The future of Washington Heights (Cuba, Hope: place to live, education, health)

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by SuperMario

But they have MORE Spaniard blood than African. This is a fact. If you trust the census, 16% Dominicans chose white while only 11% chose black. The 73% has both Spanish and African blood. So to get the percentage of them with ANY trace of spanish we get 16+73= 89% with any drop of Spanish blood. For African blood this number is 84%.

The Spanish trace still comes out on top despite the years under Haitian rule and the importation of Africans. Also recent mixing with Haitians. This leads me to believe that the DR was more white in prior centuries.

Just because the media shows little black Dominican kids living in poverty is not indicative of the whole race. Most people are brainwashed into thinking that all Dominicans are like those who live in the pueblo. They never show Dominicans from San Fransisco, Tenares, Jarabacoa etc where the majority is white.

I certainly as hell am not black. I am mixed. But my skin color is light indian as they call it in DR. However my great great grandmother was spaniard, so in my mother's half of the family they have BLUE EYES and white skin. Most of the people from my block are Dominican and they are white. That is why I take offense to this whole African thing. I just dont see it.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that African blood tends to show more than white. Be it a darker tone, nose, lips, hairs etc.......but that does not me that one has more of that. I could bet that many mixed Dominicans have a higher percentage of Spaniard blood than African but yet seem to be darker.

There is nothing wrong with that however. It is false though to say that most Dominicans are of African descent.

You seem a little ashamed of your African Heritage. You should learn to embrace and be proud of all the parts that make you. There is no denying the African influence on Dominican culture. The food, the music.

Trujillo tried to take out all the African elements out of the Dominican culture. He tried to keep the African percussion out of Merengue. It sounded crazy wack.

[SuperMario]

Originally Posted by NooYowkur81

You seem a little ashamed of your African Heritage. You should learn to embrace and be proud of all the parts that make you. There is no denying the African influence on Dominican culture. The food, the music.

What can I do? I was raised that way and the DR makes you think that way. DR has a strong preference to anything white. I acknowlege my African blood but I dont want to be associated with Haitians or with slavery.

No offense to any Haitian. Because they are great people too.

Look here to see what goes on in the DR.

MiamiHerald.com | Afro-Latin Americans

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by SuperMario

What can I do? I was raised that way and the DR makes you think that way. DR has a strong preference to anything white. I acknowlege my African blood but I dont want to be associated with Haitians or with slavery.

No offense to any Haitian. Because they are great people too.

Look here to see what goes on in the DR.

MiamiHerald.com | Afro-Latin Americans

Yeah I know, I totally understand you. I've been to DR multiple times, plus I've been around enough family members to understand that point of view. I find it ignorant personally, though.

[SuperMario]

Originally Posted by NooYowkur81

Yeah I know, I totally understand you. I've been to DR multiple times, plus I've been around enough family members to understand that point of view. I find it ignorant personally, though.

Agreed. I may think the same way as them but it is ignorant. I just cant help it though.

[Guywithacause]

You should not take offense to the "whole African thing" because it is HIGHLY likely that it is a part of who you are, and just as important as everyother part. If you do not "see" the "whole African thing" that is strong within the DR, it is because you choose not to see it, or understand it, not because it does not exist.

Yes the media will portray the poor black Dominicans because that is the image that people are used to seeing....yes the country is poor, and it has major problems, and yes there are also a wealthy elite class that is very white and priviledged, but the substantial poor black Dominicans are far more representative of the population than the tiny priviledged white class. I agree there is more Spanish blood than African, but nobody really knows to what extent, but anyone who has spent any time in the DR will note that there is a strong African presence in the DR, in the culture, physical characteristics, food, etc. If you live in University Heights, Washington Heights, or someother large Dominican enclave in NYC and live on a block that is predominantly "white" Dominicans....you are either delusional, crazy, or blind (or all 3)....or maybe your definition of white means they do not look black?

That is not to say that there could not be a block in University Heights that is filled with "white" Dominicans...but judging from the migration patterns from DR, I highly doubt the "white" elite would migrate to the tenements of Washington Heights or University Heights. Prove me wrong though.

[SuperMario]

Lol ok.......My light skin friends are about equal to the dark skin. 50%-50%....I did not mean to imply that they were all white because ALOT of them are dark. I happen to be mixed....but most there are one or the other. But this is my specific block.

[NooYowkur81]

Just to clarify there are plenty of poor White Dominicans also. Although I would guess most of the White's are pretty rich, or at least comfortably middle class.

There's a whole side of my family that is White but dirt poor. Although it's a little complicated, they should have not been poor as they owned a lot of land, had to do with Trujillo and some bad financial decisions. But there are some campos spread through out DR that have White Dominican families that have been there for years.

[Guywithacause]

Yes I agree with that NooYowkur.

[nyc0127]

Originally Posted by Guywithacause

That was a dumb example of Dominicans.....lets not look at the exceptions..which of course they are. Lets look at the MAJORITY...and if you assert that these women (where are the men anyway?) are the average Dominican..then you have lost any and all credibility on this board. Yes there is a small minority of whites in the Dominican Republic but who cares? The reality is the VAST MAJORITY are GREATLY mixed..why is this a problem or somehow wrong/unacceptable? Dominicans are NOT white just because you can find 10% of the population that LOOK white (and they also can be mixed as well)...the whoe argument is absurd. I believe Milli Vanilli was from Germany...so I guess all Germans are black and/or black mixed? Great logic!

You're right. That is what about one in every six people in the Dominican Republic would physically appear to be as white as most of them though. I don't know if one in every six would say it'd be an exception. That'd be like saying seeing a black soldier in the United States military would be uncommon. Being that the Dominican Republic is 17% white alone, I wouldn't call that a small minority either. That's a minority, but not a large one. Puerto Rico is 8% black alone, but people don't seem to have a problem accepting that. The reason is because we compare them to U.S. demographics. To Americans eyes, 17% is very low for white alone. 8% black is a little low, but more understandable.

Everyone should be acknowledged, but similarly to Americans. Not every is white, black or mixed. A problem many people in the United States do is by trying to make things simple. They basically want all Dominicans to be one ethnicity, which isn't possible. There is no such thing as the Dominican ethnicity. It doesn't exist. However, culturally it does.

Don't believe that all white Americans are necessarily as white as they believe they are though. There are segments of populations that are full or very close to them, but it's very difficult to understand because lineage is an individualistic matter. We don't know each person, nonetheless their ethnicity, nor percentages if they're mixed, so it's too difficult to judge abroad.

[nyc0127]

Basically, the Dominican Republic is solidly split white and black. They're are segments of the population that are white and black alone. However, if you were to divide the mixed population by two as I described - you'd come out with the DR being 52% white, 47% black and about 1% of indigenous ancestry that is meshed into both the white and black populations.

To say it's all black or all white would be unfair. To label each Dominican as a representation of the 73% of the population that is mixed would be wrong too. We don't do that in the United States. People don't do that in Canada. Your lineage is a personal manner, not a societal manner. It's a somewhat complicated issue, so it's understandable why people are somewhat confused about if the Dominican Republic is predominantly black, white or mixed.

Black features show more in predominantly white countries, where white does the same to places that are predominantly black. In the United States, that's why it's well-understood that people from the Dominican Republic (or descendants of) lean more to be accepted as black physically. Only 11% of the Dominican Republic is black alone, which isn't much more than the 8% in Puerto Rico and is similar to Cuba and the United States as well. Even though there are more white alone Dominicans, more claim to be black within New York City than white because of this sociology in the U.S. and NYC. Also, because blacks are poorer there and immigrate more.