I was at dinner a few nights ago. Something interesting happend. There I met a young man working at a international financial institution. If you are into that status thing, he was doing pretty good for himself. He is new in town and in talking to him he presented himself to me as Peruvian.
In conversation with him and my friend he discovered that I was Dominican (while I look Dominicans to those in the "know" for those who don't know I can be confused as Hindu at a first glance and these folks often can't nail my NY-DR accent so I hear ignorant comments like those you see in the Los Angeles thread). Upon this discovery, he also revealed that he was half Dominican as well. What was funny to me was that he had actually presented himself as a Lebanese-Peruvian to my friend when he had arrived to the US. My friend is Asian from NYC, hence she has been raised around Dominicans all her life in NYC. I let it slide since it was clearly his own internal issues. But I just found it sad yet funny that his arse just got BUSTED.
The even more pathetic thing is that this is not the only time I have seen evidence of this. I've seen it with those who are clearly of color and even more so those who can afford to "pass" but are in fact Spaniard-Dominicans and French-Dominican, etc. This is especially the case for those who have lived the majority of their lives abroad and tend to socialize in often caucasian circles. Ironically, I have also seen this in Black-Dominicans but they do it for different reasons (e.g. excommunication or abandonement by the dominican side of the family for marrying a black/african-american).
Thus, my conclusion is that these people are ashamed of their Dominican heritage since they continuously downplay or outright deny what they are...
Have any folks here have had that experience? Or have you ever denied your heritage? If so, why?
Just curious...
In conversation with him and my friend he discovered that I was Dominican (while I look Dominicans to those in the "know" for those who don't know I can be confused as Hindu at a first glance and these folks often can't nail my NY-DR accent so I hear ignorant comments like those you see in the Los Angeles thread). Upon this discovery, he also revealed that he was half Dominican as well. What was funny to me was that he had actually presented himself as a Lebanese-Peruvian to my friend when he had arrived to the US. My friend is Asian from NYC, hence she has been raised around Dominicans all her life in NYC. I let it slide since it was clearly his own internal issues. But I just found it sad yet funny that his arse just got BUSTED.
The even more pathetic thing is that this is not the only time I have seen evidence of this. I've seen it with those who are clearly of color and even more so those who can afford to "pass" but are in fact Spaniard-Dominicans and French-Dominican, etc. This is especially the case for those who have lived the majority of their lives abroad and tend to socialize in often caucasian circles. Ironically, I have also seen this in Black-Dominicans but they do it for different reasons (e.g. excommunication or abandonement by the dominican side of the family for marrying a black/african-american).
Thus, my conclusion is that these people are ashamed of their Dominican heritage since they continuously downplay or outright deny what they are...
Have any folks here have had that experience? Or have you ever denied your heritage? If so, why?
Just curious...