Day 5… Race in DR

Shades of Dominicana

Tans, Browns, and golden tones

Each person their own kind of Indo

Descendents of the Tainos, Africans, and Spaniards

A melting pot of sorts

Off to the west, Haitians are baked by the sun

The don’t fit the color scheme because they’re too dark

My ivory skin and sunburn give me away too

Here in DR I’ve become the minority

Yet I drive down the highway seeing face after face

Stapled to billboards are those seeming of my ancestry

Domincanas so proud of their roots

Still idolize the skin of priveleged white folk

Their history so intentionally shaped

Not to recognize their African descent

To create a tension and place blame on their Haitian neighbors

For the hardships they’ve been facing since 1492

Haitians are judged as they walk down the street

And I feel the same shame cast upon me

I don’t know their language and my skin is so light

I feel like I’m glowing even before night

I think back to the US, where I just feel I belong

And realize there’s others, that don’t and it’s wrong