The point I'm making is what one sees in the DR is not due to colonial powers and that Africans were inferior rather a consequence of nationalism that came about during the occupation. If there was such a stigma about that why were there evidence of so many mulattoes who by all accounts were citizens like the whites?
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Black in Latin America Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided
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The point I'm making is what one sees in the DR is not due to colonial powers and that Africans were inferior rather a consequence of nationalism that came about during the occupation. If there was such a stigma about that why were there evidence of so many mulattoes who by all accounts were citizens like the whites?
When you go to the Museum/Art Galley in Santiago one of the first things the tour guides mention ( and I've done the tour about 5-6 times with school children) is the black ancestry of many Dominicans. I've yet to hear a Dominican deny their black blood. My question would be, why should they glorify their black ancestry over their other ancestry. Whatever their mix, they are Dominicans.
Reminds me of a day when I was listening to a [black] Dominican who was calling someone else black. Later I mentioned to my husband how odd I thought it was that "Jose" would use that tone about blacks when he's black himself. My husband turned to me and said, very seriously, "Yes, but he doesn't think he's black".
And therein lies the Dominican mentality. Their 'ethnic identity' is latino/hispanic.
AE
I have heard it and even from some of the darker Dominicans, it is not that people are saying that they are less of a Dominican because they have black ancestry. I think what NYC was saying is the ones that will only associate with their Spanish ancestry. And to be honest it is not even that they are denying their "black" ancestry it is that they do not want to associate with their Haitian ancestry. Which still is one and the same just a different title. Where they have no problem with black Americans they do with Haitians.
I still don't understand why foreigners are so infatuated with how we Dominican identifies ourselves racially! No matter what you say, think or do, we Dominicans have the last word of how we should identify ourselves in our own country. We fought for independence to be able to decide for ourselves.
Yes, you have a right to think however you want to think. BTW, I am not black either, I am Japanese. Anybody with any sense can see that I'm Japanese.
SHALENA
P.S.
One excellent thing that comes from Dominicans arriving fresh-faced and starry eyes in NYC or anywhere else in the US....their a$$es learn QUICK that they're black! Can't deny it in MY country baby, my white sisters and brothers will definitely let you KNOW
Yes, it's very common to listen this phase coming out of a black person's mouth in DR.... Maldito negro del diablo!!!
Yes, you have a right to think however you want to think. BTW, I am not black either, I am Japanese. Anybody with any sense can see that I'm Japanese.
SHALENA
P.S.
One excellent thing that comes from Dominicans arriving fresh-faced and starry eyes in NYC or anywhere else in the US....their a$$es learn QUICK that they're black! Can't deny it in MY country baby, my white sisters and brothers will definitely let you KNOW
Well you do have the slanted eyes. Having lived in Santiago you know very well that there are many Dominicans that are white as rice. My Wifes's cousin Julio lives in Houston and us white folks would definitely think he is white, even the way he talks is white.
My best friend is the same way blue eyes and all. And most think she is white until they see her mother.
His father is a gringo from Spain and his mother is mostly white. My mother in law was also a blonde and has white skin. She has no problem with saying that her family is a mix of black and white.
...And they're still black. I think you are misunderstanding me when I say "black" you believe I am speaking only in terms of skin color. As I stated before, my son's father is white "colored" with very light eyes....
But the negro is blacker than I am.........
SHALENA
Look at it this way, this is nothing more than seeing the world via Anglo-Saxon eyes vs. Hispanic/Latino eyes.
Completely incompatible, which explains why the greatest rejection of "US style" racial identity comes from Dominicans living in that country, despite being 'exposed' to the ODR.
In the end, it is all nonsense. There's no real justification for one type to be considered better than the other.
Take the ODR as an example. The usual excuse used is that back in slavery time, white Americans signed into a law that everyone with a drop of African blood as black, and that's the reason it still applies today. You know, what the white American said hundreds of years ago apparently still applies today.
Despite that, the same white Americans back in those slavery/segregation times also signed a law claiming that those that were ODR into 'blackness', were only considered 3/5th human. Somehow no one thinks this law applies today, since you know, it was a stupid law from a very long time ago.
