Dread:

I see you hav e had a full nights sleep!!

keep it comin'!!

My answer is that, if any, you could count them with the fingers of one hand. When there are blond haired and blue eyed people on them, they're usually cubans taking the opportunity of making the trip to the US on the Mona Pass instead of the good ole Florida Strait. I can't really talk about Jamaica's case, but I have toured the other three islands of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico) extensively and believe me, of the abovementioned three, I can vouch for the fact that Hispaniola is the one with the most racially segmented distribution of the wealth. A white proletariat shines for its absence both in Haiti and the DR, even more if one is using the "one-drop" gringo style when making the comparison.

When "people" stop telling me how to act or how to write, they eventually find out we have more in common than they thought.

I don't know all blond haired, blue eyed Dominicans living in the US but the few I know personally, including family members, did not "bought" a ticket on a yola.

I am sure a few did, but too few to notice, I guess.

As a person who enyoys traveling, my passion has taken me to many countries, poor and rich, and it's with sadness I say that to me, and this is only my opinion, the Dominican Republic, cuando se refiere a sus habitantes, is one of the most racist country I have visited.

I am one of those Dominican who doesn't like to say " I am Dominican but my grandfather was from Spain and/or my mother side of the family is from Europe', as if that will make me less Dominican.

White or black, I am Dominican and when it comes to racism in the DR, let's just say I know racism when I see it.

Worse yet, anybody with a pulse can see it.

Tupapaupa, i am delighted to note your intellectual honesty when addressing the situation. several posters seem to think that any mention of this condition is an attempt to discredit the DR. if we do not confront the issue head on, it will never be resolved. worse yet, it will not go away on its own. and for Mr Lautaro, regarding the British greater antilles country, Jamaica. the same condition used to exist, but has changed radically. the old "light skin privilege" is dying out completely, and it is more a meritocracy, or a matter of nepotism and political connection in terms of getting ahead. discrimination of any kind, be it religious, sex, color, or ethnicity, can only be rooted out by robust exposure, and the will to address it. taking a defensive posture accomplishes nothing.

Tupa "is one of the most racist country I have visited" I certainly do not want to quote you out of context, however can you clarify your above comment for the benefit of the readers.

Well Dread, I concur with what you said there is an old saying in french that " Toute verite n'est pas bonne a dire" roughly translated "All the truth is not good to talk about"

Antonio, with words such as "to me", "only my opinion" and "cuando se refiere a sus habitantes" written, I don't think a clarification is needed.

Al buen entendedor, pocas palabras.

Let me tell you something I have learned over the years.

A true Dominican is not one who claims to love the Dominican Republic, a true Dominican is one who even when loving the Dominican Republic is not blinded by the country's shortcomings.

I didn't need to be Nostradamus to know that, just a true Dominican, at least at heart.

THOSE THAT CREATE WEALTH ENJOY THE GAINS.....
Gizmo TuPapaUpa It has nothing to do with racism it's perception more than anything else, although im not negating the racist and profit driven factors of slavery. Just look at who established the country they were Spanish colonizers and the work was done through slaves. But the benefits and wealth went to the descendants of those colonizers not to the slaves. If you did not know? most of the wealthy families in Dominican Republic are descendants of those same families and clans of the past, that fought against the Haitians for our independence. So the question you got to ask is, do they deserve this wealth? or not? The fact that certain sectors of Dominican society are marginalized don't mean that racism is the main factor, although many believe blatantly that it's all related to race. My belief is more the goverments fault of not adressing the problems of poverty and ignoring the plight of the needy, another circumstance is the increasing numbers of people and lack of resources which compound more the aforementioned problems. The same social and racial disparities occur all across Latin America, Dominican Republic is not an exclusive example, although some country's have similar or different reasons why these problems are still prevalent within there respective societies.

Manhattanite,
You "especially when past the first couple dozen they degenerate into the same stupid left vs right or DR vs Haiti battles."!! It'd be no problem to just leave them to their deices but maybe these have gotten so cliché and insulting that casual readers are turned off and don't return.??

Because people like you with such mentality are the reason the DR has such immigration problem. Turning your face the other way not to see the magnitude of the issue “La Vida es color de Rosa" attitude.
If the Trinitarios were alive they would be so proud of you!!

This site is very engaging, and fun. If you feel people are not posting as before, perhaps they trying to brake away from this addicting site.
I think you are turning off some people.

Gizmo allows "it has nothing to do with racism, it is just perception" so i guess it is just perception when there are clubs that do not permit the entry or membership of people of color? he is right, to a degree. the lighter skinned people perceive the darker skinned people to be unfit for participation in their circle. racism is simply the determination of outcomes based on race, or ethnicity, in this case. the fact that the light skinned people with european backgrounds owned everything of worth has racist overtones and content, based on the definition i alluded to before. the fact that nothing has changed to any meaningful degree means that racism has not been diminished. as i mentioned before, the fact that people of european phenotype are not often seen huddling into a yola to seek an opportunity speaks eloquently to the issue that the fortunes and misfortunes, at least economically, have a racial component. and, also, to what perception do we owe the qualifier seen so often on employment solicitations "ONLY PEOPLE OF GOOD APPEARANCE NEED APPLY"? surely that does not mean that the applicant should present his or her self nattily attired!!