Ah, m'zami, sak pase? Rapadou, mon cher, don't you know that these topics are guaranteed to bring out the uglier side in many posters here?
I don't think it's as simple as you're saying, though. There is a complex ambivalence about Haiti in the DR. People can sometimes be blind or oblivious to the positive elements of Haitian culture, while magnifying the negative aspects. Often enough - as you point out - these negative aspects are shared by the DR itself.
When it comes to the Haitian influence on the DR, there can be denial, appropriation, or acceptance, depending on the case in point and the attitude of the Dominican in question.
Some examples:
Denial:
Dominican traditional Gaga music is not accepted to be Dominican, but dismissed as Haitian, because it is preferable to consider it the result of Haitian 'infiltration' into Dominican culture rather than to accept that Dominicans and Haitians have a common African heritage. Same goes for Santeria. It is believed to be an alien belief system brought over from Haiti, instead of a feature of Dominican African heritage in its own right.
When a Dominican has a Haitian surname in their family tree, some will claim a French grandparent rather than a Haitian one. In contrast, some will attribute their skin colour to a lone 'Haitian' ancestor, rather than accept that most Dominicans are descendants of Europeans and Africans in their own right.
Appropriation:
French Romantic painter Theodore Chasseriau was born in the DR of French/Haitian parents in early 19th century. The family moved to France where he achieved prominence as a major artist of his time, contemporary of the better-known Ingres and David. His paintings hang in the Louvre. The Dominican art scene has been keen to reclaim him as a Dominican, because he was born here, despite his parentage and the fact that he hardly lived here except as a child. Some even claim that his mother was Dominican, not French or Haitian, but I've never found proof of this.
Acceptance:
The loudest voices come from Haiti-phobes, as is evidenced on these boards. I choose the term deliberately because their attitude to Haiti is formed by fear, ignorance and hatred. However, there is a sizeable portion of Dominicans which is compassionate about the tragic plight of Haiti and accepting of the richness of its culture, which disassociates itself from the shrill rantings of their prejudiced compatriots.
Also, Haitian art is sold in the DR as just that: Haitian art. I've never heard any Dominicans try to appropriate it as Dominican art.
Peņa Gomez is only associated with Haiti when people try to discredit him. His supporters would always claim he was '100% Dominican' but this is as much political as racial. If it could be proved he was born outside the DR he would not have been eligible to stand for President.
Sammy Sosa, being from the east, is fairly likely to be the descendant of cocolos (from the English-speaking Caribbean) rather than Haitian, though I don't know for a fact either way, so he is not a good example.
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