I agree. Everyone here should have their own property liability insurance. And forget about if a Haitian gets hurt on your property. A Dominican will sue you even faster and have a much better chance to collect.
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He asked me," Is it OK if I call in a Haitian"
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The police doesn´t give a toss about anyone, but the labor office will be happy to screw you, in favor of any employee, regardless of their nationality. The courts tend to favor employees.
I actually trust Haitian laborers over Dominicans.
Dominicans spend their whole day trying to figure out how to avoid hard work
Every single time I've worked with a Haitian, they always do half the job then say that I cheated them because it's far more work than they thought, and they say they're going to walk off the job unless I pay more. It's happened more times than I care to mention. And they usually have such miserable faces, it's like a nation of people who never smile. Sorry, I'm stereotyping dreadfully here, but where I work there are a lot of Haitians in the same street and they always look so miserable.
Yes, as MariaRubia says that's an awful lot of stereotyping by her and Chico Bill. Most Haitians I know are very quick with a smile.
That's not been my experience... I've found Haitians to be some of the smiliest people I come across. But I have also seen the frown too... I think it's indicative of the struggle within many if not most... They really want to be happy but have a heavy weight to carry at all times.
I just watched a YouTube documentary about the son of a poor Haitian farmer who sold his land to give his son a chance to go to the US. One of the last things the father told the son before he left was to remember the others. Twenty years later, the son, who reached the US and successfully made it through university and became a doctor, organized a group of doctors to travel to Haiti to give help to the underprivileged. The lead doctor made a comment to the effect of never seeing people under so much hardship being able to still smile.
It's a common dichotomy among oppressed people... Ever look at the faces of young children in the harshest of African environments... One moment the camera shows faces that express no hope... The next moment you can see the same faces with the biggest smiles.
Most humans want to smile... And are even desperate to smile... It's just that years of poor situations and circumstances can beat it out of you.
On another note... I was watching a video yesterday of a young DR tourist who rented a scooter to take a trip out into the country area (he was staying in Cabarete somewhere). After some time he and his friend — a local fella — stopped at a river bought a beer and some food, and then went for a swim. After an hour or so they got ready to head back and were accosted by the person who sold them the beers and food, being told they hadn't paid for either. The thing is, they had, and it was on the video he was making. But other people started to come around and he thought it best to just pay again and quickly leave.
This is indicative of dishonesty... And frowning may be one thing... But dishonesty is something completely different.
When dishonesty enters the psyche of a human social fabric at its base level... You're heading down a slippery slope that's hard to recover from.
Try this on for size: The tile setter is Dom and his helper is his nephew. The man that has been doing a ton of block laying and wall building is my wife's uncle. (Dominican as well as his helper). The welder that did some iron work is Dom. The plumber is Dom. My electrician is DOM and his brother did the two tinaco installs.
I think it was reasonable (and sensible for him to make the call when all over the newsLuis is deporting them. )I have no problem with that call.
I still don't see why the contractor would think it's your concern or problem that Haitians are being deported. It seem to me that's the Haitian's decision as to whether or not he wants to take the risk(?). Plus, how many gringos besides those here on DR1 even know that Haitians are now being forced to go back to haiti?
Yes, I openly apologise for doing this, but honestly I have only so far come across one Haitian who has been smiley, everyone else seems to have this permanent misery. And the one that I did meet had grown up in the US. I think it's a cultural thing, smiling is seen as being weak and if you are nice to people they will take advantage of you.
When you go around smiling all the time, people begin to think you're guilty of something, like eating a cat
Two examples. My little girl is quite dark-skinned. She goes to quite a nice school and one day a few years ago one of the kids bullied her, saying she was ugly because she was black and she would always be unhappy because no man would ever love her. And of course I went mad and called the head teacher, who investigated, and called me back and said "the other girl said she was ugly because she was Haitian. She thought xxx was Haitian, and we corrected her, she knows that she's Dominican now and she's apologised". So basically kids are being taught that it's fine to be racist towards Haitians.
Last weekend we drove through a really poor barrio in Cibao, and my friend who was driving was saying "look they're all Haitian, and they live like rats don't they. Basically laughing at how poor their houses are. And he's a teacher as well, intelligent, has a masters in math. This stuff is absolutely embedded in Dominican culture, you don't come across many Dominicans who like Haitians, at least I don't. I"m not saying it's right, I'm just saying that it's there.
Last weekend we drove through a really poor barrio in Cibao, and my friend who was driving was saying "look they're all Haitian, and they live like rats don't they. Basically laughing at how poor their houses are. And he's a teacher as well, intelligent, has a masters in math. This stuff is absolutely embedded in Dominican culture, you don't come across many Dominicans who like Haitians, at least I don't. I"m not saying it's right, I'm just saying that it's there.
"like eating a cat". Thanks Hijo that made me collapse laughing, admittedly I also spat out my coffee so a make-up fix is now required.
I think what you meant to say was that this may be a learned behavior. Not "taught" - big difference
“YOU’VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT” LYRICS
Cable:
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade—
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
I was cheated before
And I’m cheated again
By a mean little world
Of mean little men.
And the one chance for me
Is the life I know best.
To be on an island
And to hell with the rest.
I will cling to this island
Like a tree or a stone,
I will cling to this island
And be free—and alone.
“You've Got to Be Carefully Taught” (Rodgers/Hammerstein II)
© 1949, Copyright Renewed, Williamson Music Company (ASCAP) c/o Concord Music Publishing.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
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I agree that this exists, an anti-Haitian sentiment. The political history runs deep.
At the same time, I have to say that it’s often different on a one-to-one basis. There are several Haitians who have lived in our campo area awhile. They’re accepted, they date/live with Dominicans and work with them.
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