It means a big, loyal family that extends across borders to me. It means people who have surrounded me my whole life, who I share a lot of culture and experiences with, and who share the condition of living our lives between this small island-city and that huge, beautiful and unforgettable island. Unfortunately for most of us making a living means the vast vast majority of time is spent stateside, but the traffic back and forth and the stickyness of our ways and traditions makes me feel the effect of being Dominican daily despite being born American.

No, I don't. Like your case, that site opened my eyes to many things about racial matters in the US and the rest of the world. The funny thing about it all is that people in the US defend and live up by the ODR without knowing its name or its origins, they just accept it as another "truth" of life.

Than much like my case you lurk around.

The thing I respect the most is the non-political viewpoints that rely purely on science where there's none of this American conservative or American liberal bias crap. I think I've seen the most honest portrayal of Dominican society and ethos there than a lot of other spaces.

Yes.. I have seen white Dominican living in huts..... deep in the none tourist section of DR.. they are the whitest Dominicans I know..

.

That is troubling indeed. And while there's always been a sense of "doing dirt" to stay afloat in urban Dominican youth, lately they've been adopting much more of the Afro-American hood mentality which I view as much more harmful for several reasons (no, not because they're black). Between that, and the rap and reggaeton and most of these fools being deported back, I see a huge problem. That in itself lends another problem, the creme de la creme flees the island and the scum flood back.

I have cousins who lived in R.D. longer than me and from an earlier time and know way less about our history, but I am a product of superior foreign educational systems.

Would you then say that its more of social manifestation of cultural fusions deriving from those artistic cultural/ethnic idioms which are hyped by the media and so called artist? Dominicans are not the only ethnic group emulating African Americans. This has been seen in all large cities and across many cultures.

I'd say like anything it's a variety of things and that may be one of them. Also close proximity to living with them. On top of that being seen as non-white and acting accordingly to other non whites especially if you're anything more than 1st generation Dominican-American in which many cultural ties are lost.

Either way I find it really hard to watch. We have such a rich culture and it's washed away by this gang banging garbage. In my family if someone acts emulating that nonsense they are swiftly corrected.

I think it depends on the experience from the other country. If you seem very attached to your roots (Spanish is fine, you've kept contact with some people, etc.) then people in DR will not under any circumstance consider you a foreigner and you're just another one among the bunch. On the other hand, there are a lot of Dominicans born and/or raised in the U.S. that are much more attached to their American upbringing, which will eventually be noticeable so they are treated like foreigners. I've never felt people in DR actually "look down" on Dominican-Americans (which by the way is not even a term we even use amongst ourselves), at least not the way I've heard Puertoricans from the island look down on the so-called Nuyoricans.

Education is also a factor, there is a small breed the more highly educated ones fall into, that have adapted and assimilated into both cultures and can move with ease among both Dominicans and Americans. These usually have the best of both worlds and have the luxury of not having to hyphenate themselves because they can be either Dominicans or Americans.