Treatment of African Americans in the DR

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Keith

Guest
Re: Welcome back!!!!

Natasha,

Thanks for the kind words. 1999 has been quite busy & tumultous for me, and I'm afraid I let my board participation slip as a result. Plus at the end of Oct. I had to move back to the US with only 3 1/2 weeks notice, so you can imagine what my Oct & Nov. were like. :-/

But as you might expect from someone who lived in the DR for four years, my thoughts have returned frequently to mi querida Quisqueya. So I find myself drifting back to the board even though, truth to tell, right now I have even less time to spare for it than I did while living in SD. Pero asi es la vida, verdad? Un abrazo, Keith
 
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sean

Guest
It seems counter-intuitive from our perspective, but that's the way it is. In Haiti they refer to African-Americans as "blancs" (whites). The term has migrated a bit and doesn't just refer to skin color anymore, but is a general term for Westerners.
 
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bernie

Guest
I am Afro-American & have been to DR many times. It's biased in many ways, both from the non white & white poulation. I don't frequent the expensive places too often where it is more likley where the situation posted below took place. It's not the overt type of racism but it's noticable. A few non-whites told me that they have no slave history in their background & they were quick to change the conversation from that topic. bernie

Racial discrimination in the discos

Posted by Darrell Furts on Thursday, 26 March 1998, at 3:15 p.m. Hello, My name is Darrell Furts. I am a 25 year old African-American male. I remember reading a Usenet news article about racial discrimination in the discos in the Dominican Republic. I was very surprised. SO, when I was visited a friend in the Dominican Republic. I decided to check things out for myself. I was amazed at the clubs that wouldn't let me in, even though I was EXCEPTIONALLY well-dressed. The friend i was visiting is a white American. He had no problems entering the clubs, but when I tried to enter, I was told things like: "members only" (my friend was not a "member", but he got in) "we need a membership card" (my friend did not have one either, but he was let in" "You're not dressed right" (remember, I was exceprionally well-dressed and better dressed than most of the people they let in) When i spoke to a few people after that, they told me that there are many clubs that do not let Black people in. These are the clubs that discriminate: 1-Bella Blue (located on the malecon) 2-Club neon (located next to the hotel hispanola) 3-Palmetto (located in Plaza la lira) It is a shame that in a country that has a population that I consider mostly black/mixed that this kind of stuff goes on. What a shame!! Darrell
 
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Matt

Guest
You will be treated very well by the people of the D.R. In the D.R. the most important color is green .And the referance to S.Africa is out of line ,it nothing like that there .Its classism ,not hatred like S.Africa
 
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John James Kearns

Guest
Re: Welcome back!!!!

Yea, Keith. How about a reply to my mail. John.
 
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Laura Garcia

Guest
Descrimination is not only happening in DR, this happenend to a couple of friends and me in Tucson, Arizona. Two of my friends are Mexicans, one is Americana and I have Doble Nationality, anyway they wouldnt let us in because they stated that the club was exclusively for US CITIZENS,and were asking for US CITIZENSHIP PROOF> we felt bad and discriminated so we left. What was funny is that the club only plays mexican music and also has a mexican name, and the owner is from a Mexican background. Well, we're surely not trying to get in again!!! FYI "La CUCARACHA" is the name of the Club. \OH and we were better dressed than the people that they were letting in the club!!!!!And also driving a very nice year 2000 Car!
 
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Tom

Guest
Carl

If this happened in the United States, you should be reporting the problem to your Attorney General, we do have laws against discrimination and if people such as yourself don't speak up, the laws can not be enforced. There is usually a process or "hotline" that you can use if you do not wish to be known. You also should contact an Attorney familiar with this field for redress.

Tom
 
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NewT

Guest
With all due respect, Dolores, you will never be able to provide anything beyond anecdotal, second hand, and thus essentially invalid information on this subject.

Having said that, I doubt if there would be any issues for persons of color visiting as tourists.
 
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T Santos

Guest
Re: DAGO-DAGO/it's an Italian tire

Yeah scaramooch it's an Italian tire! called Dago's,dago in the snow,dago in the mud,dago in the sand and when dago flat they go wop,wop,wop! :)
 
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Dee DeMusis

Guest
Re: Welcome back!!!!

Hi to Keith and all--

Regarding "apartheid" and the DR, it goes along with " a rose by any other name"...or "a rose is a rose is a rose." The "color thing" going on there is not much different than the situation was in South Africa...just geography, that's all.

