Looking for Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in Pittsburgh (Washington: living, legally)

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by thompsond95

Hello, I am Black and Dominican. I have been recently tapping into my Dominicans roots because I've been in Black culture all my life and never in Dominican culture. I'm living in Indiana, PA and I will be working in Pittsburgh next year. I'm looking meet people who are Latino specifically Dominicans and Puerto Ricans and I looking to settle down to get into a relationship too. So are there any Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in Pittsburgh and if not what Latin groups are there?

How can you be Black and Dominican?

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by Lucario

How can you be Black and Dominican?

Pretty easily: "The Dominican Republic's population is 73% mixed-race, 16% white, and 11% black"

[Uptown kid]

Exactly... Not uncommon at all. In fact in the DR black Dominicans are just plain old Dominicans. America is one of the few respected nations that often associates nationality with race. Either way, there are thousands of black Dominicans living in the US (especially NYC) & even some Hispanic Dominicans are so naturally dark they often pass as being Black Dominicans.

BTW the OP could technically be by-racial (half of Dominican decent and half of Pan African/African American decent)

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Pretty easily: "The Dominican Republic's population is 73% mixed-race, 16% white, and 11% black"

The point is that he is saying he is Black and Dominican as if they are mutually exclusive. My point is that he must be African American and Dominican or some other Afrodescended group on one side and the heavily Afrodescended Dominican on the other.

I'm Cuban and African American. The Cuban side is Black as is the African American of course.

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by Uptown kid

Exactly... Not uncommon at all. In fact in the DR black Dominicans are just plain old Dominicans. America is one of the few respected nations that often associates nationality with race. Either way, there are thousands of black Dominicans living in the US (especially NYC) & even some Hispanic Dominicans are so naturally dark they often pass as being Black Dominicans.

BTW the OP could technically be by-racial (half of Dominican decent and half of Pan African/African American decent)

Yep that would be bicultural, not biracial.

[Herodotus]

You have to remember, that in most of Latin America, black is defined the same way white is in the US. In other words, as you must be close to 100% European, or from certain parts of western Asia to qualify as white in the US, in Latin America, a person needs to be very African in order to be considered black. By Latin American standards, probably 2/3 of American blacks would not be considered black. People who look like Denzel Washington, or Muhammad Ali would not be seen as black in the DR, and the idea of people like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and especially Louis Farrakhan as blacks would be seen as ludicrous. In the US, the "one drop rule" not only makes them black, but also people like Mariah Carey, Halle Berry, and Vin Diesel.

[pman]

Originally Posted by Herodotus

You have to remember, that in most of Latin America, black is defined the same way white is in the US. In other words, as you must be close to 100% European, or from certain parts of western Asia to qualify as white in the US, in Latin America, a person needs to be very African in order to be considered black. By Latin American standards, probably 2/3 of American blacks would not be considered black. People who look like Denzel Washington, or Muhammad Ali would not be seen as black in the DR, and the idea of people like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and especially Louis Farrakhan as blacks would be seen as ludicrous. In the US, the "one drop rule" not only makes them black, but also people like Mariah Carey, Halle Berry, and Vin Diesel.

it's very different down there in terms of race. in PR it is estimated that nearly 2/3's of the population has taino (Indian) blood despite the fact that the race "died out" (or more accurately, was assimilated) long ago. not related but interesting is that europeans have the highest amount of neanderthal dna.
of course, many people still don't understand that you can be white and mexican. it's a big world out there.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by pman

of course, many people still don't understand that you can be white and mexican.

Tell me about it.

[BarqCider]

a lot of folks are surprised there can be blonde, blue eyed latinos out there....

[Aqua Teen Carl]

I'm not one to be offended, but if I was there would be a lot of people I would never talk to again due to the things I've heard in my time dealing with this topic.

- "Oh you don't speak Spanish? You're white then!"
- ::looks at my full name:: "I had no idea you were a [racial slur]!"
- "[insert terrible Puerto Rican racial stereotype]" "... I'm Puerto Rican" "How the hell did that happen!"
- "You're Puerto Rican!?!?" ::total surprise::

etc.