Dominicans in the U.S. Can you identify?

[bob saunders]

Originally Posted by dv8

and as far as the signs in usa: never been, never seen. but i asked miesposo to buy me some magazines (elle, cosmo, marie claire) at the airport when he went to miami. not even one in english. all in spanish.

That's your husbands screwup- all those magazines are available in English at the Miami airport. I've spent enough time in that airport to know every shop. In Canada we have English Canadians and French Canadians and there have been at times great tensions between the two groups. I can usually spot a Franco-Canadian from a mile away, just as they can usually tell an Anglo from a long ways away. It's all good though.

[jrhartley]

any American-Canadians by any chance ? he asks knowing the answer lol or maybe some African-French-Canadians

[bob saunders]

Originally Posted by jrhartley

any American-Canadians by any chance ? he asks knowing the answer lol or maybe some African-French-Canadians

Yep we got American Canadian too - they say huh instead of eh.

[POPNYChic]

Originally Posted by pkaide1

americans are confusing, indeed.

Yes, indeed, some people from the US of America are very confused about who they are. But it is a shame that for some incomprehensible reason, they believe that people around the world see the world with the same eyes as they do. And by the way Latinos or Hispanic whatever you want to call them are not new immigrant in the US. There were Latinos, Hispanic, and Indians wait before the US was a country.

Isnt that the truth? I have learned from floating between 2 very different cultures that there is a bit of forcefulness sometimes here when it comes to ideas...ideals. It shouldnt be necessary to say that different dynamics exist everywhere...and though they may be different..or even similar...that doesnt mean they are "worse" or that its bad. Its just different.

I think thats why so many groups in the u.s. remain compartmentalized and choose hyphens. When they arent readily accepted by the majority, for simply being different, they end up relying on each other instead and forming little enclaves. In the DR its nowhere near as segregated. This is still kind of a foreign concept for me...

Yep. Half of the u.s. was mexico and spaniards where there ...but thats glossed over very quickly in school. in fact some are offended by the mere mention of it and i dont know why. when you think all-american thats just not the picture most get. but time is all it will take, i guess...

latino immigrant numbers have definitely increased greatly in the last couple decades. many are not happy about it at all. eventually no one will care anymore though. americans will eventually be known for being even more diverse. nothing wrong with that.

[POPNYChic]

Interestingly related thread US 2010 Census: Dominican

[bachata]

Originally Posted by bienamor

Hope your talking about some big city like new york/atlanta/boston, as I was from the midwest we were not quite so PC out there. They translated some to the hospital wings and areas like x-ray an stuff so people could find their way around, but no translators on the hospital's staff. Now in Detroit, the airport had signs in Japanese, but not Spanish?

Yes Raleigh is the State capital of NC, with a growing Hispanic population and the reason for so many sign in Spanish at the downtown are all the public offices and the courthouse. For example the company I work for is replacing the English sign for sign in both languages. Almost every day we have people parking their cars at the monthly costumers parking lots or in some restricted areas, it is sad because they have to pay a 50 dollars fine to get the boot out of the left front wheel and this happens just because they can't read in English.

JJ

[bienamor]

Originally Posted by bachata

Yes Raleigh is the State capital of NC, with a growing Hispanic population and the reason for so many sign in Spanish at the downtown are all the public offices and the courthouse. For example the company I work for is replacing the English sign for sign in both languages. Almost every day we have people parking their cars at the monthly costumers parking lots or in some restricted areas, it is sad because they have to pay a 50 dollars fine to get the boot out of the left front wheel and this happens just because they can't read in English.

JJ

Know very well about Raleigh/Durham have to have them both as you can't tell when you make the change. This is one of the things I was talking about, why do they have a drivers license? They should have been conversant in English enough to read signs in order to obtain a license! If they cannot read no parking signs, then they cannot read traffic warning signs. That will cost them or someone else someday, a lot more than having the boot removed.
Or they are driving without a license. which is the reason that Uninsured motorist insurance is 5 times higher in Florida, than it is in Indiana. This was mainly due to the migrant workers.

