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[i] think the identifying mark for the Misesetto or Black Latino is not failing to identify with the black experience its wanting to identify with someone. For many PRBlacks they are proud of their experience, culture and language and wouldn't want to lose that just to be black. Nor should they.
What does that even mean? Why would they have to get rid of their culture just to identify as being black.
Well, Domicans reject their blackness and they always say they are Indian....
But reality is different.
!!!!!
Hmm, for better or worse I found this in another forum (link at the end and I added some much needed spaces in the quote, lol):
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caonabo
The supposed overemphasis on the Taino heritage is an exaggerated lie that has been added to the list of Dominican stereotypes. Not only is it a lie, it is a willfull one because it is pretty easy to find out the validity of this claim.
I went to school for one year in DR, nowewhere in the textbooks does it say we are Taino or exaggerate their influences. The books actually say they became extinct with relatively no genetic input. Even recent ones like Dominican cultures (and they're wrong).
I've asked Dominicans of all backgrounds, including family members if they were told they were Taino or part Taino and they all repeat the same thing: The Tainos died out almost immediately, we are mixed black and white.
Beyond this, just look at what Dr. Lynne Guitar wrote about Dominicans being tested for indian ancestry, they weren't thrilled about it because you forgot that Native Amerindians have many stereotypes, not just the romantic ones. In DR, the stereotype is savage/backward/naive aka 'bobo'. You've been taking some of these anti-Dominican stereotypes at face value.
I often wondered about this too, because everywhere I have seen racial data on Dominicans in recent times and in the past, I always noticed two things: One, there is always a double digit percentage that consider themselves black and; two, the mulatto category is always dominant even if the percentage itself hasn't fluctuated through the years. There is absolutely no census racial data (or at least I haven't seen it yet) that even uses the word indian or indio. Its always white, black, and mulatto and sometimes they add Asian and other times they don't.
This can only mean one of two things. Either Dominicans call themselves indians but are using that word in lieu of mulatto, so when a Dominican says indian, they imagine and are referring to mulattoes and not to actual Native American people. Or indian is not even a racial category but simply a skin color that might mean brown and then they add a shade to denote if its light brown or dark brown or whatever.
It seems contradictory that they would call themselves indians and then feel insulted if someone calls them indian, unless in Dominican Spanish indian doesn't mean indian. Confusing! lol
Anyway, I suggest people read what was posted in that forum. There's plenty of information on Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and African Americans; which is kind of the topic of this thread.
I am a afro-american who lived in Puerto Rico in the early 70"s to escape the political oppersion reaped upon the Black Panther Party. There I found refuge and a place hide and a endearment to last me a life time to the Puerto Rican people. Gracia por todo.
I'm a Puerto Rican who lived and worked in Augusta, Georgia for the past 8 years to escape the economic and occupational dearth wreaked upon the working middle class here on the island. There I found discrimination and contempt from Richmond County black folks that I could only hide from in my apartment to last me a lifetime. Gracias por nada.
Last edited by expatriado; 07-09-2013 at 08:53 PM..
Reason: clarification
I'm a Puerto Rican who lived and worked in Augusta, Georgia for the past 8 years to escape the economic and occupational dearth wreaked upon the working middle class here on the island. There I found discrimination and contempt from Richmond County black folks that I could only hide from in my apartment to last me a lifetime. Gracias por nada.
What type of discrimination or contempt are we talking about here? Care to give a couple of examples?
I'm thinking of going down south later this summer and am planning to do it by land and spend some time roaming around Georgia, since I have never been there. It would be nice to know what type of discrimination you faced there and if you think it was something you did (culture shock or maybe a cultural faux pas?) that triggered the hostility.
If you are familiar with other parts of Georgia, please feel free to warn me of anything I should be aware of.
What type of discrimination or contempt are we talking about here? Care to give a couple of examples?
