PBS Special: BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA

The ridiculous thing is that, with much of the white Cuban population living in 'exile' abroad, the country is majority black now, but they still keep calling us a "minority" down there.

 

I agree. As a black Latin American/African-American, I have had a lot of experience in noting the differences between the two societies and their views on race. I was not denying its existence, just noting that there are some major differences in how each society views race and racism, to say nothing of the variety from one Latin American country to the next.

 

The VAST majority of Jews came to the US from the late 1800s onward. I'm not denying flaminghetero's statements about Jews, I'll take the websites he posted at face value. However, that was still not some large-scale phenomenon. And I agree with you about the abolitionist period, if I understand you correctly. Were you talking about the Dutch Quaker period? They were the founders of the abolitionist movement from the 1600s onward and worked with blacks along the Underground Railroad and were significant participants in that struggle through the 1800s. During those early years there were NOT many Jews in the U.S., despite some random examples.

 

Exactly, I agree with everything you said in this thread.

 

Yeah I meant as a definable group. Like I'm sure there are small groups of Bosnians in my are but they're not a definable group.

 

HAHA...I never knew of the Taino line until I was in my late teens, and from what I understand this was only a Dominican thing.

 

Nah, the Tainos were in PR too. I experienced it firsthand when I dated a dominicana in college who was darker than me and I was talking about getting pulled over by the police and I said something like "I was nervous being black and getting stopped by a white cop..." to make a joke and she broke out with "no, my love, you're not black you're indio..." I almost fell out of my chair laughing.

 

Im glad you put this up. I cant wait see it

 

The great wave of hispanics coming into the country from Latin America will bring a new influx of racism with them as they take over. It was reported this week that hispanics are taking over many large American cities that were once dominated by blacks. It appears we will not have to wait until 2050 after all.

 

Watch what you say.

They're folks around here that will tell you those hispanics are not racist and actually love you.

People don't check their racism at the border..

The Italians didn't...
The Jews didn't...
The Irish didn't..
And the Mexicans will out-racist them all.

If you come from a racist Country...9 times outta' 10...your ass is racist.

The powers that be will never allow a large number of pro-Black immigrants into the Country.

YOU GOTTA' HATE NIGGA'S TO GET IN THIS MOFO..

Even the Black immigrants be trippin'....until the cops bus' em upside the head..

 

Explain...please? When my family immigrated to America, from Latin America, they were not asked about their feelings toward American Blacks as some sort of requirement to come into America. As far as Black Immigrants trippin...I have seen many get mistreated by Americans simply for being foreign....neither side is innocent.

 

Well many folks are a product of the crack epidemic, having crack-addicted mothers.

 

Based on the clip I saw above, I'm getting the feeling that the Dominican chapter has some misinformation. A few examples:

1. Dr Gates claims that there are no statues of black heroes in the DR. That is false. Gregorio Luperón is considered one of the greatest heroes of the country, having fought in the War of Restoration. There are hundreds of statues in his honor. Every city and town has a street, avenue, park, public building named after him, school textbook all mention him, his birthday is a national holiday. There are other black/mulato national heroes that are honored with statues, their rightful place in the history books, etc such as Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (one of the three founding fathers of the country). In Santo Domingo there is a museum called Museo del Hombre Dominicano with an entire floor is dedicated to slavery and the African heritage, and in front of the museum there are three statues, one of which is in honor of Lemba, an African slave that revolted and fought for his liberty in slavery times. The country has even had black presidents (full blooded blacks, not mixed race). Also, Dominican television channels are the only ones of all of Latin America where blacks and mulattoes (black/white mix) outnumber whites. Some of these channels are shown in the USA, you can see it and do the comparisons for yourself. Felix Victorino is considered the best Dominican news anchor in the country and the guy is a black as anyone can be, and everyone respect him (search his photo on google).

2. In the video the guy that was answering Dr Gates question claimed that no one in the Dominican Republic considers themselves black, yet that's not true. While there are many blacks that are in denial, many others are not and they do identify as black as can be seen in the census data where 11% of the population identifies as black and nothing else. You need to understand that Dominicans refer to actual skin color not race when they are asked to describe their skin color. As a result, only those people who are charcoal-black are considered to be of the black color, those that are as light as wheat or lighter are considered of the white color, and those of shades of brown would be referred to as mulatto or indio. Now, the use indio to describe the mulatto color in the past was used as an attempt to deny the African heritage, but this is no longer the case. It has taken a new meaning (as happens with many words around the world) and it simply means a person of brown color. It doesn't mean that Dominicans actually think of themselves as indians, since their African heritage is taught in the public schools.

3. While it's true that the indigenismo movement in the late 19th century and early 20th century started as an attempt to exalt the Taino heritage over the African heritage, and that lead to the popularization of the Indio word as a skin color description; this doesn't mean that there is no Taino heritage in Dominican culture. There are many cultural practices within the Dominican population that comes directly from the Taino indians such as eating Casabe (a special flat bread originally invented by the Tainos) or the use of the Güira musical instrument (an original Taino invention) among many other things. There is no question that the bulk of Dominican culture is a mixture of African and Spanish, but there is also a Taino influence as well. A DNA study was done by the University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez campus both in Puerto Rico and in the Dominican Republic, and the Dominican results were that while there are no full blooded Taino descendants in the Dominican Republic, a full 15% of the population DOES HAVE some Taino ancestry. Again, this is not to say that Dominican culture is Taino 100%, but there is something still left in the blood, in the lifestyle, in the music, in the language and in every facet of contemporary Dominican life; along with the African and the Spanish, and to a lesser degree Arab too.

(Here's a link refering to the DNA test I mentioned earlier: http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=44379&ct_id=1 )

I don't hold this against Dr Gates since he was probably not acquainted with Dominican culture until he decided to make this documentary, but I hope people out there are aware that not everything being shown in this documentary is 100% true. There are some errors.

Despite this, it appears to be a good documentary. I'll see what it shows tomorrow, but I'm praying those are the only misinformation on the Dominican chapter. :smt039

 

I missed it yesterday. Hope to see it again soon.

 

Good series

Saw the first last night.. quite good..

 

I watched. I like the part on Hati but on DR not so much so. It reeked of BS IMO. I felt as those Dominicans were being held at US inaccurate messed up views.

 

Actually it is online on the PBS website.

 

Can you imagine the power blacks of the americas (North, Central, South America and the caribbean) would have if they ever united based on a common african ancestry like the asians and arabs have done as world blocs. Will never happen. Can any of the scholars here tell us how many blacks or peoples of african descent are in this hemisphere?

 

That is a hard question, I am certain that it is way over a hundred million. For Example: Brazil has the largest concentration of african descent population after Nigeria. So this will give you an idea of the black population in the americas. However, I think in most North( I am talking about mexico),central and South American countries the majority of the people is Mestizo(mix spanish and native america) and amerindian. According to the CIA latin american Demographic.

 

I think you are right. This is fascinating for the reason it gives peoples of african descent a sort of knowledge that they are far larger in scope beyond their minority status in many american states. This is dangerous knowlege to the ruling elites in the american states.