Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 46 } Location: Soon to be in Europe
Posted: Thu 05 May 2005 15:47 Post subject:
The woman's experiences are factual. Ironically, Santiago is my own home town (I was just there this past July).
This is one of the reasons that I have long advocated (In Interracial Voice and other forums) a combination of
(a) Latino ambiguity and culture-over-"race" and
(b) U.S.-style legal teeth to ward off discrimination, together with a greater sense of justice (Latin America's culture is more oligarchic and class-ridden than U.S. culture).
I also stated this in Omaha NE, on Jim Nelson's local TV interview docu-series in June 1998.
But getting back to the young woman.......what she says points out not only African/dark/kinky-haired women's problems in Santiago but also among North American "blacks" in the good ol' U.S. of A. I have been making a running count of U.S. TV commercials with so-called "black" couples (and U.S. TV commercials portrays blacks as married to each other nearly all the time). All the women are lighter than their mates. Moreover, 90% of the women are mulata. They look like my own (Dominican) family--and if they were in Santiago (the place the "black" woman complains about) they would not only be asked out to dances, but would also be asked to come to be introduced to parents for permission of marriage.
What to do about it?
Well, I guess the solution is a One Drop circling of the wagons. A scenario in which "blacks" only consort with "blacks" and "blackness" is upheld.
The above statement is not facetiousness on my part. It is an echoing of a dark-skinned young female whom I have helped to raise and who is very dear to me. She is committed to a "black" life, endogamy and near-total immersion in a "black" world which has exceptions only called for work (jobs) and patronage of public and commercial institutions (like schools and stores).
Anyone reading the plight of the young U.S. dark-kinky-haired "black" woman in this essay has to become more and more aware of just how disparagement of West African features impacts on females, who are judged so much more harshly on physical appearance than males. Males tend to both be judged less stringently by color and to have more of a permission to compete--for women, in fact, for anything
The result of her Dominican experience? How could she go any way other than One Drop (which she is probably pre-disposed to anyway)?
The question remains--and I am asking this specifically to persons on this board who identify as "white" or "black"--is there any way that West African-looking persons can be re-united with the rest of humanity without segregation, cordoning-off labeling and endogamy? Are we to wait until "whites" wake up and "see the light"? Is anybody naive enough to believe that one?
For many such persons (particularly females), there seems to be no way other than the above. This is what I believe that Frank touched on tangentially when he spoke of the relentless endogamy which so many "blacks" seem to feel they have to observe, the splitting up of man's entire human family into "us" and "them".
They may be factual in that she truly did not enjoy her visit. If so, I would urge her to stay in the United States or Europe because other third-world places would be even more distressing to an American woman.
My gripe is her use of the word "racism." She apparently likes the word; she uses it at least once in every paragraph, sometimes more. She saw socioeconomic inequality--racism. She was not accepted as family in a Dominican home--racism. She was not invited to dance, when her darker friends were invited--racism. Men got fresh with her in the street-racism. Dominicans rejected her attempts to split them across a color line that is only in her head--racism. Siblings spanned a huge complexion range--racism. Her toast fell butter-side down--racism. Okay, I made up the last one. The point is that she makes it impossible for the reader to figure out what on earth she means by that word (other than that she did not enjoy her visit).
I also believe that the womans experiences would have been different - and more positive - if she had travelled to Europe.
A very attractive "interracialy" married dark brown-skinned Haitian woman (with natural hair however not in dreads) who is a member of another group I belong to, recounted the wonderful time she had as an exchange student in Italy.
She was also travelling with fellow white students and her experiences were the complete opposite. She was the woman sought over and very respectfully. She said the white girls were saying "what's the big deal?! She's just your average negro!"lol But the men went wild...
Really, I've seen plenty of dark-skinned women turn heads. But the confidence has to be there. People can sense when you have low-self esteem or are insecure, and pick up on it.
Plus, many American women of color (often one-droppist) are so desperate for the attention of minority males, that they overlook or fail to notice the attention of white ones.
Their entire WORLD is centered around what black men think, or don't think about them. What a sad predicament to be in...
THIS is a turn off to any man I don't care what color he is.
Another woman I know, very dark-skinned, was an exchange student in Germany years back. Again, no problems. Had a great time. Plenty of attention.
Thing is, when you stand out, i.e. "black" or "biracial" in a predominately "white"/European environment OR are "white" in a predominately "black"/"biracial"/African environment, AND you are attractive and confident, you are going to get more play.
Why? Because you're not like everyone else. You're different than the norm, exotic, considered special.
One of the reasons why this woman was so hurt I think, was because she built her expectations up to high to begin with.
