24 responses right now ↓

• 1 Kiley // Nov 10, 2009 at 1:02 pm

  I’m at a loss for words.

• 2 VR // Nov 10, 2009 at 1:40 pm

  NO WAY! I didnt even know that was him.. Im thinking to myself, I KNOW who Sammy is… whos that in the pic??? This is incredible…
  I can not understand Hate alone in this world, nevermind self hate. There are going to be children who look up to this man, that are now going to want to do this to themselves. Its just sad.

• 3 admin // Nov 10, 2009 at 1:58 pm

  Well, its definitely him VR. Sad stuff but it happens.

  I’m not surprised by this. I saw signs of not this coming, but just some serious insecurities that didn’t shock me he did this.

  I’m glad I’ve never felt like this about myself. But I’d be happier if people as a whole didn’t feel so down on their skin color.

  But there are so many factors that contribute to this and we’d be here all day if we were to write about it.

• 4 aj0010 // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:53 pm

  So sad, and so disturbing, on so many levels.

  VR makes a good point. How many kids look up to this man, one of the most famous Dominicans of the past few decades? And how many of them are going to now internalize his self-loathing?

  My God, how deep does this go? With all that this man has accomplished in his life, with all the obstacles that he’s overcome, he STILL feels he’s not good enough because his skin is too dark.

  The idea that even one kid will believe the same about himself, as a direct result of Sosa’s decision to lighten his skin, makes my heart ache.

• 5 Goddess Intellect // Nov 11, 2009 at 10:14 am

  I am a little out of the loop although his name keeps coming up on twitter…he purposely bleached his skin because of a disease? Where is his wife from? Is she Dominican?

• 6 admin // Nov 11, 2009 at 10:20 am

  AJ -

  I totally agree. This can have a very negative effect on kids who looked up to him in the DR which are many.

  I’m really disappointed by this.

  GI-

  His wife is Dominican. I don’t think he has a disease. Supposedly he tried skin rejuvenation and his skin got lighter. But in most cases, skin rejuvenation does make your skin lighter.

  I don’t buy it because of the green eye contacts he’s already wearing and the permed hair.

• 7 KT // Nov 11, 2009 at 11:48 am

  Well you know… what else could he do?? There are so many successfull Dominican baseball players like him (and players of other latin nationalities), who don’t necessarily speak up or speakout about the struggles they endured as poor and/or dark skin children growing up (wheter in DR or Cuba or PR etc) I think it is the fear of a backlash, fear they would be called “not Dominican or not Puerto Rican” should they speak out and tell the truth about what truly is happening on the ground. Or fear that the topic is specific to their country and shouldn’t be discussed on a broader scale.

  You know I think even ppl like Sammy need role models to look up to. And I think for a population as diverse as the latino population, there needs to be more role models people can relate to. It certainly helps diversifying latin media. Turning on the tv and seeing ppl that represent the diversity of the population is key. Seeing ppl like you or from similar circumstances who are successful is key. Sammy prolly had no one to look up to or turn to. He was prolly sorrounded by ppl who made fun of his skin and hair. who knows, maybe they called him haitian, i dunno.

  Prominent dark and brown skin latinos need to step up and fight the negative streotypes associated with brown, black and dark skin/features. Until then, i feel sad for tons of latino kids who are brown, black or dark or those who look like sammy or Jose Reyes and are struggling to fit into a culture that heavily communicates that being latino means u look a certain way. Latinos are diverse but i don’t think that diversity is celebrated in terms of physical attributes and features. my two sense.

• 8 terryohms // Nov 11, 2009 at 1:20 pm

  It’s not suprising, as a black man i’ve always felt spanish-speaking people of a darker complexion have never fully aknowledged or embraced their African heritage and are for the most part in full denial of what they really are. But how could you blame Sammy Sosa or the kids that he might influence for bleaching their skin. In DR as well as in this country “white is right”, it’s a message that’s reinforced daily and extremely difficult to avoid as shown with Sammy Sosa’s change. This is an athlete who has been enormously successful despite his complexion and he couldn’t avoid it, that message is overwhelmingly powerfull.

• 9 admin // Nov 11, 2009 at 1:44 pm

  Terry -

  I can dig what you’re saying but this man is a man of influence and great standing in that country. He only cares about himself obviously and not how what he does can affect others.

  The message is overwhelmingly powerful and people would probably do this even if this Sosa story never popped up.

  As KT said, there needs to be role models to teach these kids to love themselves.

• 10 Claudio Sr. // Nov 11, 2009 at 7:06 pm

  And to think that Sammy Sosa was the winner of the Roberto Clemente award, who was always defending Black players and Black people all over Latin America, a person extremely proud of his African roots.

  Please return this award to the family of Mr. Roberto Clemente.

• 11 aj0010 // Nov 11, 2009 at 9:17 pm

  Kt said:

  “Prominent dark and brown skin latinos need to step up and fight the negative streotypes…”

  Um…isn’t Sammy Sosa one of those prominent people?

