TFL Sharing the Cry of Our Dominican Country-mates
HISTORY AND IDENTITY
“History is not just a collection of tales from the past that allow us to understand the present. It is also a present that needs to be interpreted in its historical context, in order to forge the future.
The identity of Dominicans today is being distorted, curtailing the history behind our inception; questioning the nation-state that is the Dominican Republic, and the represents the inhabitants and citizens that historically conform the Dominican people.
Demographical statistics show that around 73% of the population is a product of racial mixing primarily between whites and blacks for the last 500 years or so.
According to the United Nations, Dominicans have an average genetic makeup of 58% European, 35% Sub-Saharan African and 7% Taino (including Asian). This is the result of half a millennia of admixture.
The history of the Dominican people does not begin on the 27th of February of 1844, when the separate state known Dominican Republic is proclaimed.
A three-Century Void (1504-1804)
Haitians consider the year 1492 as the starting point for their history. They detail the first fifty years of colonization to highlight the indigenous struggles against extermination by the Spaniards, as Haitians consider themselves the heirs of the Tainos due to the violent act of liberation that constituted the creation of the Haitian state, in 1804.
They intentionally create a three-century hiatus or void in the island’s history in order to deny the existence, origin and legitimacy of the Dominican people.
Our forefathers were the settlers, not the colonized, nor the conquistadors. They remained in the mountains and in the Cibao valley, forgotten by Spain, and about to be ceded to France on two different occasions.
The conquistadors had already abandoned us once they had stripped the island off most of its visible resources, some fifty years after setting foot on the land.
Hispanic Linguistic Identity
Twenty-eight years hence the Dominican Republic will celebrate two centuries of existence as the state representing the Dominican people of the 21st century.
Dominicans have a clear and marked identity in the context of hispanicity, which is not subject to race, due to its admixture, but to the new world and society that made this beautiful island theirs.
If we now count 10 million Dominican inhabitants, plus the 1 million Haitians that have arrived in the 21st century, and we compare it to the 3 million people that inhabited the country fifty years ago, it becomes clear that we are being invaded, albeit “pacifically”, as we have never been before.
Thus, we will be assimilated, if we do not affirm our Hispanic identity within the sovereign Dominican state.
In doing so we dissipate the ambiguities pushed forward by the miss-informants and manipulators who toil with public opinion, through media and other outlets, with out-of-context words such as racism, xenophobia, rights, discrimination, humanitarian crisis, etc.
Haitianness Vs. Dominicanness
The Dominican state reserves the right to determine who are its citizens and to set in place the means via which Haitians who wish to become a part of our society become assimilated culturally. Currently, it struggles so that the neighboring state of Haiti consolidates itself as a sovereign one, which can facilitate a space for all things Haitian.
It cannot befall on the Dominican Republic the responsibility of assimilating Haitians as a solution to the political instability of the neighboring country and its incapacity to sustain its own population.
Cultural Platform and Bridge
The Dominican Republic is a link between Europe and the New World, and is comprised of vestiges that make her stand out from the rest of the Caribbean, playing a transcendental role in its history; same as it does now.
Its inception as a nation has been the search of its own identity, from the times of Christopher Columbus to becoming a tourist destiny where peoples such Chileans, Russian, other Europeans and North Americans coincide.
The Future That Can Be
We stand as a friendly and hospitable people, not in order to satisfy the tourist, but because the misfortune that constituted the extinction of the Taino society in the 16th century, a tolerant, [pragmatic, genuine] and welcoming people emerged which exists till this day.
With a Rafael Solano that taught us to sing “For Love”, a Juan Luis Guerra that makes “Coffee rain in the countryside”, a Maridalia Hernandez with “Para Quererte” and the young Aisha Syed with her classical violin, we transmit across the world a joy to live that we have been harvesting for over five centuries.
We can ensure that, in two generations, by the time we celebrate 200 years of independence, we become the first inter pares cousins in a prosperous insular region.
But this will not be achieved if Dominicans turn their backs on the problems that affect Haiti and the island as a whole.
The Privileges of Being Dominican
To be a Dominican is a privilege, and is the cause of envy by millions around the world. To be Dominican is a state of being, a joyful mood, in a very special country.
To be Dominican implies the right to eradicate mediocrity, the petty, in order to overcome, become more tolerant, and be more generous.
Dominican identity is a product of history, of language, its traditions and customs. In synthesis, it is a product of its history, not of an ethnicity or race.
But the best part about Dominican identity is what lies ahead; the one we will build for our 2044 celebration.
Dominicans come in all colors, and the world recognizes our singularity.
We are different!
God, Fatherland and Freedom!
Long live the Dominican Republic!”
Alfredo Vargas Caba
March 7th, 2016
Diario Libre: Opinion – “HISTORIA E IDENTIDAD”
Image: “Conjunto de Merengue”, by Yoryi Morel
https://www.facebook.com/thefirstla...dtou-xnGw1qlQAwJzHe1UUlScSMdVAwlWkFmg&fref=nf
HISTORY AND IDENTITY
“History is not just a collection of tales from the past that allow us to understand the present. It is also a present that needs to be interpreted in its historical context, in order to forge the future.
