Personal Experience as a Dominican-American

WELCOME TO DR1

Well, I personally view the term Dominican-American as redundant, but that's a whole other topic.

You ask, in my opinion, the stereotype(s) from Dominicans in the DR regarding the Dominicans in the U.S.? Among other things, that we're all Dominican-Yorks: low-class, status-seeking 'cadenuses' who made it to the U.S. in a yola in order to survive and make money by the quickest, easiest, and (often) most illegal means possible. And that in regards to getting and making money, we all have it so easy; which might explain why so many Dominicans on the mainland are always asking us to send them money and gifts.

As far as how I'm viewed.........well, I have dual citizenships, and I was born into one culture and assimilated another perfectly, so I guess I'm a composite of that. Nevertheless, whenever I'm in my country of birth I hear people refer to me as "la Dominican-York", or worse, "la Yorkie." And in the U.S., no one thinks I'm Dominican unless I tell them. I always get the same surprised look, and the same ignorant remark, "But you don't look Dominican, and you don't sound Dominican...."

It always makes me wonder, "What the hell were they expecting? A mutation?" (De todos modos, mi mancha de pl?tano la llevo con mucho orgullo por doquiera.)

Well, I could go on, but you ought to get the gist of it. Interesting project, by the way. For statistics, literature and other information, contact the Consulate of the Dominican Republic in Miami: 1038 Brickell Ave., Miami, Florida 33131; Tel: 305-358-3220.

Good luck!

-Indie

Damn I feel like you were talking directly to me. I was born and raised in Miami and my parents are Dominican. My father is from San Pedro de Macoris and my mother is from Santo Domingo. Growing up as a Dominican American was difficult at times. I think I had the most problems in high school and while I was in DR. In high school I wasn't really "accepted" by most latinos or Dominicans. It had alot to do with my color because I'm moreno. Most people thought I was black, so that is how I was treated (keep in mind that I wasn't treated bad). Most of my friends were black, but the latinos who knew I was Dominicans were cool with me too.
Now I used to go to DR almost every summer while growing up. I would stay for the whole 3 months, so I got a feel of how life was there. The only problem was that many residents always called me gringo or Americano because I wasn't born there. That wasn't such a big deal, but every know and then it would get to me because they would use it to degrate me.
The last time I was in DR was in 1997, until this summer. Now that I'm 20, I actually got to have the full DR experience. I was able to go out and socialize with new people instead of the same neighborhood kids that I was around every summer. I realized that some of the stigmas that exsisted in 97 are still there now. Every now and then I would get the smart ass "gringo" remark, but being that I'm older I was able to defend myself and shut them up. In addition to that, I noticed that some people assume that I'm rich because I'm from America. Alot of females would try to take advantage of me for my money, but game recognizes game and they would be the last ones I would pay attention to.
Honestly I could go on and on about my situation, but those are the main things that I can think of now. I hope I didn't go too off topic, but if you need further details just post our questions.

disdominican said:

I feel you man. I grew up in Carol City which is mostly blacks and I'm mulatoe as well, so people would also be surprised when I told them "I'm Dominican." I would get the same response, " I thought you were Black." The latinos would be REAL cool with me, AFTER they found out i was Dominican, then it would be all love. Man, what you guys wrote is exactly what I go through. But I like surprising people. It's cool I love representin - "Dominicano de pura sepa." You guys let me know what you think.

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It's cool relating to somebody on a life long experience. It's one thing to relate with someone about something simple such as taste in music, but to hear about someone else going through basically the same thing all their life is relieving. I get that "I thought you were black" line at least 5 times a week. I take advantage of my looks(like a disguise). I always get the double take when I bust out with my spanish. Anyways, if you got any specific quesitons just post them and we'll keep answering. Good luck with your paper; English Comp I & II are a breeze, but don't procrastinate.

