Sunday, April 25, 2010

The final fight: Post 4

Summary#4
Outside of Hispaniola, Haitians and Dominicans are met on a different battleground: New York. Deep in New York City, Dominican immigrants and their Americans children live in close knit neighborhoods and try to blend their island lifestyle with the fast pace lifestyle of New York. In these neighborhoods Dominican drug dealers are shot and killed every year. There was a point in time hundreds of caskets were sent to the Dominican Republic all filled with the bodies of young teenage gangbangers. New York, as the rest of the United States, is considered a holy land too many Dominicans and Haitians. This is quite obvious with thousands of Haitians and Dominicans alike constantly immigrating to the United States.
Summary#5
Back home, the three worlds collide: the United States, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic swirls around in the island of Hispaniola. The three worlds are constantly butting heads on political, economic, and social issues. But, there is a time when the three entities’ lines are blurred. That time is called carnival. Carnival is time period in Hispaniola where both Haiti and the Dominican Republic share a few days of dancing and having fun. The carnival is actually quit wild; all the lines drawn before are crossed. There is an explosion of sexual rejuvenation and loud music blared. This time period is the only time all the cultures within the island come, unite, and act civilized, but after the carnival all of that goes back to the same old.
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#4: "'Even though we live here, we invest back there' 210 "
#5: "They are here in the cane fields that have long represented the center of conflict between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The three worlds have fused into one (Wucker 251)."
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#4: As for Haitians and Dominicans alike, we live here, but our family and national ties are strong. I personally known that my father lived in the US for years after i was born and sent money back to Haiti. This is the same for alot of immigrant families, they live in the United Sates, but send money back to their country and pay attintion to what is going on there.
#5:It seems the only time that Haiti, USA, and the Dominican Republic can finaly coexist is on the days of carnival. The violence and conflict between the three groups can be easily forgotten on the days without rules. There is an obvious fusion of the culrtures; as Haitians, Dominicans, and American-Haitan and Dominicans, come together to celebrate a day without rules, conflict, or political limitations.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Presidents: Two countries one island

SummaryAs the Dominican Republic’s economy was exploding, Haiti’s economy was imploding. The Dominicans were under the rule of Ulises Heureaux, he was a nice little embezzler. Dominicans eventually killed him. The two countries fell in near chaos as both countries went in debt. During the late 1930’s, under Trujillo’s control, the Dominican Republic became the US’s main supplier of sugar, However, most of the cane cutters who worked for Dominican plantations were Haitian. The brutal treatment of these Haitian can cutters did not go unnoticed. Even so, the Dominican government blamed the Haitian people and government for the harsh punishment the workers went through. Just as the Spanish justified the enslavement of the Taino, generations later, the Dominicans justified the mistreatment of Haitian workers.In the late 1970’s a young Haitian man became president, at age 19. His fathers name was Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, the man’s name was Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. Baby Doc siphoned money out of the banks on numerous occasions. Baby Doc married a Michele Bennett, their marriage was worth over 3million dollars. The first-couple constantly took money from the already failing economy of Haiti. The Pope once spoke in front of the Haitian people and told them, this must change, in Haitian Kreyol. One man, Jean-Bertand Aristide answered this advice. Aristide was an intellectual that collected certificates and accumulated the skill to speak nine languages. He would become Haiti’s first democratically elected president. He was very outspoken against the mistreatment of Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic. The world had its eyes on the Dominican Republic to change its ways. During this time period, yet again, a strange relationship between Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and The United States occurred. Hispaniola was ready to explode in violence until the US stepped in, and took Aristide with them. Joaquin Balaguer was president, and remained president for 12years. Yet again, he was the creation of another military coup. Before him, Juan Bosch was president; he was the Dominicans first democratically elected president. But, under Balaguer, the successor, the Countries economy, and nationalism reached new heights. He too, was a strong disbeliever of any mistreatment of Haitian cane cutters.

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"Now Aristied was being exiled. A few years ago it was Bosch, now Aristide, the both of them were the first democraticly elected presidents of their country. They were only sepereated by 20years(Wukcer 93)."

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this is yet another parrallelism between the two countries. Though not everyone from either country would admit the coincidences and ironies that happened all throughout the Islands' history, these coincedences, ironies, and parrallelisms are quit obvious, like this one.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

sugar: Haitia and The Dominican Republic

So Trujillo tried to cover his tracks but he was discovered anyway. A group of men prepared to assassinate him. The men succeeded in doing so, but their actions led the country to chaos. The Haitians in the west were having presidential problems as well. The current president Stenito Vincent was lax to the ideas of Haitians being killed. The Haitian people did not like his attitude.
There does exist a small town in the Dominican Republic called Little Haiti. There Haitian merchant and Dominicans converge to trade, sell, and buy things. The town harbors the same mistreatment and racial conflict between Haitians. Crime, poverty, and crime is rampant in the town. But, trust and love exists between the neighbors, Dominican and Haitian alike. The town was bred from the immense migration of Haitian workers. These workers came over to work on the sugar cane farms. But, the farm owners and government were well known for their mistreatment of workers. These cane cutters work for near little and are constantly exploited. Dominican workers often dislike these Haitian workers because they are taking jobs. The government has a love and hate relationship between the Haitians.
The government of the Dominican Republic fears the Haitian migrants for a number of reasons: they are a weight load on the government, they are met with disdain from some Dominicans, and some very crazy politicians fear the Haitians could take over the country. But Santo Domingo and Little Haiti reflect the ideals of the Dominican people and government. Not all Dominicans “hate” Haitians, and not all of them are mistreated. The racial, social, religious, and political aspects of either country still exists in these areas, but, the complications are also numerous.

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"In this world of merchants and refugees, he is a hero of sorts, even to those who warn he is a moun fou. Instead of a lost soul in the streets, a man with nothing, soemone who achieved great things...(Wucker91)."

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These merchants from Haiti enter a strange world. The world they enter has people that do not want them there, and the world they came from is not an ideal place to live. They are now live in a limbo. However, even a man they lable a moun fou(crazy man), is a hero to them. This man has escaped the tragdies and heartaches they face, he has escaped reality.