I definitely agree that the pie is so much smaller over there so hostility is more prevalent. Obviously, both countries are different in size, but the job factor is a clear problem in both.

I can see where you feel I may have lumped in Balaguer and Trujillo’s policies and the Dominican peoples’ attitude together. It wasn’t my intention, but all I really said was that it helped widen the divide. That divide sat on a political front and then color second for those who supported these men. Obviously, not all Dominicans think like them.

On the color front, as you said, we can be here all day talking about it. But there’s no denying as I’ve said in this blog in the past, that sometimes the most hateful words about blacks you hear from Dominicans are from Dominicans of a darker complexion.

It’s a shame, but with time, things will change.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts on this man. I appreciate it.

I wouldn’t stop visiting a well written blog because I disagree with one piece, or I’d never be able to follow any blogs! And I understand we must write from personal experience. Since you posted the article I couldn’t resist registering my opinion based on my own experience.

I think on the issue of jobs is where I see the least similarity between the two situations. The US is an industrialized modern behemoth, while with Haiti and DR we are talking about two underdeveloped places where opportunity is limited. This in no way justifies any abuses in DR, but it does mean we have to consider that any competition for economic opportunity there is magnified because the pie is so much smaller. Unfortunately in a place like DR this translates into very open forms of hostility.

Also I’m coming from a working class family, and I would guess you do as well since you are also from the Heghts. Ppl from our background should see through the canard “the jobs that ____ take are ones that ____ refuse to do; jobs they feel are beneath them.” It isn’t the job that keeps the domestic group away, it is the exploitation wage that comes with it. The ones paying Haitians the exploitation wage are a particular group, the group who gets away with whatever they like in DR. It’s the same sort the Trujillos and Balaguers come from. And this was another gripe I had with your piece. Your references to these men seem to ascribe to the Dominican people at large the attitudes and policies of two tyrants who did as much (more?) to hurt Dominicans as they did to Haitians.

Color complex issues are deeper than we should get into in these short comments. It is undeniably there and undeniably a component of the hostility towards Hatians . Still I have seen, and would bet you have as well, that even darker Dominicans engage in the ostility…from campesinos on up to intellectuals. To me this means there is more at work behind the hostility than only color. I guess that would be my last disagreement with the piece, as your phrasing indicates you feel this is the controlling factor in the hostility.

Thanks for continuing to visit the blog. I appreciate it.

“I really don’t see how the history between DR and Haiti is no different than the US relationship with Mexico. I’d say there is no analogy at all between the two situations beyond the fact that it involves a shared border.”

One word: JOBS.

I think you have to take into account the job factor and how Haitians increasingly move in and work for much less because there are more jobs. In addition, like many Americans, some, not all Dominicans dislike the influx of Haitians into the country because they don’t feel “it’s the same as it used to be.”

You used the word “historically.” When I said that, I’m speaking from a jobs and immigration perspective.

When I wrote this article, I’m obviously speaking from personal experience. All I said was that I was eager to see what the reaction would be from the Dominican community especially hearing the things you hear/heard about Haitiains in the neighborhood, Dominican Republic and even in my own family.

Throw into account the color complex in the Dominican community and how Haitians are obviously looked down upon because of their skin color and I feel it makes sense.

I don’t feel I made Dominicans look less human than anyone. Dominicans proved that despite any issues you may have with a country, you can come together in tough times and hopefully this can help improve the relationship between both.