Wow, I'm surprised that there are that many people from Miami on this site. I have to say, this is one of the few times that I can say I know exactly what ya'll are talking about. I was born in DR, went to NYC and New Jersey for two years as a little kid, then back to DR, then to Miami for 7 years, so I consider Miami as home since that's where I learned to read and write English, learned about American culture but never lost touch with my own, and had more life-changing experiences than anywhere else.........until I got to the DR. Things got really crazy there, I had my first job, my first time in the unique confines of a Catholic school, where all the kids seemed to be rich troublemakers (I was one of them), and so on and so forth. I think living in the DR as a teenager gives a person a unique perspective, a lot of experience dealing with shady people, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Oh, and by the way, the women are beautiful.

I had the same experience as Indie regarding being born into one culture, then growing up in another one and assimilating it pretty well. I get that "I thought you were mixed" thing all the time. I didn't grow up in Carol City but lived in Overtown when I was younger so I know the area well.

I think Julia Alvarez's books are great when it comes to showing a "Dominican-American" perspective on life. However she didn't have a regular "Dominican-American" upbringing since she's been in Vermont most of her life, her family was well-off in the Trujillo days, and it still doesn't answer your question. I'd say that Dominicans in DR think of those of us in the US as rich, 'cadenuses", with lots of silk shirts, lots of candy in the house, and so on and so forth. However, I've met a growing a diverse group of people who are college-educated, are classy, and are climbing the corporate ladder. I think there's great potential but there's a large amount of Dominicans in the US that dabble in the drug trade or leach off of the government. I'd like to find someone to counter that after spending one night in Washington Heights around Broadway.............not to say all of us are involved because that would be a blatant lie, though. If there was more of a public attempt to expose the lives of Dominicans who are educated, it would definitely change people's perceptions of who we are. Right now, we have Michelle Rodriguez doing her thing in Hollywood and she even went on Telemundo stating very articulately, by the way, that her favorite times as a child were the ones she spent in Boca Chica with her mom. There's a R&B singer named Javier who's half-Boricua, half-Dominican that's getting alot of airplay, and I'm pretty sure there's other people in other fields that are coming up. I know my answer is all over the place but I have tons of work from end of fiscal year for the Government..........

Indie
The short answer to your question is -- not much. Excluding family members, Dominicans generally speaking do not have a high opinion of Dominican Yorks. Especially the younger Yorks who come back to the DR with their gangster walk, talk, dress and mentality. But--there is one distinct exception, that being when dominicans go to the local western Union.

Kozy said:

....Especially the younger Yorks who come back to the DR with their gangster walk, talk, dress and mentality.

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I had an issue with this as well. I'm not from NY and haven't even been there since 89, but that's where everybody thought I was from. The reason why was because of what I wore. I'm really into the hip-hop culture so of course my style is recognizable; however, I ran into some of the Yorks that you are refering to. To me they seemed everything but gangster because it was like they were pretending to be somehting that they weren't. I'm into true hip hop not the commercial pop rap so when I run into a fake thug, I know he's a joke. It was almost annoying to talk with these kids because of the way they misrepresented the hip hop culture and what it's all about. But that's another story........

Good answer Kozy!

You hit the nail on the head! (Except it was disdominican who posted the question, not I.)

Anyway, I agree with what you said. Live outside of the DR, and we're called derogatory names like "Yorks", no matter where we live. But continue to send money to the mainland and they love us, don't they?!

-Indie

disdominican said:

I'm currently attending the University of miami and have a project for my English class. I need to know what is the stereotype about Dominican-Americans from Dominicans.

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The sterio type is that dom's are hot and sexy. It's a true sterio type.

disdominican said:

For example, not being accepted as American in the US because your Dominican and not being accepted as Dominican in DR because you're considered American.