[eibbed]

You responded to my post about the 2010 Census, referencing your posting on this thread. I'd really like to visit with you. Perhaps we can exchange direct email addresses via PMs if you're willing. I will be in the Dominican Republic on a fellowship through the remainder of the academic year to conduct fieldwork/research related to the complexities of Dominican identity and molecular anthropology.

I'd like also to respond to one statement contained in your post. I've extracted the portion of the post which I find interesting and, in some cases inaccurate.

First, I'm a black American and I'm not entirely sure what you mean by we're "often offended" if someone doesn't self-identify as they have the right to do. I firmly believe in the right to self-identification and find it absurd that anyone -- black, white, or whatever race or ethnicity -- would be offended by someone else exercising their right to self-identification.

Second, I'm unsure if you've examined miscegenation in the U.S. and the instances of offspring whose parents are completely different races, and not simply "different tones of black."

For those of us who have devoted years and years of research to topics like this, some blacks are indeed talking about different races within the same family. For example, since 1790 (the earliest date of my documentation), three different races have been and continue to be represented in my family. Finally, the results of my own DNA test reveal an even more perplexing mixture. And, I don't mean just "different shades of black."

Originally Posted by POPNYChic

Black Americans are often offended if you don't claim "just black". They say "there are people of different colors in my family too" but really theyre just talking about different tones of black. Its not different races like with us.

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by eibbed

I will be in the Dominican Republic on a fellowship through the remainder of the academic year to conduct fieldwork/research related to the complexities of Dominican identity and molecular anthropology.

Will you be publishing this eventually? If so could you let us have details please?

[POPNYChic]

eibbed, so very interesting! i will pm you. i will be in POP until at least next summer so maybe you can come around! i am interested in learning about your observations.

Hmm and as for what you quoted, first I will clarify that I have hung out with many AA HBCU goers who study sociology and are generally very pro-black and really and truly believe in the "one drop". So...to me thats just a matter of American views vs Dominican views clashing..as I see the problack movement as being very American. I agree everyone should be able to self identify as a purple people eater if they want to. Not my problem lol

About miscegenation...the AA population is not in any way shape or form mixed to the extent that the majority of Dominicans are. Totally different histories as you have noted and thus our families cannot be compared.

Though we are all of the diaspora, we are all different in terms of culture, history, admixture....so this is to be expected.

Most African Americans do not have a bunch of Italian, Arab and/or Asian looking folks plus all the mixes that come from it, just wallowing in their family. You may be mixed with several races but you dont see that kind of variation often because it wasnt allowed to occur for so long....whereas with us, we were encouraged to mix to our hearts content.

When you all mostly look black you can all easily identify as such. But if in a community everyones siblings all appear to be of different races, its only natural that none of you claim any ONE race, regardless of what you look like or your actual ancestry....add to that the colorism and you get a really unique view on "race" and what it entails.

Dominicans in the u.s. also dont usually consider themselves "white" even if they are. We are simply coming from totally different places, as similar as we may be.

Dominicans cant be separated by race according to phenotype like AA's can be from their white american counterparts...we havent ever respected any lines so everything is blurred. Are there white AA's? Asian ones? Arab ones? Etc? All of the above-looking ones? No. you're all black, albeit mixed.

Americans, I find, tend to want to separate people in the DR by phenotype as if thats all there is to race. You cant know what their parents look like, what their extended family looks like...In the U.S. when you see an AA you can almost guarantee their family will be mostly just black-looking.

Same with the white Americans...unlike a white dominican chances are they arent gonna be prone to having 13 mulatto cousins, 8 black-looking ones and 4 arab-looking ones (and prolly a black brother to boot lol). Your history of segregation makes it so you are a breed of your own. Americans are used to separation and try to impose it on everyone else too, imo. Every country has their own unique mix of folks. That should be properly observed and respected instead of having everyone be lumped into the ideals and experiences of ONE particular country.