Black in Latin America Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided

[geraldorigo]

Hey granca,
Thank you for posting this on the forum, I have seen the documentary when it came out and the many since after they showed it on television. I have visited the Dominican Republic many times before and it wasn't until my recent trip where i visited Dajabon and went in to Haiti that I saw what Dr. Gates saw. The idea of race and identity within the Dominican Republic is something that is very misguided, Dominicans are, in a nutshell, Black. Yes we are a people of many different races and mixes, mestizo and mulatto, but we have such a deep tie to African ancestry that we are "black". The anti-Haitian discourse isn't anything new, I have seen so many things within Dominican news, books, and movies to see that it is true. Not all Dominicans are like this but these anti-Haitian tendencies are present. Take a look at the Price of Sugar, great documentary so you can see what I'm talking about.

 

[Mr_DR]

Hey gringostudent, it was not intended to you, you get a break only beacause your screename entitles you to your ignorance about DR.

 

[bri777]

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 I wonder if I can call them that? lol
they probably slap me silly

reversed discrimination?
Manu

 

[gringostudent]

Hey gringostudent, it was not intended to you, you get a break only beacause your screename entitles you to your ignorance about DR.

Ad hominim baiting wont work on me pal. I shouldve picked something like Mr. DR. That wouldve made me smart and an immediate authority on everything. Leave it to the DR1 forums yet again to bring an easy topic into a flame fest.

 

[Mr_DR]

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.

I must not be Dominican because When I get driving tickets I am summoned by cops whether the cop is black or white as either white or hispanic and when I go to the doctors I am described as a white male, so, according to Sking I must not be Dominican since I am not being seen as black.

 

[SKing]

These people are just as Dominican as the Brugal Rum or Larimar, they would feel sorry for Sking and laugh at her if she was to walk up to some of them and imply that they don't look Dominican because there is no pure spanish blood there according to her.

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oKIifcORqBk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

WHEN DID I SAY THEY WEREN'T DOMINICAN? NO ME PONGA PALABRAS EN LA BOCA POR FAVOR....if you are going to insinuate something I said.....quote me.

SHALENA

 

[geraldorigo]

I do the same with my aunt, crazy isnt it

 

[jrhartley]

It would be a brave man to put anything in your mouth

 

[SKing]

I must not be Dominican because When I get driving tickets I am summoned by cops whether the cop is black or white as either white or hispanic and when I go to the doctors I am described as a white male, so, according to Sking I must not be Dominican since I am not being seen as black.

You're ridiculous! I never said anyone wasn't Dominican, I said that they were black. I am black, does that mean I'm not American? Please show me where I said someone wasn't Dominican. Now YOU look "ignant" because you can't read obviously.

SHALENA

 

[SKing]

It would be a brave man to put anything in your mouth

You are right! LOL

SHALENA

 

[NALs]

You cant deny it because your housing options have already been determined for you when you arrive.

Washington Heights is in Harlem. The people who live in Bushwick find themselves on the border of Bedford Stuyvesant. In the Bronx there are no demarcation zones. Then you have the NEW places like Allentown, Pa and Reading where housing segregation against Latinos is perverse.

And for anyone who saw Gates first prgram a few years ago, he did a DNA test on Dr. Mae Jamison and it turned out by genetic composition she is more Chinese than Black, even though her appearance shows something else.

I don't know what maps you have seen, because every map of NYC I have seen clearly shows Washington Heights to be a different neighborhood from Harlem. Thus the question, how can WH be in Harlem when its a different neighborhood?

Political map clearly showing WH as a neighborhood of its own: City of New York : Inwood & Washington Heights Map | New York Map

Map that based on data from the 2010 census shows NYC's ethnic geography (red=White, blue=African American, orange=Latino, green=Asian, gray=Other); notice what color is WH vs Harlem: Race and ethnicity: New York City | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Africaida]

You right Nals: Racer should have said Washington Heights borders Harlem.
Seems to me like the Dominican population is expanding though : there are more and more Dominicans in Harlem (upper Harlem).

 

[NALs]

I never understood why Americans are so driven to jam ~their~ racial identity down the throats of Dominicans, and then stay perpetually frustrated when it doesn't gain any traction beyond yawns...

Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore, says it best from 22:28 minutes to 23:44 minutes in this video: Charlie Rose - Lee Kuan Yew

Needless to say, I agree with him.

 

[bachata]

Base ball game at Estadio Cibao Santiago DR, take a look at the crowd and see how they look...

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Black?

JJ

 

[Criss Colon]

This THREAD,Is Getting BOOOOOOOO RING!

We all bleed the same color,and,the girls are all pink inside!

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

 

[Chip]

Some of you guys don't have a clue. Pelo malo does not mean one is black because lighter people here have it too - like one of my daughters, the lightest one in fact. We call it gre?a and lots of people in my wife's family have it and they all laugh about it because no one cares!

 

[gringostudent]

I personally never said that pelo malo meant black. I said it was a synonym for nappy hair, which is an African trait. Read before flaming.

 

[bachata]

Some of you guys don't have a clue. Pelo malo does not mean one is black because lighter people here have it too - like one of my daughters, the lightest one in fact. We call it gre?a and lots of people in my wife's family have it and they all laugh about it because no one cares!

No les sigan llamando asi que la van a acomplejar!!!

JJ

 

[Chip]

I personally never said that pelo malo meant black. I said it was a synonym for nappy hair, which is an African trait. Read before flaming.

This is what you actually said:

Same with "pelo fino" and "pelo bueno". How there are about 50 ways to call somebody black without calling them black?

I believe it's clear what you said. If you really didn't mean to imply calling someone "pelo malo" is the same as calling them black that is fine just please clarify your intent.

 

[Ezequiel]

I think anybody that says Dominicans arent race councious has got to be high. I'm from the south, actually had family in the Klan

Proudly parading you family KKK affiliation?!?

I can tell you that even rednecks down south pay less attention to race than Dominicans do. Way less.

That's why they are so racist? Because they pay less attention to race than Dominicans! They should pay more attention to race like we Dominican do, like that they won't be so racist.

Dominican race identity permeates every aspect of everything. Ever heard of "mejorando la raza"? Or thought about how "blanco" and "bonito" are used pretty much synonomsly?

That's why we intermarried so much, because we very racist. How many of your KKK family members have intermarried with a black person?

Same with "pelo fino" and "pelo bueno".

We Dominican have a different view as we didn't go through NO Jim Crow laws here.