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Teachers at my highschool were rascist and hated dom's. They were afraid of crime going up (it didn't), shit like that, property prices going down (that happens), afraid the neiberhood would be ruined(it got better-diversity/variety is the spice of life), afraid crime would rise(never happened), the gpa/sat scores would go down(sadly that did happen). they brought shit upon themselves.

i felt undesirable and rejected it sucked ass. dom's supported me and i loved that. i was targeted and harrassed by teachers while my peers should me nothing but love. strange time in my life. felt what the stuggle is like, welll i had a taste of it. that is the most personal and deepest exerience that i ever went throught. it's embarrasing and humilating but basically everyone who was colored at my highscool went throught that with the teachers, i dunno i don't think i was hanging around the "wrong crowd" or "thugs" or anything like that (on this board they type of people i'm reffering to are called chopos)

the dom's at my highschool were as cool as hell. they didn't break laws or hurt the community they just listend to hip hop, wore tims bubble coats, had accents, they were cool people and because i was with them the teachers targeted me too. i don't at all blame the dom's i was with they didn't do anything wrong, it was the teachers their fear, their stupidity, they were so evil, so hurtful,

what they put me threw well it just drove me closer to doms, i love them and always will. if they weren't there for me i don't know what i would have done i don't know how i could have woke up from my happy bubble and faced the struggle without them. it was like i was DWB every damn day at that place of horror and pain it was so bad. i hated it. i hated going to school. i must sound so pathetic right now but i'm just trying to answer your question.


teachers treated me differently because i'm a p.o.c. i never felt rejected by anyone else they way that i had by them.

please don't anyone laugh or say anything to dismiss my experience it's really personal and deep to me.

Yo Chopical, I feel for you bruh. I'm fortunate that my high school teachers weren't that bad, but I've heard alot of experiences like yours. My advice to you would be to not sweat people like that because those people are lost in their ignorance. They are so caught up in their racism and prejudices that they can't really see people for who they are. BTW that stereotype is true and has been proven in many scientific studies.

rasical proflining

JDub said:

Yo Chopical, I feel for you bruh. I'm fortunate that my high school teachers weren't that bad, but I've heard alot of experiences like yours. My advice to you would be to not sweat people like that because those people are lost in their ignorance. They are so caught up in their racism and prejudices that they can't really see people for who they are. BTW that stereotype is true and has been proven in many scientific studies.

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{{{don't get me wrong, i'm not sayingthat crime isn't higher in dominican communties, i know that it is higher there tahn in white ones. C'mon I have Washington Heights Home Of The Haze Shirts, I know that WH has more drugs than suburbs. I read and follow statistics }}}


I'm not saying that the sterio type isn't true in other communities, I know for certian that it wasn't true in my community. The teachers feared that crime would go up, it didn't, they were afraid drugs would be brought in, but it wasn't.

Fearing that is one thing, but they didn't keep their opinion to themselves. They made it known, it was blatently obvious. If anything it made me want to do shit just to spite them. Fu<kin' self fullfilling profacy. They looked at me like I was just a poor uneducated minority and I felt that way. I felt like I would never amount to anything, like I would end up rooting away in a jail cell-just like they wanted me to be. Felt like they wanted nothing more than to see me locked up. I felt like I wouldn't make anything of myself, I couldn't see the reason to go on living if I would always be held back and opressed. It was hell.



I grew up in Bergenfield New Jersey, it's just ten miles from Washington Heights/DRCentral/Dominican Heights. I have a choice of the 186, 11C, 178, and spanish Buses to get there. It's like 5 minutes away by car and 20 by bus.

Anyhow as history goes, inner cities are the places that foreigners migrate to first, usually after a few generations, and making a little bit of money they work their way up to the suburbs.

Bergenfield was white and suburban when my parents moved there in the late 70's or early 80, I grew up and it started slightly diversifying. There were a few, like 2 or 3 people of color (in my grade) when I was in Elementry School. In middle school all of the elementry schools were mixed together from the town.