I'm thinking of going down south later this summer and am planning to do it by land and spend some time roaming around Georgia, since I have never been there. It would be nice to know what type of discrimination you faced there and if you think it was something you did (culture shock or maybe a cultural faux pas?) that triggered the hostility.
If you are familiar with other parts of Georgia, please feel free to warn me of anything I should be aware of.
1. Most folks in the Deep South are grossly unfamiliar with the sociopolitical status of U.S. territories and are content to lump us in with illegal immigrants from Mexico, I was called "you people" by a black boss in the context of immigrants displacing locals from jobs. The same man became visibly angry when he discovered that I had purchased a home in a better school district and more desirable location than the one I worked in (although he lived there himself) claiming that I should have taken up residence close to work.
2. My daughter was explicitly threatened in a sexual manner at school and college by young black men, she was told by a black girl friend that she would never be disrespected that way if she were "from here."
3. My wife and I once invited a couple we befriended on Fort Gordon to share a bit of night life in town, at a local chain restaurant we were verbally assaulted by two female patrons when my wife spoke to my friend's Panamanian wife in Spanish.
4. Another boss (their turnover seemed high) told me that I was being paid too much money because of the cars that my wife and I drove (sorry, but in no place of work should that be anyone's concern but ours), although other staffers drove more expensive vehicles. he seemed dead serious.
5. When I purchased my home, the bank lawyer tried to hit me with $12,000 in closing costs on the mortgage of a $124,000 house although I'd purchased the maximum amount of points and my credit was good. He backed off when I threatened to sue. The primary real estate agent apologized and told us "It must've been your last name."
6. My wife fared no better, when she worked at the Burlington Coat Factory off of Wrightsboro Rd. in Augusta, she was mocked and ridiculed on a daily basis for her thick accent (she has very good diction) by black female coworkers.
I could go on, but if you think these things might have been triggered by a lack of cultural skills on our part PLEASE tell me what culture that you know of would justly tolerate them. I've worked in the Dominican Republic, the BVIs and Curazao and never faced behavior like this.
Where was that famous southern hospitality? Where do you live now, expatriado? Back in PR or somewhere else in the US? I do not think everything listed above was due to racial discrimination. Burlington Coat Factory may not hire the most refined folks.
Where was that famous southern hospitality? Where do you live now, expatriado? Back in PR or somewhere else in the US? I do not think everything listed above was due to racial discrimination. Burlington Coat Factory may not hire the most refined folks.
To answer your questions-I DID come across southern hospitality, but only among hard-working folks with deep country roots (people some like to call redneck) in Georgia and South Carolina, surprisingly enough, transplants from the north and immigrants established in the area were also quite amenable, but most native African-American and many white residents in the cities and larger townships would interact with us stone-faced, testily or rudely depending on the degree of profit to them involved, otherwise, not at all.
I have currently returned to Ponce, PR. Original plans were to move to the Dallas-Fort Worth or San Antonio areas where I have contacts, recieved tentative job offers and large enough Hispanic professional, cultural and political bases exist so as to make daily life more even-handed; but this April my father had a stroke and we were forced to return to the island to manage his estate, which he is no longer able to do. Considering how much happier my family is now (closer to extended kin and friends) and (despite statements about PR to the contrary), how peaceful our new neighborhood is, perhaps it was just as well.
And as I stated before, after working in PR, the Dominican Republic, the BVIs and Curazao with blue-collar coworkers and subordinates, I can say that I NEVER experienced or witnessed the degree of disrespect to newcomers and strangers that my wife did in that store in Augusta, GA.
Gotta add to this thread even though it is aging. I just got my DNA results which show that I am 21% African even though I am half puerto rican and my mother is American-White.
You should see my folks rationalizing on my being 21% black.
Gotta add to this thread even though it is aging. I just got my DNA results which show that I am 21% African even though I am half puerto rican and my mother is American-White.
You should see my folks rationalizing on my being 21% black.
Interesting how things can work out.
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