Dominican Hipocracy wiith Haiti's delema

[cobraboy]

I'll go with what he said.

HB

Luis-

I know no one who has been here longer, speaks the language better and has done more to be part of the culture and "blend in."

How do you think/feel many Dominicans view you? Are you still a "gringo" to them? Do they cinsider you a real Dominican after 45+ years, or are you a highly accepted, respected "gringo?"

You'd be the ultimate litmus test...

 

[Lambada]

I feel that is what attracts so many foreigners to permanently live in the DR; the desire to be FAMOUS,LOL!

For some it could be the big fish in small pond syndrome as opposed to the other way around. Of course that wouldn't be the case for those of us who are corporeally degenerating..........:cheeky:

I have actually heard expats describe life here to tourists as if they were Henry Morton Stanley or Dr. Livingstone and really.........it isn't like that .

 

[Acira]

have to take some words back

I would love to hear from the veterans here who really digged into the Dominican way of life how they are feeling it.

I lived in Belgium where there are a lot of immigrants from the Mahreb countries. Some of them ignore totally or refuse totally to integrate, others do every effort to effectively become a Belgian citicizen and I knew a lot of them but no matter what and for how long as I know them, for me they stay Marrocon people...and no...thats not racisme, thats indeed just an identifier.

So, I"l take back the word racisme and gladly replace it by "identifier".

 

[cobraboy]

I would love to hear from the veterans here who really digged into the Dominican way of life how they are feeling it.

I lived in Belgium where there are a lot of immigrants from the Mahreb countries. Some of them ignore totally or refuse totally to integrate, others do every effort to effectively become a Belgian citicizen and I knew a lot of them but no matter what and for how long as I know them, for me they stay Marrocon people...and no...thats not racisme, thats indeed just an identifier.

So, I"l take back the word racisme and gladly replace it by "identifier".

You aren't alone. many Europeans and NAans confuse Dominicans as racist because of "identifiers" when viewed through PC goggles.

 

[Acira]

PC goggles, have no clue what you mean with that Cobraboy :ermm:

 

[cobraboy]

PC goggles, have no clue what you mean with that Cobraboy :ermm:

Politically Correct...

 

[AlterEgo]

I just know that no matter to what extent I try "blending in" that I physically will never be confused for anything other than what I am.

Yeah, what he said :ermm:

What's even funnier is that Dominicans take my husband for a gringo too. His complexion and his clothes are the markers. And the sunburn :cheeky:

A few trips ago we were in a mercado and he overheard a couple of Dominicans talking about showing 'the gringo' something they were selling. You should have seen their faces when he turned and spoke to them and they realized he was Dominican. My husband being my husband - he had to add a lecture to his speech :squareeye

AE

 

[The Clear Enigma]

​

Just came back today from a revealing trip near the Haitian border,and what I witnessed first hand was somewhat shocking yet illuminating in regards to certain issues.As I traversed the rural road on my return,I was waved to the side by Dominican soldiers(militants), who then proceeded (with a very serious tone) to ask for my documentation.After everything was confirmed to be in order,as I drove away I glanced behind them,and saw what seemed to be a corral,crudely constructed that had been fashioned from long sticks and strung with barbed wire:surprised.And inside were about 40 dark-skinned men standing on a dirt-floor like cattle,.,penned like animals.I know this has to do with the crackdown of illegals crossing of the border,but what's with this Draconian downright cruel policies and methods against Haitians especially now?

​

Sadly the D.R share's the island with the poorest most dysfunctional nation in the western hemisphere,a fact that now has been exacerbated by the worst earthquake they've seen in 200 years,but for crying out loud,stop with the contradictions,if we are going to help do so with a sense of humanity in the mist of disaster.:tired:

 

[bob saunders]

​

Just came back today from a revealing trip near the Haitian border,and what I witnessed first hand was somewhat shocking yet illuminating in regards to certain issues.As I traversed the rural road on my return,I was waved to the side by Dominican soldiers(militants), who then proceeded (with a very serious tone) to ask for my documentation.After everything was confirmed to be in order,as I drove away I glanced behind them,and saw what seemed to be a corral,crudely constructed that had been fashioned from long sticks and strung with barbed wire:surprised.And inside were about 40 dark-skinned men standing on a dirt-floor like cattle,.,penned like animals.I know this has to do with the crackdown of illegals crossing of the border,but what's with this Draconian downright cruel policies and methods against Haitians especially now?

​

Sadly the D.R share's the island with the poorest most dysfunctional nation in the western hemisphere,a fact that now has been exacerbated by the worst earthquake they've seen in 200 years,but for crying out loud,stop with the contradictions,if we are going to help do so with a sense of humanity in the mist of disaster.:tired:

Since you don't really know the reason they were being detained you can't call their detention cruel. They could have been some of the 4500 crimminal that escaped fron jail. A temporary holding place like you decribe seems perfect for tempoararly holding illegals.

 

[bachata]

​

Just came back today from a revealing trip near the Haitian border,and what I witnessed first hand was somewhat shocking yet illuminating in regards to certain issues.As I traversed the rural road on my return,I was waved to the side by Dominican soldiers(militants), who then proceeded (with a very serious tone) to ask for my documentation.After everything was confirmed to be in order,as I drove away I glanced behind them,and saw what seemed to be a corral,crudely constructed that had been fashioned from long sticks and strung with barbed wire:surprised.And inside were about 40 dark-skinned men standing on a dirt-floor like cattle,.,penned like animals.I know this has to do with the crackdown of illegals crossing of the border,but what's with this Draconian downright cruel policies and methods against Haitians especially now?