I had gone to Lincoln School, "The Wealthy School" then in middle school we had other students with us from other parts of the town, we had Hover School "The Poor People" there too. Hover was at the poor end of town and thats where the PR's were and other people of color such as Philipinos and a few indians. (In america it seems that either people think your mexican or PR-or at least that's what i've experienced). Anyhow everyone had their cliques cliques already made. Since I had gone to Lincoln school which was like 90% white that's just what my friends were, that was what the kids on my block were, just out of circumstance. I had casually made friends with other races, I had a few PR friends and indians. Anyhow, still not even my middle school was "diverse."

When I got to highschool it still was pretty much all white and the minorities kept to themselves. I had my small and tight group of friends who I held dear, I had a diverse group, non trouble makers. The school was fine.

Then my senior year of highschool Dominicans showed up, it was half of the freshman class-dominicans. Pratically every freshman was either was dominican or wanted to be dominican, (best recruiting that I have ever seen!!!) (Some of them had older siblings who were in upper classes). Dom's just blew up the place, totally took it over, like they owned it. They came in like nobodys business. They were so cool. They were so confident and strong. So impressive. (Which really must have scared the teachers.)

Dom's took me in under their wing, accepted me, and befriended me. I felt great! I started to really love highschool. Some of my friends, who were in with the dominican group, because they took in anyone and everyone, gave my image a whole new make over. I started dressing differently, talking differently, using different words, I had a whole new style. DR Style. I couldn't have been happier. My friends brought me to Washington Heights/Paradise. I loved it perhaps a bit too much.

Since I had been spending so much time with Dom's the teachers put me into the same catagory. To them Dominican and Felone was interchangable. They'd see a dominican they'd automatically think that she or he was a felone as well as anyone who was in with that group. The struggle that I had to go threw in highschol was beacuse I was with doms but i don't blame then at all, sooner or later my bubble would have bursted and i would have had to face it. I'm just glad that it was with them. after the teachers did what they did to me, it just brought me closer to dom's, i neeeded them i turned to them and they helped me get threw it. i susspect they all had been going threw that their whole entire life. it's heart breaking.


The teachers, like pratically all the other rascist people I have came across in my life, thought that they were well educated and informed ironically they couldn't have been more wrong. Falsely accusing people of crimes, as they had done to me-which my mother questioned me on, just causes people to give up and turn to illegal business. Whether it is out of spite or a self full filling profacy, if you accuse somoene of something (for whatever reason-fear) then you maybe pushing them to do that even more. it's a fuked up world we live in.

Oh yeah here is a very interesting story on my highschool:
http://www.newworlddisorder.ca/blog/2002_06_23_nwd-blog_archive.html
"The Bergenfield High School students two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old allegedly got the heart from a biology class and put it in the substitute English teacher's cup June 13. The teacher drank from the cup but did not consume the heart. The woman later left school when she began to feel ill, unaware that she had ingested formaldehyde."

*Edit: Formaldehyde is an embalming fluids, if you drink it will turn you into a zombie-it causes the body muscles to do shit which causes a zombie like state. I had suspected that that was what was put into the teachers cup when I had heard about the pig on the news *

I had been friends with the 17 year old who did that. Perez had been behind it all but it took a long time for that to come out. He had gotten two other students, who were white to drop it in. They all got suspended, including Perez. Since he was a top athlete he got off so easy. He always had an edge to him, he didn't take crap and was notorious. He was a cool guy though.

I had first heard that story when I was at college. It was on the news and they were saying it was a prank that had gone wrong. But I knew it was something deeper than that. It was like an all out war in my highschool. I knew for sure that it wasn't any prank and it wasn't.

Perez was smart as hell (which is why he is going to a good college now) and knew what he was doing. Of course, they didn't say his name on TV. When I got back home and talked to my cousin she gave the story. I feel that "the prank" was Perez's way of retaliating against the teachers, he probably felt that he was justified and in a way he may have been.

Obviously attempting to poisin your teacher/oppresser is not the best solution, success is the best revenge. Proves what they say is wrong but sadly statistics show there are glass celings preventing peoples from suceeding. And "the prank" was Perez's way of fighting back.

