What is all the "fuss" about anyway? Dominicans and Haitians are basically the same people,NO? After living togeter on the same island for the last 500 years you don't think that the French,Spanish,and Aftican blood has had time to mix together to a great extent???I mean,Haiti ruled the DR at one point in time!What do you think "27 de Febrero" is celebrated for anyway?
Well, yes, people we are all.
But the same? I don't know. I suppose that as long that Canadians and Americans see each other as different, we can do the same!
Or is it Korea and Japan or Saudi Arabia and Kuwait or Lebanon and Syria or maybe Poland and Estonia?
Geez, it seems that the whole world is the same, but different. Afterall, why is Africa divided into so many countries? The Euros have been out of there for a while now, so colonization can't be the cause anymore!
Let's face it, DR and Haiti are as different as any two neighboring countries can be.
About the Haitian invasion, population of DR was barely 100,000 at the time. A slightly larger amount was composed of Haitians on their side. A small number of the Haitians actually migrated from the rich west to the impoverished east of the island, with the bulk of those who did being military officers and their cadets.
By 1900 (quite some time after the independence and before the Haitian migration really started to pick up) the DR population was barely 1 million and from written accounts by American militarymen in the 1916 invasion, a vast number were "white". Now, how many were pure whites, who knows, but I've read reports from 1916 and 1920s written by American investors and militarymen clearly distinguishing (and I am quoting) "Dominicans should not be confused with Haitians, who are all negros. In the Dominican side negros are few and far between with most Dominicans being white" that I'm quoting from the report written by an American investor in 1918. The report is named "The Situation in Santo Domingo" and was written to give the American public an inspective view on the US military occupation of the DR and prospectively annexing the DR to US.
This happened in a time when blacks were not considered equals to whites by Americans, so the fact that an American mentioned that most Dominicans that he saw between Puerto Plata and Santo Domingo were white must have been accurate.
After 1920s and an injection of American capital into the sugar industry, the migrations of blacks from the British Caribbean islands began to accelerate and from there we get the famous Cocolos of San Pedro de Macoris, etc. Later on, when the cocolos went on strike, Trujillo (of all people) with the acceptance of Haitian dictator Papa Doc began the habit of importing Haitians for the Zafra (sugar cane cutting season).
At the sametime, Trujillo placed emphasis on populating the country with multiple speaches claiming "governar es poblar" (To govern is to populate). Because of this, Dominicans began to have babies (it was encourage) much more frequently and the population slowly increased from barely 1 million in 1930s to around 3 million in 1960s when Trujillo was killed.
Trujillo encourage the "whitening of black Dominicans" and encouraged misegination between the black Dominicans and white Dominicans, resulting in the mulatto majority we have today. As more and more Haitians crossed over, Trujillo saw the darkening of skin tones of the average human in the DR and claimed that Haitians were "darkening the Dominicans", thus the massacre.
By 1960s, the Dominican Republic was a country of 3 million people with mulattos making a majority and whites a large minority with blacks being relatively small in numbers. In the 1960s decade (due to the civil war and instability) migration from Haiti was not great. In the 1970s, Haitian migration started to become fashionable as the DR prospered. In 1980s, Haitian migration continued at slightly higher numbers as their economy finished collapsing. In the 1990s, Haitian migration swelled as DR prospered and today, Haitian migration continues today at higher numbers than ever as their political situation deteriorated.
Thus, here we are in 2005 in a Dominican Republic of 8 million people (when in 1960s we only had 3 million, 1970s went to 5 million, 1980s 6 million, 1990s 7 million, today 8 million bordering on 9 million).
A country largely mulatto with the black minority growing as more Haitians enter when in 1900s, whites seem to be the most prevailing type of race in this country. In essence, the DR has changed alot, but it's ideology has not which has left the country in a sort of awkward situation. European ideologies, European modality, European praise and the country looks less European or even mulatto and more African as Haitian keep coming in, but dominicans are is still largely mulatto, with whites coming in second and blacks third. Black Dominicans come in third, but if you include blacks from other places living here (Haitians, St Lucians, etc), their percentages would be higher than 11%, more akeen to equal amounts of pure whites. And yes, pure whites do exist, it's a myth among expatriate Dominicans to assume that all Dominicans have some mixture, there are Dominicans who are really white, don't burn fast in the sun, and have light eye color, etc.
Of course, the places that have remained the most lightest has been the Cibao, the area that has always had the most Dominicans, in 1900 estimated to be 80% of the population. Today, 60% of the population lives there where as the South and East has seen their population rise in part due to migration patterns.
The dominicans ,as ususal,have followed the bad example of the Americans.They blame the Haitians,as the Americans blame the "Mexicans",for causing all their "Problems".When in reality the Haitians and Mexicans do all the "Hard" jobs that Americans and Dominicans won't do,at "Slave Wages", which in the end helps both economies.The Haitians aand Mexicaans contribute 100 times more to the economies than they consume.
Human nature?
I still prefer to "Screw" Dominican women,but a "Haitiana" might be a nice change once in a while!!!!
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Ugh!
