Being Haitian born and having lived in Haiti until the age of 12, I was taught in school about Haitian history as well as the violence Haitians suffered at the hands of its neighbors. Haitians and Dominicans have had this deep rooted hate for each other for as long as I can remember. Some reasoning behind this distaste for each other is found in history. From 1822-1842 a Haitian President Jean Pierre Boyer ruled over the island of Hispaniola. Many Dominican historians have portrayed this period as cruel and barbarous, however during this time Boyer freed Santo Domingo’s slaves.

In October 1937, Dominican President Rafael Trujillo ( who’s mother was half Haitian) ordered the execution of the Haitian population living within the borderlands of DR,  killing approximately 30,000 within 5 days.  The reason behind the Parsley Massacre was that Trujillo wanted to “purify” his nation from any negro or black blood.

Although Trujillo is long dead and gone, his beliefs that Dominicans are superior to Haitians because of their “Spanish blood” is very much alive  in DR today. I have met many who claim that be direct descendants of Spaniards or who will go as far as saying that they are white because of their fairer complexion, the latter gets a major side eye from me every time.

I came across a video called Shades of the Border where the narrator, a journalist living in DR, starts with the proverb ” every Dominican carries a little bit of Haitian behind his ear”

This diary post is close to my heart because, I hear and see what is described and seen in this video all of the time. My mom once said to me ” Dominicans will always hate Haitians because we as a nation are proud of our blackness we embrace it, we welcome it. We even greet each other that way, calling ourselves neg lakay, Dominicans are still hiding from theirs”

Read, watch  and discuss and do not be afraid to be controversial.