Haitian Dominicans (1844- ) are people in the Dominican Republic (DR) with roots in Haiti. In round numbers, 800,000 were born in Haiti, 200,000 were born in the DR. They make up about 7% of the country. Most came fleeing violence or seeking work. Many work as maids, field workers, construction workers and so on – work that most Dominicans do not want to do.
Ethnic cleansing: The DR government says it will start kicking them out in August 2015. It has been doing this all along on a small scale, but it seems set to do it on a much larger scale: it is building detention centres and rounding up buses.
Not all one million will be affected: just those who are undocumented – between 250,000 to 500,000.
Being undocumented in the DR does not necessarily mean you snuck into the country. For example:
- Some do not have enough money to get the right papers.
- Some were born at home and do not have a birth certificate.
- Some were brought in by the government to cut sugar cane and were never given the right papers.
Being undocumented means you cannot get a mobile phone, get married, get good health care or get a good education. Many live in constant fear.
It gets worse.
In 2013, the highest court in the land ruled, in effect, that to be a citizen it is no longer enough to be born in the DR. If you were born after 1929, you must have at least one parent with Dominican blood.
Haitian Dominicans who were once citizens no longer are – like those pictured above.
That makes 100,000 or more native-born Haitian Dominicans not just undocumented but stateless – citizens of neither the DR, where they were born, nor Haiti nor anywhere else.
Hitler did that to the Jews. It is against international law.
Dominican American writer Junot Diaz noted:
“The last time something like this happened was Nazi Germany, and yet people are like, shrugging about it.”
Mario Vargas Llosa drew the same comparison.
Antihaitianismo: Just as Nazi Germany was built on anti-Semitism and the US was built on anti-Black racism, so the DR was built on anti-Haitian racism. Haitians are the Despised Other, the national scapegoats.
In 1937 it led to the Parsley Massacre, ordered by Trujillo to “whiten” the country. Between 18,000 and 35,000 Haitian men, women and children were cut to pieces with machetes.
Haiti is still recovering from the 2010 earthquake: 70,000 still live in tents. Some Haitian Dominicans no longer have family in Haiti. Some do not even speak Haitian Creole – like those pictured above.
About 15,000 have aleady fled the DR for Haiti. Others have gone into hiding. Violence against Haitian Dominicans is growing. One man has even been lynched.
The US is not an innocent bystander: its own men patrol the border between Haiti and the DR.
Of those running for US president, only Martin O’Malley, so far as I know, has condemned what the DR is doing. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio strongly condemned it. President Obama remains silent.
Thanks to Mary Burrell for suggesting this post.
– Abagond, 2015.
Sources: Economist, Democracy Now, Miami Herald, Fusion, Truth Out, Wikipedia. The Independent, PBS, Vice News.
See also:
- External links:
- Race in the DR
- Trujillo
- Hitler
- Haitian Creole
- The 2010 earthquake in Haiti
This is nothing new except that the Dominican government is going to do it on a larger scale.
The Dominicans I speak to, support it because they claim that Dominican Republic is a poor country too and cannot support all the Haitians that came over since the 2010 earthquake– they feel that it is out of hand.
The government stated that since the earthquake, they absorbed over 500,000 new arrivals from Haiti. (Here’s an article that discussed the issue back in 2011)
“Dominican officials say they have borne the brunt of both quake refugees and recent economic migrants, adding to a steady flow of people from Haiti who have slipped through the porous border for decades to cut sugar cane, harvest coffee beans, work construction and do other low-wage jobs.”
To me, it’s a racism (colourism) and xenophobic Nationalism at play. As it is, there has always been discrimination based on dark skin and Haitian farm workers get treated like sh’t.
most of the Caribbean countries are giving weak protests because they also deport Haitians who are in their countries illegally — Bahamas even deports the children of Haitian immigrants who were born there and Jamaica deports Haitians who cannot produce paperwork
Surprisingly, Puerto Rico has been one country that has tolerated Haitian/Dominican illegal immigrants.
The Haitians were allowed the “wet foot/dry foot” policy after the earthquake (similar to what Cubans get)… if they get caught at sea, they get returned to Haiti or Dominican Republic. If they make it to land in Puerto Rico, they get to stay.
