I was born in Santo Domingo and raised there until I was about five, and then brought to the U.S. For my whole life when somebody asks me what I am, I've always just simply said "Dominican" and nobody every made me explain any further. Lately though, whenever I or some other Hispanic says where they're from, the person asking asks what we mostly consider ourselves to be; African, European, or Indian. In my case, people ask whether I consider myself to be more Dominican or African/Indian.
In my observation, the people who mostly ask Hispanics this question are African Americans who want to know what dark-skinned Hispanics like me consider themselves to be. I'm pointing out that the people concerned with this are African American (black people) because in my experience 1) white people don't really want Hispanics who look European to consider themselves as part of their group and 2) black people who want to know about this seem to be trying to find out whether or not we "look down on them".
For me, this question is very sensitive because there is no answer that's gonna satisfy the person who asks it. In my case, the black (I've never had a white person ask me) person asking me obviously wants me to say that I consider myself to be African. But I don't. I consider myself to be Dominican. Period.
And it's not because I'm "ashamed" to be African, it's because there's no possible way of knowing what ancestry I am predominantly. I know that obviously our culture has African roots and ancestry in it, but it also has European and Indian. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't base my physical appearance with my culture. My dad is brown, and he is where I got my color from, but my mom is white-skinned. Which means that I obviously have genes from many different cultures in me.
But it gets trickier.
As you go down a line of relatives, you become either more or less of the cultures before you. Like say if a woman who was 100% African had a child with a man who was 100% European, the child would be 50%/50%. If the child turned out dark and got married to another dark person that was only 25% African, the kid would turn out dark, but he would not be 'more African' just because he's dark. My mom's side of the family is dominantly dark-skinned, yet she turned out with light skin and light eyes just because of a very few light-skinned people. Imagine if someone who was light actually had 75% African ancestry, and someone who was dark was only actually 10% African were only being labeled by they look. You can't base culture on looks.
It's ridiculous when you think about it. Because by now, our people have gotten so mixed that it's virtually impossible to tell what percentage of ancestry we each have from those three groups. Yet I find myself basically being called a racist because I won't "admit to be what I am." Obviously, I know I'm brown, but that really doesn't make me Indian. I know that some of my physical features are more common in black people, but that doesn't make me "black." My hair is very nice and soft, and my eyes are green, but that doesn't make me European. My genes came from those places, but my blood, my culture, my lifestyle, and my upbringing came from DR.
I don't see anything wrong with people wanting to celebrate their African/Indian/European roots, but I wish people wouldn't ask me to choose one that I consider myself to be most of. Especially just because I look the part. Hispanics ALL have African/Indian/European roots NO MATTER WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE. All this "well you're not this, you're actually this" crap is just so annoying to me. It's unnecessary division. We're all the same, no matter what we look like. I'm brown, my mom's white, my cousin's black--we're all Dominican, we're all Hispanic.
Any opinions?
In my observation, the people who mostly ask Hispanics this question are African Americans who want to know what dark-skinned Hispanics like me consider themselves to be. I'm pointing out that the people concerned with this are African American (black people) because in my experience 1) white people don't really want Hispanics who look European to consider themselves as part of their group and 2) black people who want to know about this seem to be trying to find out whether or not we "look down on them".
For me, this question is very sensitive because there is no answer that's gonna satisfy the person who asks it. In my case, the black (I've never had a white person ask me) person asking me obviously wants me to say that I consider myself to be African. But I don't. I consider myself to be Dominican. Period.
And it's not because I'm "ashamed" to be African, it's because there's no possible way of knowing what ancestry I am predominantly. I know that obviously our culture has African roots and ancestry in it, but it also has European and Indian. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't base my physical appearance with my culture. My dad is brown, and he is where I got my color from, but my mom is white-skinned. Which means that I obviously have genes from many different cultures in me.
But it gets trickier.
As you go down a line of relatives, you become either more or less of the cultures before you. Like say if a woman who was 100% African had a child with a man who was 100% European, the child would be 50%/50%. If the child turned out dark and got married to another dark person that was only 25% African, the kid would turn out dark, but he would not be 'more African' just because he's dark. My mom's side of the family is dominantly dark-skinned, yet she turned out with light skin and light eyes just because of a very few light-skinned people. Imagine if someone who was light actually had 75% African ancestry, and someone who was dark was only actually 10% African were only being labeled by they look. You can't base culture on looks.
It's ridiculous when you think about it. Because by now, our people have gotten so mixed that it's virtually impossible to tell what percentage of ancestry we each have from those three groups. Yet I find myself basically being called a racist because I won't "admit to be what I am." Obviously, I know I'm brown, but that really doesn't make me Indian. I know that some of my physical features are more common in black people, but that doesn't make me "black." My hair is very nice and soft, and my eyes are green, but that doesn't make me European. My genes came from those places, but my blood, my culture, my lifestyle, and my upbringing came from DR.
I don't see anything wrong with people wanting to celebrate their African/Indian/European roots, but I wish people wouldn't ask me to choose one that I consider myself to be most of. Especially just because I look the part. Hispanics ALL have African/Indian/European roots NO MATTER WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE. All this "well you're not this, you're actually this" crap is just so annoying to me. It's unnecessary division. We're all the same, no matter what we look like. I'm brown, my mom's white, my cousin's black--we're all Dominican, we're all Hispanic.
Any opinions?
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