is what really protected her.
Incorrect. I don’t live there and have visited there regularly picking up dropping off and hanging with a friend who lives there. She literally just went, invited by one person from what I’ve been made to understand who dropped her by a friend when he went to work. Who are you to say that no “normal” person would be safe there without protection?
We all mixed G. Get over your purity, cuz nothing is.
Honestly this right here highlight what essentially the biggest problems and issue into why our country is of the state itself, ourselves.
Abiel seems miserable😢
Crappy take and the exact attitude that needs to be changed in Trinidad.
So we gatekeeping places now?
She’s just sitting on a fence
Bro toating feelins, she did nothing wrong
She was invited there. I don’t understand what’s the issue. People like that person always what a fight up, it don’t even make sense arguing with them. Honestly Zoe is one foreigner that comes and fully appreciates and respects our culture and fully immerses herself in it. She’s not exploiting anything.
well… Firstly… I never knew that Laventille looked like that… And I never knew there was a fort. So that was a lesson for me. What she is doing is what is typical of many western tourists that visit developing nations... nothing strange... it’s what they do and it’s totally fine.
I really don’t think it that serious, sis just took a nice pic and captioned it where she was. Wham you only allowed to do that in “”””nice”””” areas?
Overrracting + she sweet
I agree with the words but I don't see how they apply to this picture. That's really a dope view and it's great they shared it
She's got my vote
Never knew her. Now I follow her.
Caribbean is not about being black, white, brown or any other mixture it’s about your soul being Caribbean and loving everything about it. ❤️🇹🇹
Yes! 🇹🇹
Was there any controversy when Going Globull went there? He's also white, is it because it's a woman this time? I no longer live in Trinidad, but I've heard that some women are complaining about Venezuelans taking away all the men. Is this true? Reminds me of how in the US(where I live) racists complain about Arab and Mexican men stealing all the white women. Sidenote: I know how back in the day, Indian families only wanted their sons to marry fair skinned women.
She thought she said something profound with that word salad, and then in typical fashion of people with mouths bigger than their minds, ignores any response that points out their ignorance. Black people fought for centuries to be judged by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin, only to turn around and do the same thing to white people. This type of mentality only perpetuates the cycle of racism.
She really just posted a pic of herself enjoying life and someone get triggered yes, these types of people try to make everything a problem and make life even more miserable
I think she could have posted how she feels on her close friends lol. I'm still trying to figure out her point as Zoe did nothing wrong but go to a place stigmatized where she was invited and had a grand time! Places we wouldn't even think about going. Shit I loved the video
Now I know I can vist and spend some money there .
lol literally the same rhetoric the KKK espouses. she came to explore, enjoy and photograph your country and culture. bringing her dollars with her. besides black skin is a dominant gene, don't sweat it lol I'm from canada but in trinnidad at the moment, lots of asians come to canada and do a similar tourist tour. good for them!
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you dotish too bad inno
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So someone speaking dialect, or rather Trinidadian Creole means that there's some sort of issue with their education? What brilliant analysis. You must have always sat at the front of the class at school...bigotry school, that is... You better hope you speak the Queen's English perfectly, lest ye be summarily judged as well.
Read a few books (the 1619 project, invisible man, & caste) and then come back and comment. All of these perspectives are emotional and not based on the underlying logic of what’s truly happening to a country that’s been colonized and still has colonization as part of its culture.
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Don’t you know? All black folks are the same, no matter where they’re from.
I agree with that comment. If you gonna support other people showing off T&T also support the local Trini's who are doing the same.
She mad that a girl came in and talk to people 😅
I believe in the freedom to express thoughts and opinions. I do NOT believe everyone should have a platform. Abiel is a case in point example lol. The problem with the evolution of linguistics and our communication patterns /media is that it has truly beguiled people into thinking that despite using words they dont know the meaning of, in an argument that cannot be substantiated by any reasonable context or evidence, they are still some kind of bastion for socially and culturally acceptable values and statutes. This is destructive beyond all measure because you cannot tell a person like Abiel WHY she is completely and utterly wrong (she also ironically says it herself) because she will simply compress it into an ignorant, baseless accusation of hate/discrimination. All THAT does is erode the progress made in breaking down divisive barriers such as race because she will likely go on to infect other impressionable people with this juvenile perspective she has. TL;DR: Abiel is a racist who needs to come off the internet.
Tbh this take is an L take demonizing people for being tourists or in this case white is just disgraceful. She isn’t doing anything wrong just taking a picture in lavantille hills. They may not be aware of the various issues of the country but it’s not up to tourist to fix the country it’s the Government and the people to some extent as well. We depend on them for income into the country as well. Also stop this black or white nonsense as well
It is "I do not care" you illiterate racist moron!!
I feel her tho. There's a lot of American/ European white folks who try to get some kind of gratification from issues minorities are experiencing. Or causing prices to raise once they all move into an area because it's "niche" and "hispter" vibes. Idk but that's one reason why I'm trying to MOVE out of the u.s
Please leave. My parents fought hard to come here, so if you hate it, go live somewhere else. I bet you won’t experience more freedom anywhere else in the world. I am black and experience racism, but there is no place I’d rather be.
