some mythical American standard as it was to the values of the dominant White Anglo Saxon Protestant civilization.
The Garifuna experience the homogenizing pressures of American society and resist them because they fear not only the loss of their separateness but also what they perceive to be cultural norms and values, particularly in lower class urban areas, which are antithetical to their traditional values.
"They see assimilation as a double-edged sword. They want their children to speak English well and to move up the socioeconomic ladder. But they see the insularity of their close-knit culture as a shield against the pitfalls of urban America" (A 1).
The challenge facing the Garifuna is different from those faced by previous generations of immigrants to America for several reasons. First, the pace of technological
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