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Abagond,
What I find funny, is that Haiti is one of the countries that does not give automatic citizenship to babies born in Haiti
and from what I’ve read, once Haitian citizenship is lost, it cannot be gained back.
I think Haiti needs to re-think it’s dual citizenship policy since there is a large Haitian diaspora outside of Haiti. As it is, they are already sending money back home and trying to help make changes.
Haitians refugees should not be “stateless” based on old citizenship laws designed to keep out foreigners from gaining power in Haiti.
but as usual, politics is more important than what is good for the country–Wyclef Jean (from the band Fugees) was not allowed to run for president because of his residency.
“Reversing the law to allow dual citizenship and granting Haitians abroad the right to vote was one of the few actual proposals that Wyclef Jean put forward before his campaign was cut short by the CEP’s ruling.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0825/Wyclef-Jean-s-disqualification-signals-Haiti-diaspora-not-welcome-in-politics
(Jamaica has this problem too, where the diaspora’s money is welcome but they don’t want us to hold office. It’s like we are being punished for leaving)
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No deported haitian is stateless. This is being tossed around in the media to create a firestorm and defame a country that has done more than its share of helping the Haitian people.
don’t believe me?
http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Haiti/haiti1987.html
ARTICLE 11:
Any person born of a Haitian father or Haitian mother who are themselves native-born Haitians and have never renounced their nationality possesses Haitian nationality at the time of birth.
This is an immigration issue.
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President Obama remains silent of course he is not going to acknowledge black people any where. He doesn’t acknowledge the black people here in America. This is just utterly appalling. This is a violation of human rights.
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Black people practicing racism against other black people.WTH?
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does that mean one parent who has ancestors that were Dominican, or one parent who is a Dominican citizen?
How does an American born citizen with Dominican grandparents fall? Differently from Haitian Dominicans with grandparents born in the D.R.?
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if you were never (Haitian or foreigner) LEGALLY a citizen, you are not considered dominican. thats 1,000s of illegal immigrants.. who have no documentation whats so ever. why should one poor country have the burden of providing its scarce resource to people who aren’t their citizens? think of it this way, if i meagerly got by and you were my neighbor, am i going to ask you to come live with me? the dominican is trying to regularize its situation.
Mary, please read further into this before claiming this is racism. This goes beyond racism and is, more than anything, of two countries with mutual resentment towards each other. different languages, and completely different cultures.
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E.C. is spouting the DR government talking points almost word for word.
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@ Linda
I think that is the point – they do not want their best and brightest leaving the country.
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have you ever been to haiti? sheesh
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@ Jefe
I am not a Dominican lawyer, but this is how I understand it from what I have read:
In 1929 the constitution said that anyone born in the country was a citizen – with two exceptions: if you were the child of diplomats or if your parents were “in transit”. In 1939 “in transit” was defined as ten days or less.
The 2013 ruling, though (and changes to “regularize” the law in the years leading up to it) defined “in transit” as anyone who came since 1929. So the “real” Dominicans are those born in the country before 1929 and their descendants. It was applied retroactively so that people lost their citizenship, even those who were documented. The government passed a law to allow some to regain their citizenship by naturalization, but only like 56,000 benefited.
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the point of haiti, to me, is, that, you know, this anti-colonialistic awareness messages like? from here? and there are a lot of preppers in the black community too, my wife especially, and if there is not a committed, sort of ‘level up’ civil/civilian organization after the natl guard leaves, it will be like the zombie apocolpyse but people looking for food, sort of going backwards? to a new colonial movement, that is in respect to losing infrastructure services after some type of event, that many in the ‘tinfoil hat’ version of white people and others expect, it is odd that since 2012? the mayan thing? everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, sorry i been a little etheric or out there, lately, man, but obviously i’m going through it, and i have been getting high.
how is it going in haiti with the sanitary sewers, for example, i think in regards to a solution/answer to america’s evolution to this day is to learn from it and change it by voting, but a lot of people don’t have faith in that and not having the reform and referendum system back east here is a problem too. and chris christie. have a nice day
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The DR is not a rich country compared to the US, but compared to Haiti it is. It is way better able to deal with 250,000 people than Haiti is.
