- Thread starter AlterEgo
- Start date
Dominicans Abandoning Washington Heights
No such thing as an upscale redneck....lol
Back to WH and Dominicans, the newer generatons are closer to the American way of doing things and have assimilated into the America society not just as born in the USA out of Dominican blood but Americans descendant of Dominicans.
I still can't fathom why people from tropical paradises would willingly relocate to vastly overpriced, cramped, cockroach infested housing with a miserable climate. This is especially true when you consider the vast opportunities that the rest of the country offers.
The vast opportunities the DR offers? Where are those vast opportunities exactly? And doing what?
The lack of vast, or even small, opportunities is why people from the DR end up in crap holes like Washington Heights, NY, Patterson, NJ and Providence, RI.
I thought he meant the opportunities in other parts of the USA that have better weather.
Like other immigrants before them, Dominicans move to places where friends or family already live, where people speak their language and they feel a sense of community. I’ll bet that a campesino is happy to live somewhere where there is always water, cold AND hot, always electricity and heat. And the bugs are smaller.
I thought he meant the opportunities in other parts of the USA that have better weather.
Like other immigrants before them, Dominicans move to places where friends or family already live, where people speak their language and they feel a sense of community. I’ll bet that a campesino is happy to live somewhere where there is always water, cold AND hot, always electricity and heat. And the bugs are smaller.
I have a Dominican friend currently living in Atlanta. She is a dentist trained in Santiago but she has American citizenship. She is working as a dental assistant in Atlanta and makes good money but she finds it very difficult there because there are few Dominicans. She said she is likely to move to the NYC area because she has several uncles and a slew of family there. Living without family is very hard for Dominicans.
Agreed, and I understand.
When Mr AE and I got married, we lived in Queens, and he had a lot of cousins and friends nearby. He already had a gaming career, so when Atlantic City opened casinos it was the obvious place to move. When they opened, there was ONE Dominican casino employee in the city. He had met the AC Chief of Police at a convention in Santo Domingo, and they hit it off....the chief expedited his gaming license. Jose was a friend and former coworker, and so Mr AE had a job waiting for him the day his license was approved. Dominican #2.
There were no other Dominicans, no Latino restaurants, not even a Puerto Rican area. It was hard for him, but it did force a quicker assimilation. It helped that we had each other, as I was in the same boat, knew not a soul. Within a year, other casino guys from SD contacted us, and they began trickling in. Now, 40 years later, there is a large Dominican contingency in the area, including a few restaurants and a bunch of salons. Hotel staff include thousands of Dominicans in varying capacities.
But let me tell you from experience, it’s not easy to go somewhere new without knowing a soul. Add in lack of English skills, and it’s obvious why most start out near family or friends in the USA. They get comfortable there, and sometimes never leave.
You're probably right. I've done it numerous times and enjoy the experience of a new locale, new discovery, new friends, and the challenge of a new language or dialect, but I'm an outlier. Others find it very stressful.
One of the things I like about he DR is that it is an emotionally warmer culture, so I can see Dominicans wanting to be in a Dominican community.
Is the economic stupid? Dominicans in general love their nation, but recognize that it does not offer them the opportunity for them to stay put.
If it were "especially true" then why would anyone do it, for 3 decades or more? The Truth is there no Vast Opportunities for these with questionable literacy, language and other impediments. Thats why they go to Boston, New York and Washington DC. If anything you said was true they would have relocated first thing to Omaha, Tulsa and Kansas City.
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Any large city they relocate to would.still have them.living in the bowels, regardless of weather. Doesnt matter if it were Houston, New Orleans, or Phoenix. And if smaller cities were beacons of opportunities then they wouldnt be small.
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We have friends in Phoenix and Las Vegas who moved from NYC and Boston. They feel that they have been more successful being away from the "WH" type areas. Being in areas where there are not large groups of Dominicans have forced them to become more independent in a way.
What you say is true for the most part but I have found Dominicans in Alaska the pacific northwest Idaho Utah...etc. Those that are more independent minded and confident do go it alone.
And why should this be an issue. The key word here is "assimilation", which is a problem with many immigrants here.
BTW Bob, is there anyone in the world with whom you are not connected to by extended blood relatives, or friends of friends?
Does Moshe Dayan appear somewhere in your lineage?