hostility against haitians.

[Guatiao]

Is it me or does it stench of sock puppets?

If the Haitians are so superior/better to Dominicans, then can someone please explain to me why that country is continually ranked as one of the worst countries in the western hemisphere? How can a country have a better education system or produce more educated individuals when it barely has a functioning government? I'm not degrading Haiti or Haitians, but I would like to see numbers from credible sources such as the OAS or UN stating that Haiti's education system is better than that of DR.

It is in my "personal" experiences that Dominicans are less colour-blind than North Americans. Dominicans will sleep with any color under the sun, and "befriend" people without looking at skin color, yet Anglo-Americans say they have "1 black friend" and that makes them "head of the UN". It is my "personal" experience that Americans do not practice what they preach. I find it ironically funny when Americans try to champion human rights across the world when the USA was far behind in granting civil rights, grating women rights, and emancipating slavery. I believe the DR handles race issues better than the USA or Haiti, rarely will you hear a person was shot or arrested for having the wrong skin color in the wrong neighborhood.

I also want to make another extra point of why Dominicans feel uncomfortable with Haitians; NALs provided some nice quotes of Guy Phillpe and his followers. I have never heard a Dominican wanting the whole island for the nation, that notion has always been a Haitian ideology. Dominicans for the most part have tried to live in peace with it's neighbor, but to this day there are still Haitians that want to make Dominicans "pay" for enslaving Haitians and taking over "their" lands. Until small groups such as those still exists, I believe Dominicans should always be alert; I can easily remind people to look at the problem Spain is facing with Basque separatist groups (ETA) and other terrorists groups. One day the Dominican Republic might be facing a similar situation from the "neighbors" of the west.

Paz. Guatiao

 

[Funnyyale26]

Again, I don't deny that many Dominicans don't like Haitians because of their color but I would be careful to generalize that ALL Dominicans are like that. Just because you encountered a racist Dominican doesn’t mean that the population is like that. Aren't the majority of Dominicans blacks like the Haitians anyway? This argument is not very plausible. I have heard that the Japanese are very racists as well, even though they won't show it in public.

This is the first time I hear in this forum that Haitians are better educated than us. Well, I took an immigration class and one of the things that my professor told us is that usually the people who immigrate to another country are usually a bit skilled or have a bit more education EVEN if they are poor. In other words, the poorest of the poor are still in Haiti and this could explain why there are more Haitian men than women coming, since construction is the largest sector that they work in. My professor explained that it has always been the case in every immigration wave (he pointed out the Italian/Irish migration). Haitians that come here are educated, but so are the Dominicans that come to NY, Puerto Rico, Panama, Spain. They might not have a broad education but I am pretty sure they can read and write. The poorest Dominicans always stay, unless a family member that resides in the states, bring them.

I don't doubt that their education system is better than us in practice...at least the quality of education that children get...but much more people have access to education here than over there. Thus we have higher literacy rate than Haiti even countries like...India?

 

[Funnyyale26]

And even* countries like...India?

_______________________________________________

polque quiele tomal argua.

I would say it more like "polque quiele tomaie agua''...I think it sounds a bit more realistic of how a dominican would say it...LMAO!!!

 

[NALs]

Mulattoes act like mulattoes.

The majority of Dominicans are mulattoes and as such, they react like most mulattoes react around the world concerning skin color, and in this case the "Haitian issue".

Case in point, the largely mulatto Haitian upper class tend to have similar views regarding their own mate selection process and their views on the much darker and more culturally African lower classes of Haiti.

For example, here is a quote from an article describing the Haitian upper class:

Being a member of the [Haitian] elite also required a thorough knowledge of cultural refinements, particularly the customs of the French. Light skin and straight hair continued to be important characteristics of this group. (Source)

See some similarities? Light skin and straight hair considered desirable by the mulatto Haitian elite... sounds very similar.

The difference between the Haitian upper class-lower class relations and that of the Dominicans-Haitian relationship is that in one, its solely a class based, perhaps even racially based differentiation whereas in the DR you have nationalism in the mix as well.

In both cases there is a history of attempted genocide and power struggles between the race groups. In the case of the Haitian, it has been a struggle between the mulatto elite and the black masses while in the DR it has been a struggle between the largely mulatto Dominican Republic and the largely black Haitian republic.

Never the less, mulattoes seem to act the same towards this issue, regardless where they find themselves.

Of course, Dominicans are constantly condemned the world over for acting like the mulattoes that they are, especially in the Dominico-Haitian relations context. For some reason, the Haitian upper class is often dismissed or ignored in their very 'Dominican' tendencies when viewing the masses of their own country, similarly how anti-Dominicanism doesn't have as much of a following as does anti-Haitianism.

I really don't know why this is the case, but it is what it is.

-NALs

 

[xamaicano]

The horse is dead. Can I still beat it?

 

[Chris]

Well close it up ... no, let's not beat a dead horse!