Haiti And The Dominican Republic: A Comparative Analysis

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Haiti and the Dominican Republic have long been divided by their culture, heritage and language. The people of Haiti speak Creole, and are mainly of African ancestry. Whereas Dominicans speak Spanish and identify themselves with their European and Amerindian ancestry; rejecting their black heritage. To be Haitian, is to be black and that is something Dominicans do not want to identify themselves with. Antihaitianismo ideology has long permeated the Dominican Republic’s culture, their ideology and identity. Not to mention Dominican Republic’s political realm, that divides the Española in two nations beyond their borders. Antihaitianismo is a manifestation of racism towards Haitian population. Antihaitianismo is an ideology that “combines…show more content…
“The Dominicanization of the border was under way- any Dominican who considered himself a patriot and a real man had to grab one of those filthy, no good, miserable wretches who had taken the food off [their] plates, (Vega, 214).” The execution was considered to be a cleansing from the blackness that surrounded the Dominican nation. Ironically enough, Trujillo was the son of a Dominican man of Spanish descent and mother of Haitian ancestry. But he suppressed this side of known ancestry. “ While he regarded Dominicans as righteous Catholics with European ancestry, he despised Haitians for their apparent leanings towards African voodoo and other unfavorable cultural practices (Thomas, Wrestling).” It wasn't only the color of the skin that Trujillo believed contaminated his people, but also Haitians religion and customs were seen as a threat to the Dominican culture. In the "The Day It All Happened", Vega introduced Filemon Jr, who is from the Dominican Republic and had successfully immigrated to Puerto Rico. His life is cut short by a man, Felicien Apolon, whose father was betrayed by Filemon Jr's father. This story reflects the long rivalry and hate between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A hate so strong that crossed the oceans into another…show more content…
Black baseball players enjoyed visiting the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico, because they were seen as equals by the native people. There were no signs of racism in the island. The populations ancestry is mixed. A mixture of Black, Spanish and Taini. Skins tones range from white, black, and “trigueño”. As opposed to playing in the U.S. where the news would deliberately misspelled Roberto Clemente's words as a way to denigrate him for being black, poor and having a different culture and language. Jackie Robinson was a African American, who was a Lieutenant of the American Army. Bill Rickie chose Jackie Robinson, because the ability he had to compose himself against the treatment of the then racist public. They both became great baseball players, by proving their fellow team mates who also mistreated them and against their opponents that they were better players and better human

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