Dominican Republic: Christopher’s First Stop
The first stop on our Thanksgiving Caribbean trip was the Dominican Republic. While we visited the north of the island, I learned about San Domingo, the first place Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, and thus its first European capital. The colony was then converted to Catholicism and today the a full image of a bible remains on the national flag. While the majority of the nation is catholic, there is still freedom of religion. As a matter a fact, it has long been this way. But some national laws do constrict the freedom of the citizens. For example, abortion is illegal regardless of the circumstances, thus pushing people into unsafe situations. The country shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Like with most neighbors, there are some conflicts. Back in colonial times, the citizens were locked in a harsh cast system, Haitians on the bottom, Dominicans, then the mixed population in the middle (Europeans mixed with natives or blacks), and the European colonizers at the very top. This gradient racial classification meant that the whiter a mixed or native person was, the higher he or she was on the social, economic, and political hierarchy. In 1937, during dictator Trujillo’s tenure, himself a mulatto who suppressed his black identity, the Parsley Massacre took place. People were forced to say the word “parsley” and if they were unable to pronounce the “r”, thus having a french accent, they were determined to be Haitian and thousands were killed for this reason. Today, the Dominican Republic’s GDP is around $9,000 and Haiti’s is $1,300 causing a lot of immigration from Haiti to DR. This immigration is a great point of contention and discrimination. Pregnant women come to the DR to give birth (22% of all births are to Haitian mothers) but unless at least one parent is Dominican, the child is denied citizenship. In addition, Haiti might deny citizenship to the same stateless kids due to lack of documentation or witnesses. While Dominican Republic struggled with colonization and dictatorships, today it is a more or less democratic state and the most visited tourist destination in the Caribbean with spectacular beaches, golf courses, merengue music, and delicious cuisine.
Originally published at dennanazem.blogspot.com on December 26, 2014.