She's thinking, "hey, this is a predominately "black" country (not knowing the majority of Dominicans have a VERY different understanding of that term) unlike the U.S." "I'm black, therefore there should be more of a sense of love and togetherness there"
Well, I'm sorry she had such a miserable time. But, I would just hope that she could realize (or not forget) that there is good and bad, racism & non racism in ALL groups.
The fondling sounded horrible. But again, it happens to non "blacks" too.
My good friend is East Asian (born in California), belonging to a so-called high "caste", and she gets fondled (especially on public transportation) every time she goes back to India.
Felicia
Last edited by zsana on Thu 05 May 2005 20:18; edited 1 time in total
Posted: Thu 05 May 2005 18:30 Post subject: There's No Racism Here?
Quote:
Dominicans have created a myriad of names - morena (brown), india (indian), blanca oscura (dark white), trigueño (wheat colored) - to avoid referring to themselves as black.
This says it all right here. From reading her article its clear that the author assumes there are really only two kinds of Dominicans: Black ones and white ones. Anyone who is not white is really black and if they refer to themselves as something else, then they are just fooling themselves.
Ms. Salaam is both culturally and ideologically incapable of addressing the complexity of color and class in the Dominican Republic. Culturally she is an American (African or pseudo-Islamic name not withstanding) and she projects U.S. racial realities onto the Dominican Republic: Black is poor white is rich; black and white represent two distinct groups. Ideologically, she appears to be a Pan Africanist of some sort. Consequently, she may be compelled to see Dominicans, or at least those she sees as black, as her people. If they are her people then they should think the way she does. If they do not, then clearly something is wrong with them.
I am not saying there isnt racism (or more accurately colorism) in the Dominican Republic, but we never get a clear picture of what constitutes racism in the DR. She admits that other sisters enjoyed themselves. Were they as dark as she? Could her bad experiences be due to lack of familiarity with the culture and language? Could she have had an attitude that made people wary of her? All of these things in addition to her dark skin (or in spite of it) could have played a role in her bad experience.
Also her article could have been buttressed with information from actual Dominicans who are critical of aspects of their countrys colorism, but who resist Americanizing their situation.
Ultimately though, I doubt Ms. Salaam, for cultural and ideological reasons, would be able to distinguish the difference between, say, William Javier Nelsons horizontal vs. vertical view of African ancestry and others who hold African ancestry in contempt.
Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 46 } Location: Soon to be in Europe
Posted: Thu 05 May 2005 19:12 Post subject:
Maybe I should clarify what I mean by the word "factual".
I believe that, all things being equal (which they usually aren't), this young U.S. "black" woman would probably get less attention, in the Dominican Republic, from possible suitors if she had the appearance of, say, Whoopi Goldberg as opposed to Angela Bassett (a "black" U.S. actress with less of a West African appearance).
Of course, the same thing applies to the U.S. Moreover, in both cases, a Whoopi Goldberg lookalike with a $1,000,000 bank account would get more suitors than an Angela Bassett lookalike with a $1,000 bank account. You see where I'm going on this......
Here's where the tragedy lies: bifurcational thinking, in which everything is reduced to zero-sum "blackness" versus "whiteness" reduces the holder of "blackness" to permanent behind-the-eightball status in his own mind. It never occured to this "black" visitor to the Dominican Republic to check out some of the villages in the hinterland of the country--villages like Limon de Yuna or San Jose de las Matas in which real poverty (poverty she has probably never experienced) assails persons who look quite "white". And quite mulato. Her bifurcational thinking (in which all humanity must be reduced to "who is black or white") inhibits her from differentiating a descendant of an elite person ("white") and a barrio dweller (who also could happen to be "white"). It inhibits her from differentiating between a person like the mulato President of the Dominican Republic (named Leonel Fernandez) and a Haitian slum dweller (after all, they're "both black"). The tragedy further inflicts this woman to the extent that she cannot take note of her three nourishing meals per day, her rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, her being the recipient of a mostly free and compulsory public education, her being better off than 95% of the world's inhabitants.
No. She's a "black victim". Although she can afford to come to the Dominican Republic all the while Dominicans (of all colors) regularly die trying to cross the Mona Passage trying to get to Puerto Rico (in an attempt to get to the U.S.).
The tragedy also afflict her in this way: bifucational thinking inhibits her ability to think subtlely. What do I mean by that? Let me give you an example. Just as people are discriminated against by "looking black", so they are also discriminated against because of height. I am 5'10". One of my best buddies (a Puerto Rican of the same color and hair texture as myself) is almost 6'3". Therefore, I have a perfect right to think bifurcationally and allege that I am going through life being discriminated against
(a) In getting dates
(b) In getting hired
(c) In being accepted
(d) In making friends
as compared to him.
Is anybody that stupid? Similarly, is anybody that stupid to have squandered the hard-fought rights and gains fostered by M.L. King and others in insane desires to be "black, even if it kills you"?
'
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