Every time I think about it, it remends me of an episode of 100 Centre steet where a very similar sitation had happened in Washington Heights. basically 100 was a ghetto version of Law And Order.



Edit: Oh yeah I'm not Dominican, I'm colombian but I was treated as if I were Dominican in highschool by my teachers as was everyone and anyone who was friends with Dom's. I felt that this could contribute to the board and posibly help answer disdominican's question.

I walk into one of these upper crusty stores...where they sell "fine" everyday goods...including wines and expensive liquors....we were having a party at my house....we needed some soda..

"Do you carry soda?", I ask.
"We are not a package store", the well dressed lady snaps back.
Fully understanding her subliminal message, I approach their token colored worker stacking the shelf. She proceeds to poing me to small cola section.

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This just happened just last week. I went home from lunch, dressed very casually...jeans, t-shirt, casual shoes. Half a block from my house I see some workers cutting down some trees and pruning some shrubs.

I stopped my car and spoke with some of the young guys doing the actual work. I inquired about getting a quote to do similar work on my property. They point me to the "crew chief". As I approach the "chief", he mutters in very bad broken spanish, with this shit-eating grin on his face: "No hablo espanol....no hay trabajo."

This kind of crap happens almost daily. You REALLY have to have a tough constitution.

I'm down, but I'm going to Miami this weekend because of all the things that are going on. I'm leaving tonight, but I'll be back Sunday night so I'll reply to them as soon as I check the board.

I'm not from Miami, but I'm willing to help you. Count me in if you like.

-Indie

DominicanYorks deserve their stereotyping

First let me say that in spite of the money they send to Dominicans here, DominicanYorks are not well liked in DR. They are despised. In upper-middle class and upper class areas they are considered worst than fleas. If a Dominican York familiy moves to a high class neighborhood, everybody sells to get out. Dominican Yorks are very stupid. They support thousands of vagrants and people who do nothing but play dominoes. Thats their problem.

But here are some reasons Dominican Yorks never get rid of this mark in their reputation:

-DominicanYorks wear an unmistakable style of clothing. They have no taste and wear too much gold. They always have "cortes calientes" and the old ladies tease their hair into huge "mo?os". Women love "trenzitas", "buscanovios". They have no fear of showing their rollers in public. They love painted and french nails, ankle bracelets and love long toe nails. Men love bermuda jeans with sport T-shirts and sneakers. For cold weather the old black leather jacket is never missed.

-Just look at a DominicanYork living room:cheap gold leaf painted furniture with grotesque designs. Look for red fabric, specially velvets. Paintings for walls include "toreros", "campesinos", and the typical wall tapestry in cheap polyester with a flamenco dancer. They hang many magnets with fruit designs in their refrigerator. A closet will have a red drape instead of closet doors. The L.R. cocktail table will be full of blown glass figurines.

-DominicanYorks cannot live outside of ghetto neighborhoods populated by other Dominicans. They fear being isolated from the rest of society. They need the noise and "populacho" in Dominican neighborhoods. Instead of shopping in supermarkets, they prefer bodegas latinas. The bring their home ghetto customs from DR to their new land; playing dominoes in the streets, hanging around in corners and colmadones, street parties, etc.

-DominicanYork cars are unmistakable:Usually a 10 year old model with lots of after-market decorations, including neons, gold metal license plate frames, CDs and rosaries hanging from rear view mirrors, dogs and teddy bears in the rear seat, lots of decals, and even flags. Tire rims never match the model of the car and usually cost more than the car. Look for flashing disco throbe lights replacing fog lights. Lots of chrome is visible and they always carry more than four passengers wherever they go.

_DominicanYorks use the cheapest luggage found and are well known for carrying lots of cardboard boxes with "soga". They love to plastic-wrap their luggage at airports. They drink in airplanes and get up to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes.

No offense people. But Dominican Yorks need to become independent, leave their neighborhoods and act as the rest of typical Americans to erase that stereotype. They must mingle and merge into American society.
TW