African-American Tourists' Experience in DR

I was talking to an African-American co-worker of mine who has been to DR on 3 occasions. Twice to Puerto Plata/Sosua and once to Punta Cana. She told me when she and her husband went to Punta Cana with another, darker-skinned African American couple (3 years ago), they had all sorts of problems. They were harrassed all the time by police on the beach and on the road when driving their rental car. The police said they were Haitians and were giving them all kinds of problems. (including a strip search of one of the husbands!) Another harrassed her friend, saying she was a Dominican-York pretending to be an American Black. They complained to the hotel management that they were harrassed on the beach by police, and the manager, a "white" Dominican was not sympathetic and said there was nothing he could do. They have sworn never to return and are telling all their African-American friends not to go to the DR. They wrote officials (I forgot which institution) and never got a reply.

Doesn't DR realize that African-Americans make up a significant portion of the Caribbean tourist population? They travel to the Caribbean more than any other destination in the world.

Is The Minister of Tourism or anyone else aware of this problem? By the way, they did mention they had no problems when they were in the Puerto Plata/Sosua area.

By the way, I am half-Dominican so I am saying this out of concern both for African-American tourists AND for the Dominican tourism industry.

Dear Yasmeen: I have been traveling to the D.R. for 11 years and have not had those kind of problems. Unfortunately, you will find prejudice and bigotry everywhere. It is also very unfortunate that the hotel management was not sympathetic but a strong letter should be sent to the hotel's management regarding the lack of sympathy from the manager. Also, send a courtesy copy to President Leonel. Of course, the manager should be named in the letter. If it were me, I would have checked out of that hotel immediately. Sometimes the dollar speaks better than words. I'm not even going to get into the Dominican/Haitian thing because that goes back many, many years. Nevertheless, their bad experiences is no reason to write off the entire country. Try the capital or other parts.

I have African-American friends that visit often...

The have never had a problem, they love the island and return 3-4 times a year. The have travelled all over without a problem, actually one is here in a couple of day's to spend another week here, second time in 3 months. As for being strip searched, this is a first. Can you e-mail or post the name of the hotel and we will find out if any other guests have had a similar problem in the last few years.

Rob.

Sorry that you had a bad experence in D.R. I am black myself and have been to D.R. three times and I am planning another trip soon .I have never had any such problems that you decribe,in fact being in D.R. I felt no racial tension at all anywhere thats one of the reasons I like it so much .The officers may have been looking for a bribe thats been know to happen .One thing is true that a lot of Dominicans do not like Hatians,alot of them are there illiegaly and the govt does have a ongoing campain to send them back to Hati.

Simply not true. I have been going there on vacation for 5 years every year, and never had a problem, they are the friendliest people I have ever seen, I went to St. Marten, St. Thomas and other islands, they where nice but no like Dominicans, these people open their harts to you. They take you into their homes and treat you with respect

As you can see by the many answers to your posting this type of experience is unheard of. A question to you. Do you have these types of negative experiences wherever you travel$$$

Re: African-American Tourists' Experience in DR/VERY believeable to me

>>>As you can see by the many answers to your posting this type of experience is unheard of>>>>>

Ren

To say that a lack of confirmation from the selected few who read this board (Absolutely no disrespect to DR1, but hundreds of thousands visit the DR each year and do not read this board, YET &#61514 establishes that there is no discrimination is rather provincial. If you know the least bit of Dominican History, you are aware there is a strong ?Caste? system involving color of skin. It is basically; ?the darker you?re skin, the lower your standing.? Given the long standing problems with Haiti and the ingrained belief that all dark skinned people are ?inferior,? I for one would find it completely believable that African Americans were ?harassed? by Dominican Authorities. It happens every day in our so called ?enlightened United States, being the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood is the cause of many civil actions brought due to harassment and improper treatment by Police Departments in the US.

Tom

Yasmeen, I am soooooo very sorry to hear that you had a bad experience in DR. I just came back and, for the first time I didn't want to come back to NY. I was born there but I grew up in NYC. At this point my parents have retired and I am looking forward to joind them for six months. I love it there, but I don't think I can get use to LIVE there again. I am used to the NYC life style. Anyways, back to the subject, I try to understand where you are coming from but also welcome you to remember that racism is all over the world and that in the Caribbean, especially in the island of Hispaniola, due to our history we, both Hatians and Dominicans, have been taught to dislike, hate and reject one another. Also keep in mind that ignorance plays a role here. Education is the only tool that can show us the real meaning of things and the many things that make Dominicans and Hatian one people. Yes, we do have our differences, but at the end it all comes down to the same thing: We have been used and abused, and now, as if it has not been enough, recent hitory has also kept us fighting. I am only speaking for myself, but I can asure you that not all Dominicans are like the officers that gave you a hard time. Write back if you wish. And from all the Dominican people, a most sincere apology.

Please note: I said in my posting that I was relating the experience of a coworker: not myself! In answer to someone's question: no this has not happened to me and it probably never would because of the way I look. I'm half-Dominican and have been there many times without a problem. Just b/c this has not happened to some people, does not mean it did not or could not happen to others.

If the situation I described is rare, then that is the best we can hope for since racism will always be with us. I was more concerned about it being a widespread, common problem. From your comments, it may not be. However, when it does occur, those tourists should have recourse; I guess the American embassy would play that role?

This is sort of silly, unless I suppose you don't know many people who have driven around the island. The sort of police shakedown you refer to as "harrassment" is quite common and it cuts across every demographic except income. In other words, only those who don't appear to have the wherewithal to pay "multas" (fines, or more accurately petty bribes) are generally exempt. Isn't that so, those of you who know?

I honestly believe your friends were discriminated for driving a late model rental car and not being dressed in tatters- - not for being Black. The stuff about looking like Hatians strikes me as unmitigated bollocks. I don't believe the police give a rat's ass about anything except how much money they can get, which is way paying a bribe in the range of 20 to 100 pesos would have likely ended the incident immediately.

I would be much more sympathetic if something like this happened to them whilst they were walking along the street or riding a guagua (public bus), but of course it never would happen in either of those circumstances.

See below for the quickest way to resolve this situation in the future. Let's go back to discussing reality.

Lack of education; lack of education; lack of education.

Yes, I know about the bribes when you are stopped on the highway. This was not it; when the two ladies were running or sitting on the beach in front of the hotel they were harrassed by the police; they had to stop and show ID while European tourists running or sitting on the beach DID NOT HAVE TO do so. Too bad that's "silly" to you; I think it should be addressed in DR's efforts to grow its tourism. I don't think it will ever be perfect but at least addressed.

That is my final comment on the matter. Thanks to all for your input.