And it is not just about getting rid of people who came since the earthquake – they are deporting people who were BORN in the DR. Born there!
They are also throwing out old men who gave the best years of their lives doing the backbreaking work in the DR’s sugar cane fields, helping to make the country rich. People that the government itself brought in in the 1950s and 1960s and so on.
DR officials make it about this pretend-fake issue of “upholding the law”, just like their US anti-immigration counterparts. But their law is a crooked, dishonest thing. See my comment to Jefe above. It also violates international law, in a Hitleresque way, no less.
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abagond, enlighten me. what are the fallacies in those points? are they not legitimate? if, as you say, you’ve lived in another country for decades and don’t have any form of identification to prove you are a legal resident and deserve to reap the benefits of a said residency… shame on you. this story draws on my heart strings as well, but again, you cant blame a third world country with an illegal immigration issue for resolving its own problems.
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“Abagond@ Linda: I think that is the point – they do not want their best and brightest leaving the country.
Then the Governments (Haiti and Jamaica) need to get their sh’t together so we all can stay home.
everyone is leaving for a reason — and it’s our “foreign-earned” money that’s helping to keep the economy together
Ungrateful is what they are
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“Abagond @ And it is not just about getting rid of people who came since the earthquake – they are deporting people who were BORN in the DR. Born there!”
Linda says,
What the DR is doing is absolutely wrong. To go allll the way back to 1929, is beyond ridiculous.
these colour-struck coconuts are taking advantage of a legitimate problem (illegal migrant workers) and this is internalized racism at it’s best.
most towns/villages are small and everyone knows everyone (and the families that live there), so the local Dominicans know whose parents/grandparents came from Haiti originally 50 years ago.
From what I’ve read, in the bigger towns, they are going by skin-colour and “looks”.
“An aid worker based in the poorer barrios of Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata (the two primary hubs of Haitian immigrants in the DR), reports that in the barrios
police trucks have come through to conduct limpiezas (“cleanings,” with the adjective implied: “social cleanings”):
“The detained tend to range from intoxicated persons to suspected prostitutes, but are disproportionately Haitian or dark-skinned Dominicans with Haitian facial features.
These could just be guys drinking and playing dominos or women standing on street corners. More often, though, they tend to be young men with Haitian features and darker skin. The police usually—usually—detain them for a night and then let them go with a warning.” But, he says, this stepped-up activity is preparation for June 16”
http://www.thenation.com/blog/209745/we-regret-inform-you-4-days-you-and-your-family-will-be-deported-haiti#
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Abagond,
I do want to point out though, that being born in a country, does automatically Not make someone a citizen.
Every country in the world does Not offer “birthright of the soil” (called jus soli)
Bahamas does not offer it, so they also deport the children born to Haitian migrants/refugees
List of Caribbean/American countries that do allow any child born within that country’s territory to become a citizen at birth:
(commonly referred to as “anchor babies” )
1. Argentina
2. Belize
3. Bolivia
4. Brazil
5. Canada
6. Costa Rica
7. Dominica
8. Ecuador
9. El Salvador
10. Grenada
11. Guatemala
12. Guyana
13. Honduras
14. Jamaica
15. Mexico
16. Nicaragua
17. Panama
18. Paraguay
19. Peru
20. St. Kitts and Nevis
21. St. Lucia
22. St. Vincent and the Grenadines
23. Trinidad and Tobago
24. United States
25. Uruguay
26. Venezuela
Haiti is not on the list, neither is Barbados
Antigua and Barbuda is not on the list because they are in the process of changing their laws.
Dominican Republic is off the list since they changed their laws in 2013
and because they previously recognized jus soli, the DR government says they are allowing the children of legal Haitian immigrants (people with legal permanent residency), to stay if they have a DR birth certificate
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What constituency would you belong to? How many generations removed can you be to vote? Would it be fair to allow people who do not have to face the consequences of their of their decision vote? Should the payments of money to relatives be a deciding factor in making a vote? Think about those questions a second.