If apartheid/separation-discrimination [because of color] does not exist then tell me why Pena Gomez did not assume the presidency? Why did people have to resort to a political deal to salve their xenophobia?

Keith-- I lived in the DR for quite a while and had to return to the States with less notice than you but I fully sympathize and empathize. While I was there, I came to know many people and lots of them were Haitians and Dominico-Haitianos. The DR is one place that has a hold on my heart and Spirit...I miss it but cannot go back at present...I DID see alot of problems, especially in the sugar plantations; I don't want to say much more than that.

Written and other documentation of history will go to show that overt color/racial discrimination will not endear the DR to potential investors/businesses from the outside. National sovereignty is fine; the United States and her citizens [of which I am one] shouldn't butt in unnecessarily...HOWEVER...it must be remembered that the DR overcame Haiti in 1844 and Haiti doesn't want that side of the island back...they have enough to contend with in their own back yard...

This is not a simple situation...all I can say is that I remember the Civil Rights Movement in my own country and it is time to bury the hatchet...and not between each other's shoulder blades. GET OVER IT AND WORK TOGETHER.

THE GOOD NEWS IS: there are huge Dominican communities here in the US!!! I live in NYC and the Dominican community is wonderful...we have all the BEST of Quisqueya right here on the Hudson...Presidente, the newspapers, the parades, the politics, ALL OF IT. Plus, we have a wonderful Hispanic newspaper called"el diario/LA PRENSA" which keeps up with all the news from the Latin countries.

Also: there is the DOMINICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE at the City University of New York. Good stuff available here.

Thanks--

DEE
 
K

Keith

Guest
Re: Welcome back!!!!

Dee,

I never claimed (and never will) that there is no racial discrimination in the DR, covert or overt. I certainly would never argue that there's no discrimination against anyone Haitian or of Haitian heritage -- I have seen it with my own eyes and you may ask my Dominican friends how many times I have made them uncomfortable by pointing out this aspect of Dominican life & culture. I usually do not debate it with my Dominican family, friends and acquaintances, however, because I have found that most Dominicans cannot discuss the issue rationally and calmly. That, sadly enough, had much to do with why Pena Gomez was defeated -- a vicious rumor campaign (reportedly started by the Reformistas) that Pena would open the DR's borders wide to Haitian immigration if he became President.

What I was saying in my earlier post was that to equate the DR's discrimination to apartheid-era South Africa was not just "a matter or geography." To say that actually is trivializing the evil of apartheid and overblowing the depth and pervasiveness of racial discrimination in the DR. Unlike the DR, apartheid-era South Africa was a legally-sanctioned and insitutionalized system of SEGREGATION at all levels, not just discrimination, and keeping people of color from positions of power and influence was OPENLY advocated and sanctioned policy. There were laws on intermarrying, there were travel restrictions based on race, there were no votes for blacks, etc etc -- none of which exists in the DR.

The type and extent of discrimination in the two countries are not in the same league, frankly.

Apartheid had to be repealed before Mandela could become Presidentin South Africa. Leonel Fernandez did not face such an obstacle in the DR, nor did (Mayor) Johnny Ventura or Rafael Alburquerque (Pres of Senate). And as I said in my prior post, most levers of influence in the DR are in fact controlled by non-whites. The one area still very clearly lagging is the Dominican business world.

As for the Dominican community in the US, yes I am VERY familiar with the communities in NYC and NJ, as I have much Dominican family in both areas and a comadre in the former. I also hear similar communities are growing fast in Cleveland and Miami, and we're seeing the beginnings of one here in the Washington DC area. I can't wait to participate in Dominican Week activities next year. :)

Atentamente, Keith
 
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William Leslie

Guest
Re: Welcome back!!!!

Re: Pena Gomez..I had many friends in influential places such as well known WHITE lawyers and doctors in Santo Domingo and Santiago who were all for electing Pena Gomez and helped in his campaign and 'flew the flag' UNTIL he said 'THAT IF HE DID NOT WIN' 'then the country would burn'(a reference to violence and riots etc) and made inuendos that even if he did win he may take malicious actions agianst persons who had made it difficult for him. AT that point many influencial people began to worry that he might be somewhat unstable and vengeful. That along with the fear of opening the border to Haiti cost him his victory.
 
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Keith

Guest
Re: Welcome back!!!!

William,

Yes, I recall that videotape. I was living in SD at the time, and that speech was played over and over on the TV. It did unsettle many people -- even PRD party faithful -- and did much damage to his campaign.

Regards, Keith