THE DR'S DARK SECRET
RACISM AGAINST BLACK DOMINICANS HAS BECOME EPIDEMIC ON
THE ISLAND

By JULIO TAVAREZ

August 8, 2007 -- When I read last week about the U.S.
Embassy in the Dominican Republic censuring Loft, a
nightclub in the Naco neighborhood of Santo Domingo,
because of the club's policy of discrimination against
black patrons and employees, it brought back sour
memories of a recent trip I took to the island.

Dominicans are known the world over for our great
baseball players, our beautiful beaches and our
friendly people.

But there is something of a dirty secret that we sweep
under the drug. Racism against black Dominicans, rich
or poor, happens everyday, and not just in clubs.

On my vacation, some friends I decided to check out a
nightspot called Tribeca, in Santiago. Apparently, it
was the hot spot. When we arrived, there was no line.
As we waited, people began lining up behind us. Slowly
they were allowed in. We weren't. I asked a bouncer
why and he said one of the owners instructed him not
to let us in.

Puzzled, I checked our attire. We were dressed
similarly to people being let in, so it wasn't what we
were wearing. We weren't driving a Mercedes, but we
weren't rolling in a Hyundai, either - we had a decent
ride.

Then, it dawned on me. It wasn't our clothes or our
car. The only difference between the people that were
given passage and us was they were light-skinned with
European features while we were dark-skinned with
African features. We were the wrong color.

When I told my friend, he just said, "That's how they
are here, let's go somewhere else."

I was shocked. I had heard stories of people not being
allowed into certain places in the DR because of their
complexion, but it had never happened to me.

I had heard the myth of the black Dominican baseball
player who wasn't allowed in a club, bought the place
and fired everybody. Stories like these are rampant,
and seem like urban legends.

But this was no legend.

Acts of racism are commonplace in the Dominican
Republic. Dark-skinned Dominicans have been told where
they belong, and it seems have accepted it.

Immediately, I began paying attention, as I do here in
the United States, to billboards, television
commercials and programs. Billboard after billboard
featured not one dark face. In television commercials
and programs, dark Dominicans were barely present and
most of the time weren't even shown at all.

It was as if we didn't even exist. In a country where
more than 80 percent of the population is mixed with
an African descendant, one would expect that at least
some mixed-race actors would be used in commercials,
but they don't make the cut, either.

The unrelenting oppression of African culture and the
discrimination against those that are, either partly
or fully, descendants of the African people, continue
to pull our country deeper into depths of poverty,
ignorance and despair.

Racism is nothing new in Latin America. The question
is what are we doing about it? Tego Calderón, in a
Tempo column last year, wrote that we needed a civil
rights movement for Latino blacks.

I agree. We no longer can continue to sweep this dirty
secret under the rug.

Julio Tavarez is the director of the Passaic County
Chapter of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New
Jersey

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