Allegedly there is an unwritten tension between the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities in New York City. I say allegedly because growing up I never had any problems with the Dominicans. In fact, a few of my best friends were Dominicans, and their entire family treated me very nicely.
My son is a U.S. citizen who was born abroad. Take a guess where he was born? If you said Santo Domingo, you would be right. He was born there, and I had to sort out his immigration status so that he could come here to the U.S. This means that I spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to the Dominican Republic. The year he was born, I think I flew out there at least 2-3 weekends a month, and over the years since then I have accumulated more stamps on my passport from the D.R. than from all of the other countries I have visited combined! And I have traveled quite a bit! I went there so much that the guys at the gym knew me, the colmado owner knew me, the barbers knew me—they all looked out for my ex-wife and son as we awaited our immigration situation.
Interestingly, when I was coming up in the neighborhood, I was often treated poorly by Latinos and blacks. I was treated especially poorly by some other Puerto Ricans. They called me a gringo and said that I was not one of them. These experiences among others made me pull away from parts of the Puerto Rican community. However, the Dominicans never treated me badly. Whether I was in their homeland or here in the U.S., these folks were generally kind to me. In the streets, generally kind means they left me alone and never robbed, assaulted, or hurt me.
I’m not sure where this so-called “war” rumor comes from, but from my perspective, it is unfounded and mostly a source of humor between us. Harmless banter, if you will. We are all one, and we should all love one another!
Image is a screenshot of a video covering this same topic by our good friends at The Flama!
Just a life long New Yorker sharing the journey through my lens. Please take note of a post’s date. The views I express here are subject to change and evolving as I grow and learn.
Leave a Reply