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Yeah. Best and brightest. Like the Shower Posse. And every other doofus who saved up enough money to pay off the locals at the embassy. Or everyone else who got forgiveness after overstaying their visa.
Yeah, the rest of us, the NOT best and brightest, who go and come back, or fail the embassy interview, or who ACTUALLY WANT TO STAY. Yeah, appreciate that Abagond.
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@ satanforce
The West Indies does suffer from a brain drain. That hardly means that everyone who leaves is part of that or that everyone who stays might not have been. Something like 75% of Jamaicans with a university degree live outside of the country, pretty much for the reasons Linda gave. I agree that there is an element of luck and corruption in who makes it to the US and who gets sent back.
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White supremacy is a trip! Long after the white rulers are dead and gone, it can get color-struck folks who live on the same island fighting each other for scraps.
This so-called “immigration issue” has been going on for 80 years or so and it’s funny how the solution to this issue always seems to come down to either killing or kicking the darkies out.
Hmmm, I wonder if E.C. who seems to be so concerned about the technical aspects of citizenship and immigration would apply that strict standard to the many Dominicans who manage to make it to San Juan or Washington Heights, NYC. Papers please…what’s that? Uh huh…I thought so….
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The Legacy of Colonialism prevails. Dominicans: “We are not black at all, especially Haiti kind of black,” Just an awful mindset that plays people to the fulfill the status quo of White Supremacy Hierarchy.
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In similar ways, the Dominican Republic is doing what El Salvador once did.
According to El Salvador’s history, Black people (from anywhere) were banned from entering the country. The ethnic banning of Blacks ended in 1983. Like most of the Americas, El Salvador was a country that practiced slavery as well. A total of 10,000 enslaved Africans were brought to El Salvador. It is said that the Black population were completely absorbed into the general population, creating Afro-Mestizos in certain areas where Africans were brought. Unfortunately, Salvadorans are in complete denial of their African roots. Every Salvadoran identifies as Mestizo (person of mixed native and European descent). In terms of ancestral denial, many Dominicans remind me a whole lot of Salvadorans.
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@ TeddyBearKing
“Just an awful mindset that plays people to fulfill the status quo of White Supremacy Hierarchy.
Your comment nails it.
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re: Abagond’s statement
So how about descendants of emigrants?
How about spouses of citizens? Can they become citizens?
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If it were simply a brain drain of our “Best and brightest” then that would be a problem. But if you were to look at the original use of the phrase “Best and brightest” (hint: Google it with the terms Robert McNamara whiz kids) you would see that it would be better associated with the problems that countries like Jamaica faces.
Like the Stanford educated finance minister who destroyed the Jamaican middle class, or the Oxford educated lawyer before him who precipitated the collapse of the financial sector. Yes, we do have 80% of our doctors in other countries, and yes 80% of our college graduates plan to emigrate in the next 5 years. But if you are going to do that, then why do you think that you should have the right to affect the lives of those who stayed? Emigres want the right to decide for other people without having to face the consequences of their actions. That is not how democracy works. Obviously, non-citizen Jews and emigre Irish do not have the right to vote in Israeli and Irish elections.
I can see why DomRep is doing what it’s doing – and not just because of my instinctive hatred of Haitians. You have a program for country and you need people who you are sure will get with that program.
And if the DomRep people don’t think that Haitians are with that program, then tough.
Maybe that is what countries like Jamaica need – people who have a proper program for themselves and their country. The best and brightest are part of the solution, but not the whole solution. The best and brightest can make the trains run on time, but necessarily where to go.
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KS-
Illegal Dominicans in NYC and Puerto Rico get deported all the time. Them and other groups. What is your point? That the United States can deport and countries others cant?…. i thought so.
In terms of getting to Puerto Rico, many Dominicans die trying to cross the Mona Passage on make shift boats. They too, should be deported, in the off shot they make it to NYC.
What I want to know is, where is the pressure on the Haitian government to provide better services for its citizens? Why does it cost an astronomical amount for Haitian citizens to get their birth certificates.. and a 4 month waiting process when it only takes their Dominican counter parts 4 days and a substantial amount less?