But the ODR still stands, eventhough the US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, it was in existence over a 100 years ago, and doesn't really makes no sense what-so-ever. This only makes sense to people that were taught to see the world in that way from the day they were born, everyone else doesn't see it and, quite frankly, never will.
So, there you have it. Two 'laws' from long ago that white Americans decided to apply and yet, one is conveniently still being used because it's a law from long ago, while the other is discarded because, alas, it's a law from long ago.
And however the world is seen in other shores doesn't matter, because the American way is always the right way. The inconsistencies, not withstanding.
Makes sense that the Dominicans that reject with greatest force the ODR are those that either lived or continue to live in the US.
This is like water and oil, two interpretations of reality that will simply never mix or one will never cede in favor of the other.
Really?
If I would see you walking down any Dominican street, I (and everyone else) would probably confuse you for a beautiful Dominicana. Yet, if I was to make an attempt at getting to know you, suddenly it would hit on me: hmm, she doesn't seem to be a Dominicana afterall. Let me ask her because at the end of the day, few things are what they initially appear to be.
It sure has happened to me multiple times in the US, but in my case it was people thinking I was American. Then I opened my mouth and that was the end of that! Well, sometimes I got the 'you don't look Dominican' comment, so I guess people's incorrect perception of what I am means that I am not what I am, but rather what they think and want for me to be.
I've also been confused for being older than I really am, but I find that regardless what everyone may think of me in this sense, my age is what it really is. Science (in this case mathematics, in the topic of this thread DNA) quite frankly doesn't lie, even if we want it to. The truth is there for all to see, but only if they truly want to.
My point is, they are all ignorant, negating their black roots (obvious or not). Very few Dominicans today can claim to have pure Spanish or European ancestry, but they claim so.....right in front of their black as molasses cousins, aunts, grandparents, etc.
As a black descendant, how will someone claim to be a "friend" of mine negating who they are, which is passively trying to tell me that there is something wrong with being black ie. something wrong with being me.
This is passed on to the children generation after generation and it is sad. It's only made worse by foreigners agreeing with them and telling them what they want to hear.
Give 'em all VISAS for 1 week and send their a$$es to Mississippi and Alabama. Let them try to convince people that they're not black (white colored or not). Let them get their feelings hurt, it'll do'em some good. Then maybe they'll stop walking around in el mundo de su imaginaci?n
SHALENA
As a black descendant, how will someone claim to be a "friend" of mine negating who they are, which is passively trying to tell me that there is something wrong with being black ie. something wrong with being me.
This is passed on to the children generation after generation and it is sad. It's only made worse by foreigners agreeing with them and telling them what they want to hear.
Give 'em all VISAS for 1 week and send their a$$es to Mississippi and Alabama. Let them try to convince people that they're not black (white colored or not). Let them get their feelings hurt, it'll do'em some good. Then maybe they'll stop walking around in el mundo de su imaginaci?n
SHALENA
Everybody in the DR know that they have black/African ancestry, it is taught in school, and we call each other aliases that reenforce our black/african blood like: Negro/a bello, Negrita/o precioso, Morenito/a, Haitiano/a Bello. Even in my family my favorite aunt we call her "Tia Negra" because she is black, and a uncle that we call "Tio Negro" because he is black.
Now tell me how we are denying our black background when we call ourselves those aliases? Here in the USA the word Negro can't be used at all, I have never heard anybody calling a black person "Beautiful Negro", everybody is always watching their words here.
A black and white person can marry in the DR without the family blinking an eye, while here in the USA they have to consider if the family will stop talking to them.
Many Dominican associate blackness with being Haitian, and they will deny it right away that they are black/Haitian because of the consequence such statement may bright, like the lost of their Dominican Nationality, if by any change they parents were Haitians and they don't have rights to Dominican nationality.
Watch this video El negrito del batey, listend how proud Joseito Mateo call him self black...
http://www.dr1.com/forums/videos/108894-el-negrito-del.html
I don't see Dominican so concerned about their skin color like I see people here in America.
JJ
http://www.dr1.com/forums/videos/108894-el-negrito-del.html
I don't see Dominican so concerned about their skin color like I see people here in America.
JJ
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