​

Sadly the D.R share's the island with the poorest most dysfunctional nation in the western hemisphere,a fact that now has been exacerbated by the worst earthquake they've seen in 200 years,but for crying out loud,stop with the contradictions,if we are going to help do so with a sense of humanity in the mist of disaster.:tired:

Lucky of you they let you out, gazon

JJ

 

[Onions/Carrots]

For some it could be the big fish in small pond syndrome as opposed to the other way around. Of course that wouldn't be the case for those of us who are corporeally degenerating..........:cheeky:

LOL

I dunno about the "fame" thingy (personally speaking.)

I kinda like being left pretty much alone. It's easier to live here under the radar screen than in the states.

I just know that no matter to what extent I try "blending in" that I physically will never be confused for anything other than what I am.

LOL, Cobra if you picked the DR to be left alone and blend in, you would have done better in the Adirondacks.

 

[Lambada]

​

Just came back today from a revealing trip near the Haitian border,and what I witnessed first hand was somewhat shocking yet illuminating in regards to certain issues.As I traversed the rural road on my return,I was waved to the side by Dominican soldiers(militants), who then proceeded (with a very serious tone) to ask for my documentation.After everything was confirmed to be in order,as I drove away I glanced behind them,and saw what seemed to be a corral,crudely constructed that had been fashioned from long sticks and strung with barbed wire:surprised.And inside were about 40 dark-skinned men standing on a dirt-floor like cattle,.,penned like animals.I know this has to do with the crackdown of illegals crossing of the border,but what's with this Draconian downright cruel policies and methods against Haitians especially now?

Did you see the Miami Herald? Very similar report to yours...in fact some of the phraseology is the same. Maybe The Clear Enigma is Fred Grimm?

'On a rural stretch of Highway 46, about 50 miles into the Dominican Republic on the road that leads from the Haitian border, soldiers waved our van to the side and a captain peered into the passenger window. He studied my passport and managed to convey, with a withering expression, that this was damn serious stuff. Just behind him, the Dominican army had erected a simple but forbidding reception center for unwanted interlopers. A crude corral had been fashioned from long sticks and strung with barbed wire. No more than a dirt-floor cattle stockade, it was an apt symbol of the D.R.'s attitude toward Haitian immigrants. About 40 dark-skinned men languished inside the roadside compound, penned like animals.

The captain waved me through (later, I was told that a 500-peso bill folded in my passport would have expedited my passage through his checkpoint). I fell outside the category of particular concern along the Dominican Republic. I wasn't Haitian. Even as the Dominican Republic sends truckloads of relief supplies into earthquake-stricken Haiti, the army has continued a months'-long crackdown against Haitians suspected of crossing the border from the opposite direction. The effect last week seemed nearly schizophrenic. ``The people of the Dominican Republic have really gone out of their way to be generous in the relief effort and to reach out to Haiti,'' said Monika Kalra Varma, director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights. At the same time, Varma said, the D.R. has adopted Draconian, downright cruel policies against Haitians suspected of crossing the 241-mile border illegally.'

A look at Dominican Republic-Haiti relations

 

[bob saunders]

Either that or we have a possible case for plagiarism.

 

[The Clear Enigma]

Since you don't really know the reason they were being detained you can't call their detention cruel. They could have been some of the 4500 crimminal that escaped fron jail. A temporary holding place like you decribe seems perfect for tempoararly holding illegals.

Apparently some people's heart become's at times rough,tough,less sensible,less compassionate,maybe it's where they live,or it's just the Quisqueya air that you have been exposed to on the island that has created this predisposition to accept certain acts as just plain normal, bob

 

[Lambada]

maybe it's where they live

Maybe. Bob lives in Canada....

 

[The Clear Enigma]

Maybe. Bob lives in Canada....

I tried to modify the message so as not to seem directed to bob but more as a general concensus.

 

[Lambada]

Did you write the Miami Herald piece, Clear Enigma?

 

[The Clear Enigma]

Did you write the Miami Herald piece, Clear Enigma?

I will neither confirm or deny your inconclusive insinuation of my identity,instead I will shield my dignity with the second part of my name, ENIGMA. peace

 

[bob saunders]

Apparently some people's heart becomes at times rough,tough,less sensible,less compassionate,maybe it's where they live,or it's just the Quisqueya air that you have been exposed to on the island that has created this predisposition to accept certain acts as just plain normal, bob

So you feel the DR should just open the borders wide, let everyone in, regardless of whether they have a criminal record, no papers, no legal status and may possibly be an escaped murderer or rapist? You are confusing compassion with practical reality. These penned men are not children, pregnant women, or people with severe injuries- They at most economic immigrants, like most illegals in the REST OF THE WORLD. Since the DR is a poor country, it doesn't have state of the Art holding facilities for illegal immigrants. The DR government already said they wouldn't repeat the illegals already in the country, but they did say no more. I think they are already doing as much as they can.'I may live in a Cold country but rest assure Canadians have warm hearts. I sponsor several children through Children international and bring suitcases of stuff for poor Dominicans each time I come. What do you do? Like many people I didn't need an earthquake to open my eyes and pocketbook.

 

[cobraboy]

LOL, Cobra if you picked the DR to be left alone and blend in, you would have done better in the Adirondacks.

Wasn't the reason, just an unintended consequence. 'Course I don't live in a tourist town...