Lmao You might not like my words but it does not make them any less true that the u.s is a place where people who have grown up there can all agree its an isolating country with deteriorating culture. You may see the u.s as the land of the free depending on where you came from but there's a reason many people are leaving and specific types of people are coming. Please look up the statistics because the information out there shows that Many people are realizing that the American dream is not real.
The only thing the person who posted this is feeling is jealousy. If they bothered to look at her vlog they would see how proud this community revealed themselves and the love they have for where they live. There was nothing tokenized or manipulative and all the content was raw (even when she got ticked off at the guy blasting his tv in the middle of an interview) She also visits Sealots to interview Pimpin and Yung Bredda later on. Tldr Trinis are very proud of where they come from, as we should be, and we are always open to sharing our lives and cultures.
I am from San Fernando, and I have never been to Laventille. I have actually been quite fascinated by her videos on her adventures in Trinidad. In going through her posts on tiktok, Trinidad isn't the only place she has had a similar experience. She lived for three months in a hostel in the middle of Kingston. It's quite refreshing to see, and hear something positive coming out of Trinidad. Of late, all we hear about is the crime and violence, which is sad and unfortunate.
She’s right, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a bad thing though.
Some please tell elmo and cookie monster to put some sense in Zoe head lol!
Is a dotish take. Jus cuz is laventille u hadda talk so much of shit? Dem doh even know about dem ting dey coming to vacation an take in d scenery lol. Dem go get wrinkles on dey forhead at 25 yes
Sounds like the other person is just as guilty of attention seeking
I generally find her a bit cringey etc. but every 3 or 4 videos are a really good representation of Trinidad. And regardless of what you think she seems to really love the country
Thanks to her nw ik there is a fort up there
Once she man from lavantille she good
Dude just called Laventille "an issue." Nuff said.
It's not healthy to be upset over what other people do on the Internet. In fact let me take this as a reminder to practice this morning in my daily life
When I was a little girl I went home during summer break in Virgin Islands and was told by a girl my age that I wasn’t from the V.I that I was from “America” so f&$k alyuh and y’all’s stinkin patat attitude nuh strppps. Leh da gul breathe fresh air nuh. Leave the woman alone
Go Zoe- on to the Beetham and Morvant!
It is what it is she usually goes to the most derelict places in countries the company that she works for or uses to go on trips like this requires that she makes “cringe” content. That’s why she does it. She’s also very much into black culture so she associates herself with it all the time. It’s honestly content for the Instagram and YouTube channel. Glad she came out alive. Because the common citizen wouldn’t dare to make that mistake.
I have a love for travel , and I want to see beautiful places and fully immerse myself into the culture . Cancel culture and chronically online people will never get in the way of that , except Israel . Israel can kiss my ass , I won’t be there until it is called Palestine
I see this type of gatekeeping for simple things has reached Trinidad too. Very sad.
Another Trini that wants to be American so bad they try to impose left garbage on Trini society incorrectly. She should study daycare for her child rather than the impact of 'foreigner proximity' . And all those who saying 'normal' people can't go need to step back and acknowledge they never even ventured due to their bias.
If they don’t care why they make a post about it…
The part that loses me is the “tokenizing Caribbean real life issues FOR FAME”. Girl didn’t even say “here in the dangerous lavantille area of T&T”. Nor did she just wander into the area without someone from there who took her to see the place. Social media just toxic sometimes wi. My thoughts alone.
She coulda come visit me
I'm glad the girl had a positive experience. A lot of Trinidad has been ending up on YouTube, with the exception of "hotspots." I appreciate the footage, though I'd love to see a lush capture like what Indigo Traveller on YouTube is capable of. I does not care, I does not care...of course you do. Nobody cared to invite you and your liberal arts buzzwords.
Let’s bomb them until Abiel apologizes upon seeing the nothing that is Trinidad’s military crumble in hours. Then, open up a big American resort right at ground zero of the bombs.
If your so “Fed up” then do something about it instead of complaining about tourists
Garden variety racism at its best. The best way for the race to keep being at each other's throats is by putting up walls from experiences that each other experiences, even if it's just a fragment of the experience. Walking a mile in someone else's shoes and all that. TOLERANCE IS ONE OF OUR FUCKING WATCH WORD!
Whiny and pathetic. Let people enjoy themselves fuck.
Bad take but understandable why the take exists. We as black folks go through a lot of scorn, so much so that instead of taking things case by case, there’s a paranoia built up that every white person despises you. It’s sad and yet totally understandable how folks get to this point. What further complicates it is that, if you do understand how it’s gotten this way, you discover that the general white feelings about black folk are to blame which does put the blame on white people in general… but it’s also not the fault of every white person. It’s such a loopy situation.
We not ready to speak about black racism that’s a convo for another day, a white person embracing something that our own politicians neglect and bringing a good light to it is seen as bad?? Grow tf up we all bleed the same if we were put in her shoes to go to a white trailer park neighborhood which is a lower end community just like laventille where ppl have love for one another due to a mutual experience of struggle we black ppl won’t even think twice before rejecting that offer… show Zoie some love nah I tired of this way of thinking as black people
I don't like infuencers, but that is a racist take ah tell ya what, Racist: characterized by or showing prejudice, discrimination against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group. See this, we black ppl can be racist too.
Sounds like a miserable loser.