El racismo y la xenofobia es peor que un muro de concreto, sólo habita en las mentes cortas! #EsoNoSeHaceRD
— Jonas Reinoso (@jonasrg966) June 26, 2014
Translation: Racism and xenophobia is worse than a concrete wall, only lives in the short minds! #EsoNoSeHaceRD
-Jonas Reinoso (jonasrg966) June 26,2014
Dr. Alai Reyes-Santos writes in her book Our Caribbean Kin about the significance of culture in imagining who are our own people (Reyes-Santos, 19). In this case we see that Dominicans of Haitian descent are othered and experience sentiments of racism and xenophobia, often referred to as antihaitianismo in this context, throughout their lives in the Dominican Republic. Antihaitianismo describes the manifestation of racial prejudice against Haitians as constructed by Dominicans in cultural productions, narratives, teaching of history and many other ways. An example is that it can be paralleled with minstrelsy shows in the United States that created a false narrative of Black Americans that has been used against them until this day.
However, it can be easy to generalize and not see who is standing up for these marginalized communities and who does see Dominicans of Haitian-descent as their own people and criticize the new laws that send them back to a country from which they did not come by forced migration and deportation.
Reconoci.do is a campaign that advocates for the rights of these Dominicans and immigrants and has criticized the government ruling with the hashtag #EsoNoSeHaceRD, “You do not do that, Dominican Republic.” This tag attracts the population that does see what is wrong with the Constitutional Court decision to denationalize anyone born in the country after 1929 without at least one parent with Dominican blood and reflects those idea rather than the people that support it.
This is going to help historians determine the type of resistance that took place in the country over this topic. It shows citizen support and sentiment over the ruling. This source uses language that places what is happening in the Dominican Republic into a larger, global conversation of nationalism, racism, and xenophobia.