It looks like people believe what they want to believe, and the best part is, no one seems to question why Haiti is a failed state.
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E.C.
Right…and how many of the folks already in San Juan and Washington Heights have a ridiculous type “pre-1929” standard applied to them? Uh huh…I thought so. If the US tried such nonsense to round up Dominicans en mass who had been here for generations whether they became citizens or not, it would rightfully be condemned and laughed out of court.
Anyway, why are you pretending that you don’t know the history of Haiti though I do understand that playing ignorant makes it easier for you to churn out anti-Haitian propoganda.
Trying to reframe your bigotry as earlier, an “immigration issue” and now, by pointing the finger back at the “failed state” of Haiti is a transparent ruse.
Like I said earlier, white supremacy is a trip. Two poor nations share the same island and the less poor one is kicking down at the poorer one with a clumsy and arbitrary citizenship version of the “brown paper bag test”. At least Trujillo was honest about what he did.
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The situation reminds my of Burma and the Rohingya.
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Satanforce wrote: ” I can see why DomRep is doing what it’s doing – and not just because of my instinctive hatred of Haitians. You have a program for country and you need people who you are sure will get with that program.
And if the DomRep people don’t think that Haitians are with that program, then tough.” Would you care to enlighten me on what that program is? What’s your instinctive hatred for Haitians based on? I believe that a place in Jamaica was named for President Geffrard of Haiti, Geffrard Pl Kingston, Jamaica, have you started a petition to change that name back to something more English?
E.C. wrote: “It looks like people believe what they want to believe, and the best part is, no one seems to question why Haiti is a failed state.” According to you the DR is a raving success? Why then are your countrymen fleeing this paradise?
How come it’s only now that you guys realized that Haitians are black? It wouldn’t be an attempt to cheat Haitians who did the work to make your country marginally better than theirs would it?
Forbes Burnham the president of Guyana wanted to bring Haitian immigrants to his country in order to prevent Indians from becoming the majority there, unfortunately for them Baby Doc preferred to make a deal with the DR on the grounds that Guyana was “communist”. Since you don’t accept Haitians in your country, how about finding another market for the goods you sell other than Haiti?
If DR isn’t a racist latrine, why was José Francisco Peña Gómez subjected to racist taunts when he ran for president? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Francisco_Pe%C3%B1a_G%C3%B3mez
Last but not least, why were some of your nation’s longest serving leaders such as Trujillo of Haitian descent? His mother’s full name was Altagracia Julia Molina Chevalier. Was she related to the French crooner Maurice Chevalier? I don’t think so. Hmm, that name sounds familiar, isn’t it the name of the husband of Marie Noële Dessalines, the sister of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the founder of Haiti? It’s even funnier that one of her ancestors was Bernard Philippe Alexis CARRIÉ, from Arcahaie , Haiti and Duke of Vega-Real and commander of what’s now called the Dominican Republic under President Boyer. No wonder the law was written to affect only the “Haitians” who came after 1929, extended further back I suspect that a number of “Dominicans” would be forced to take their families back to Haiti where they came from.
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I don’t know, I just hate the fuckers. And no, I don’t know what the DomRep people are up to
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Thanks, I was curious what kind of asshole you were, from your response your just the regular ignorant type.
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Thanks for the helpful and informative update on this, Abagond!
” No wonder the law was written to affect only the “Haitians” who came after 1929, extended further back I suspect that a number of “Dominicans” would be forced to take their families back to Haiti where they came from. @gro jo, You are on fire, today!!!
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KS
“Right…” See , you agree with me! I have no idea what you mean by “1929” types you completely lost me. Fact of the matter is, if you can’t provide documentation.. you’re an illegal immigrant. Same rules applies in the Untied States and most of the world; I have no idea how this evades you.
Are you daft? The Dominican Republic isn’t United States, so there goes your argument. Additionally, by your contention, the United States does round up a MASS number of people and deport them. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/21/lies-damned-lies-and-obamas-deportation-statistics/
I think its easy to call someone a bigot when you can’t provide answers to the legitimate claims. Its a cop out, but I won’t hold it against you – peace be with you.