  Why does he get a pass?

• 12 admin // Nov 12, 2009 at 12:52 am

  I agree Claudio Sr (my dad). Sosa has no business with that award.

  KT -

  Sosa should be one of those people doing that but he doesnt accept that he has Black ancestry so he can’t.

• 13 Goddess Intellect // Nov 12, 2009 at 12:08 pm

  Thanks for clarifying Claudio…thats cool Claudio Sr. graced us with his online presence..love that!
  Sosa is lost..but man I’m not surprised…I mean I have been reading your articles on the Dominican Chronicles…the disease he has is internal point blank…its so bad that he’s in 100% denial.

• 14 admin // Nov 12, 2009 at 12:12 pm

  Yeah GI…I was kind of surprised my dad posted on here himself. Lol.

• 15 KT // Nov 12, 2009 at 2:21 pm

  aj0010: yes Sosa is one of those prominent ppl, but he hasn’t stepped up to the plate and outright said “i’m a successful black dominican” or i’m a succesful dominican of african ancestry, however he wants to say it. has he? he hasn’t accepted his ancestry or who he is or his role of shaping and starting a new dialogue for color relations and perceptions in latin America. Take for example whenever minorities break barriers here in the states, they recognize their significance and the role they play in others breaking more barriers: Sotomayor, Obama, Oprah, George Lopez, Tyson Beckford, Naomi Cambell, Tiger Woods. etc Sosa (now i could be wrong here) and other successful latino atheletes of african descent have not owned up to the barriers they have broken for fellow countrymen or hardships they’ve overcome. And why is that? if Sosa did own up and accept his ancestry how would he have been received by the greater Dominican population? would Dominicans abandon him? would he get tons of hate mail and ppl saying “you are not black, you’re dominican??” or “you’re not black you speak spanish?”

• 16 admin // Nov 12, 2009 at 2:35 pm

  KT -

  You do make good points. I know if Sosa was accepting of his black roots, there would be a solid portion of the population in DR that rejects him or say he’s not Dominican. As all these people think being Dominican is some sort of race.

• 17 Goddess Intellect // Nov 12, 2009 at 4:13 pm

  I would like to see Claudio Sr. Guest post! ……
  Who said that???

• 18 admin // Nov 12, 2009 at 4:14 pm

  Lol. Maybe one day.

• 19 anotherdominican // Nov 14, 2009 at 9:40 pm

  from another perspective: sosa was able to realize his “dream” of seeing himself as what he felt a dominican/latin man is – and not the black man he saw in the mirror. Sosa doesn’t hate himself. I think he just never saw himself as black and when he realized he didnt have to look “black” any more he jumped on it. Along with the green eyes, and permed hair. The fact that he is shocked by the reactions of people show someone who didnt think what he did was a big deal. he clearly never identified with being black. A lot of black dominicans are like this.

• 20 anotherdominican // Nov 14, 2009 at 9:45 pm

  i remember a story told to me by a makeup counter rep who told me she once had a dark skinned dominican woman look for foundation and insist she was the color ivory. The makeup artist tried to convince her that this was not her shade. The woman was a dark brown shade. The woman was insistent and the makeup artist insisted she try on the makeup before she bought it and walk outside the store to see it in natural light. The dominican woman did this and came back and requested the shade the makeup artist originally showed her (which was darker). Apparently the woman had been ridiculed by passerbys who saw her face.

• 21 ConsiderEverything // Nov 18, 2009 at 8:07 am

  @admin so being DR isn’t considered an ethnicity? You said, “As all these people think being Dominican is some sort of race.”
  @AD wow what a sad story but I can relate when you have been ridiculed by the same people who are suppose to love you, family, it can create an incredible amount of self hate in the form of denial… many Africa American brotha’s marry white, latin or high yellow women for this very reason and many dark African American sistah’s get with white, latin or high yellow men so they can have kids that look like the children who were treated “nicely” in school because “light is right”…yes dark is in but no one told the dark skin people and people in general if you really think about it.
  There was a time when to be dark was nobile…surely not recently.

• 22 admin // Nov 18, 2009 at 10:50 am

  Consider -

  Thanks for the comment. I appreciate it. But ethnicity and race are two different things.

  Ethnicity describes one’s cultural background or allegiance.

• 23 ConsiderEverything // Nov 22, 2009 at 12:16 am

  Exactly my point, that is why I asked if being DR is cinsidered an ethnicity as there is only one race and that is the human race. So DR is considered a race by DR people? I don’t get the point of your comment on 16…as not all DR have African blood…hence the struggle of the Butterfly’s. It seems DR’s are just as divided as all other ethnicities that were colonized and had African blood-lines. This is so sad. Please do explain your commet.

• 24 admin // Nov 23, 2009 at 5:20 pm

  Dominicans are divided as many other ethnicities with African bloodlines.

  All I’m saying is that Dominicans act as if being Dominican is a race. As if they only came from white and Indian ancestry or something. They refuse to accept that they also have a lot of African ancestry; mostly in reality.

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