The identity of Dominicans today is being distorted, curtailing the history behind our inception; questioning the nation-state that is the Dominican Republic, and the represents the inhabitants and citizens that historically conform the Dominican people.
Demographical statistics show that around 73% of the population is a product of racial mixing primarily between whites and blacks for the last 500 years or so.
According to the United Nations, Dominicans have an average genetic makeup of 58% European, 35% Sub-Saharan African and 7% Taino (including Asian). This is the result of half a millennia of admixture.
The history of the Dominican people does not begin on the 27th of February of 1844, when the separate state known Dominican Republic is proclaimed.
A three-Century Void (1504-1804)
Haitians consider the year 1492 as the starting point for their history. They detail the first fifty years of colonization to highlight the indigenous struggles against extermination by the Spaniards, as Haitians consider themselves the heirs of the Tainos due to the violent act of liberation that constituted the creation of the Haitian state, in 1804.
They intentionally create a three-century hiatus or void in the island’s history in order to deny the existence, origin and legitimacy of the Dominican people.
Our forefathers were the settlers, not the colonized, nor the conquistadors. They remained in the mountains and in the Cibao valley, forgotten by Spain, and about to be ceded to France on two different occasions.
The conquistadors had already abandoned us once they had stripped the island off most of its visible resources, some fifty years after setting foot on the land.
Hispanic Linguistic Identity
Twenty-eight years hence the Dominican Republic will celebrate two centuries of existence as the state representing the Dominican people of the 21st century.
Dominicans have a clear and marked identity in the context of hispanicity, which is not subject to race, due to its admixture, but to the new world and society that made this beautiful island theirs.
If we now count 10 million Dominican inhabitants, plus the 1 million Haitians that have arrived in the 21st century, and we compare it to the 3 million people that inhabited the country fifty years ago, it becomes clear that we are being invaded, albeit “pacifically”, as we have never been before.
Thus, we will be assimilated, if we do not affirm our Hispanic identity within the sovereign Dominican state.
In doing so we dissipate the ambiguities pushed forward by the miss-informants and manipulators who toil with public opinion, through media and other outlets, with out-of-context words such as racism, xenophobia, rights, discrimination, humanitarian crisis, etc.
Haitianness Vs. Dominicanness
The Dominican state reserves the right to determine who are its citizens and to set in place the means via which Haitians who wish to become a part of our society become assimilated culturally. Currently, it struggles so that the neighboring state of Haiti consolidates itself as a sovereign one, which can facilitate a space for all things Haitian.
It cannot befall on the Dominican Republic the responsibility of assimilating Haitians as a solution to the political instability of the neighboring country and its incapacity to sustain its own population.
Cultural Platform and Bridge
The Dominican Republic is a link between Europe and the New World, and is comprised of vestiges that make her stand out from the rest of the Caribbean, playing a transcendental role in its history; same as it does now.
Its inception as a nation has been the search of its own identity, from the times of Christopher Columbus to becoming a tourist destiny where peoples such Chileans, Russian, other Europeans and North Americans coincide.
The Future That Can Be
We stand as a friendly and hospitable people, not in order to satisfy the tourist, but because the misfortune that constituted the extinction of the Taino society in the 16th century, a tolerant, [pragmatic, genuine] and welcoming people emerged which exists till this day.
With a Rafael Solano that taught us to sing “For Love”, a Juan Luis Guerra that makes “Coffee rain in the countryside”, a Maridalia Hernandez with “Para Quererte” and the young Aisha Syed with her classical violin, we transmit across the world a joy to live that we have been harvesting for over five centuries.
We can ensure that, in two generations, by the time we celebrate 200 years of independence, we become the first inter pares cousins in a prosperous insular region.
But this will not be achieved if Dominicans turn their backs on the problems that affect Haiti and the island as a whole.
The Privileges of Being Dominican
To be a Dominican is a privilege, and is the cause of envy by millions around the world. To be Dominican is a state of being, a joyful mood, in a very special country.
To be Dominican implies the right to eradicate mediocrity, the petty, in order to overcome, become more tolerant, and be more generous.
Dominican identity is a product of history, of language, its traditions and customs. In synthesis, it is a product of its history, not of an ethnicity or race.
But the best part about Dominican identity is what lies ahead; the one we will build for our 2044 celebration.
Dominicans come in all colors, and the world recognizes our singularity.
We are different!
God, Fatherland and Freedom!
Long live the Dominican Republic!”
Alfredo Vargas Caba
March 7th, 2016
Diario Libre: Opinion – “HISTORIA E IDENTIDAD”
Image: “Conjunto de Merengue”, by Yoryi Morel
https://www.facebook.com/thefirstla...dtou-xnGw1qlQAwJzHe1UUlScSMdVAwlWkFmg&fref=nf