Gro Jo
I never claimed my ethnicity, nationality, origin, whatever – so try again. The Dominican Republic is far from a raving success, but if I you had to choose between either side of the island, where would you go? Money talks, and the rest walks. I think that’s a safe assumption.
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The Dominican Republic is absolutely doing the right thing by standing up for it’s ethnic unity. Only ethnic Dominicans belong in DR, only ethnic Irish belong in Ireland, and only Ethnic Americans* belong in America.
*Meaning people whose families came here before the revolution. Therefore:
All Pennsylvania Dutch (Germans)
All New Amsterdam Dutch (Netherlands)
Most Puerto Ricans
Many British Americans
Some Franco-Americans
Some Swedish-Americans
And because it is impossible to trace most lines back to Africa,
All African-Americans (descendants of slaves)
And also because the Phillipines were heavily Americanized,
Some Filipinos
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Re: Bobby M’s comment:
So, I suppose that would also mean ALL Native Americans and Inuit and Hawaiian / Chamorro as well as many Mexican-Americans. Some Filipinos and Chinese were in California back in the 16th century even before the English and Africans, implying that Filipinos and Chinese in the USA are more ethnic American than the English, Dutch and Franco-Americans?
Don’t understand why Swedish would be ethnic Americans. Didn’t most of them come after the Germans and Irish?
Also don’t understand why Puerto Ricans should be ethnic American according to this reasoning, since Puerto Rico did not become part of the USA until 1898. If Puerto Ricans are ethnic American, then more so are the Mexicans.
According to Bobby M’s reasoning, over 100 million white Americans would have to be deported.
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His ideas are so obviously ludicrous, why would you even try to argue about them?
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Kartoffel
I agree. The guy is nutty, though his inaccuracies should be corrected.
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E.C.
No, I don’t agree with you and the rest of your post is just a silly diversion. You’re just playing games at this point.
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Reading different social media sites in regard to this topic and it reminds me of Nazi Germany and how the Germans during that time were so bigoted towards the Jews. The Haitians families are being torn apart and they are in being sent back to Haiti where they can’t speak the Creole language and they are in a place that is unfamiliar to them. I am reading different accounts where the Haitians say that the Dominicans refer to them as animals and devils. Anybody who says this that racism and colorism is not a huge factor this scenario is being disingenuous. I understand there is animosity and there are cultural differences. But Dominicans are very color struck and they hate anybody with African features.
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@Pumpkin
“It’s always bothered me that some Dominicans who are clearly Black, maybe my color, don’t identify as Black”
Race works a lot differently in Latin American countries than it does in America and so a lot of Dominicans think they are different from Haitians if their skin is slightly lighter and hair a little furrier, but I feel the same sentiments as you.
I went to Dominican Republic last year and noticed how many Haitians there were (7% seems like a very conservative number–I thought they made up a much greater share of the population). Most of them I encountered worked the lowest level jobs at the resorts (trash removal, sand grooming, etc), but others had businesses targeted at tourists. I couldn’t tell whether or not Haitians were treated badly by Dominicans, but I was only there for a week. I did, however, speak to a Haitian business owner at length about the opportunities in DR and how bad things were in Haiti but not in the DR. Of all the Haitians and Dominicans I met, one thing I noticed was how much better the Haitians spoke English than the Dominicans, and so if there are really anti-immigrant sentiments I’d assume the source is the competition in the job market.
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” on Sun 12 Jul 2015 at 01:21:52
Kiwi
Why Dominican Republic Hates Haiti
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKqL8BZqo8Q)”
Are you joking? This video simply selects the facts to fit its claim, and rummages through history to buttress that claim. If things were as cut and dry as this video claims, three of my cousins wouldn’t exist, nor would one of Haiti’s best writers, Jacques Stéphen Alexis, have been born. As for Haitian “invasion” and “oppression” of “Dominicans” between 1822 and 1844, as far as I know, there’s very little evidence for it. After the fall of the Boyer regime, I believe, a “Dominican” was named interim President of Haiti, which included the whole island, indicating that “Dominicans” were integrated in the political system.
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[…] 5. Race in the Dominican Republic; Haitian Dominicans; Antihaitianismo […]
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