Marah Betillman  

Joseph Furlong 

Writing for the Social Sciences 

May 12, 2025 

The Life of a Dominican In New York City  

Research Question: What are Dominican women’s self-image like in America? 

I moved into my current neighborhood when I was 5, I was in a new place with new people and that was scarier than I would have admitted back then. My first memories there were of my neighbor’s young daughter. This girl later became my best friend, we did everything together and by doing so I was immersed into Dominican culture. This was the first encounter with such a beautiful culture outside of mine that I had grown to love. With that being said, after, entering school where African American was the minority I was immersed into the negative sides of the Dominican community. It was like whip lash. There are negative characteristics about the African American community, and I always knew no group is perfect but the distasteful treatment from the people of a culture I’ve started to love made me think what’s so different about us which leads me to questioning, what are Dominican women’s self-image like in America? 

What is Dominican Republic, and Who Are Their People? 

Dominican Republic, a North American country in the Caribbean. The people of what is commonly called, DR, have a large population in New York City. We saw a large influx of Dominican immigrants in the 60s with the Jewish and Irish. They have become a sizable part of the Bronx over the years and have integrated into New York culture. You hear the community as you walk down their blocks “…“Dimelo” and “Que lo que” (both Spanish for “What’s up”) are heard down every block” and hear the ascending volume of Bachata, a Latin musical genre originating from the Dominican Republic, blasting from vehicles and apartment buildings alike” (Ortiz) They have made a community for themselves in New York. They have created business including restaurants that sell their food all over NYC. The community loves them. Despite African American people’s proximity in culture and space in NYC we separate ourselves. I often hear “I no black,” or “I’m fully Dominican” as if their race and ethnicity cannot be different or include blackness. They seem to run away from their blackness. They feel pride in the struggles they have overcome and the mark they have made on the world. Hispanic people deal with racism and sexism. 

Observing Pieces of Dominican Culture 

After class, a friend of mine asked if I would like to attend a campus event. The campus event happens to be dedicated to celebrating Dominican Republic’s Independence Day. I agreed and was excited to go celebrate with them, as they were Dominican. A group of 4 of us all decided to attend, me being the only black woman. As I sat down, I took in my surroundings, seeing all the Dominican students listening to the speakers, all the decorations, smelling the food, it was nice seeing everything. When the presentation started, they congratulated and recognized all the work that went into putting this event together, I could feel the pride they had in the small community they cultivated. They then started celebrating the day. After they introduced the club numbers, they sang the national anthem of DR, the first time I had ever seen or heard that. I could hear the pride in their voices as they sang. I felt their love for their country. One young lady stood in front of everyone and sang while holding the Dominican Republic flag, I could tell she was taking this seriously and with much respect. While they played Dominican popular music, they allowed the guests to eat. They had prepared a popular Hispanic treat called pastelitos, a small meat filled pastry, they made some filled with chicken and beef. As well as Dominican lasagna and rice and beans. They served a Dominican soda, Country Club, that happens to be my favorite. I do not drink soda but had to push that away so I could enjoy the treat. After we ate, they had scheduled a Dominican boy band based in the Bronx. They sang in both English and Spanish, they cultivated a relationship with the crowd and were dedicated to getting their sound heard. They were proud of their heritage and to be doing something they loved.  

Scheduling an Interview   

I was nervous about this assignment. I constantly thought “who would I be able to interview, who would take time out of their day to answer questions.” I did not like the fact I had to rely on others to fulfill a class requirement. When it came time to start this assignment, I was behind on other assignments, just got back from being sick and all around tired of classes. But I knew who I wanted to interview, I knew students from the Dominicans Studies Institute would be perfect, based on the joy I had seen on their faces at the event. So, I emailed the president. She was nice and forwarded my email to another student who she thought would work best. He then emailed me, referred me to another student, and said he would email me, so I waited. I waited and I waited, and I waited, until I could not wait anymore. I know these students are busy and may not have had the time, but I needed another idea quickly. One of the reasons why Dominican culture is interesting to me is because they surround me, so I relied on my relationships. One of my closest friends from high school, Leah Vargas, was happy to be interviewed. I also looked up a popular video of the Dominican parade in NYC.  

Interviewing Leah Vargas  

During covid 19, my first year of high school, during online classes I constantly heard this distinct voice while I admittedly was sleeping. That voice stuck with me a year later sophomore year, my official first year on gramercy arts high school’s campus. As I walked into my first class, I heard that voice and attached it to a face. My first words to Leah Vargas’s “I know your voice, you’re the one who was always talking in class” and that is where this friendship started. Four years later, we are two college students studying vastly different things but still close none the less. I panicked and asked her a bit last minute to be my interviewee, but she was happy to help me. Since we were friends before the interview started, we just talked, admittedly wasting time but it did not matter. I missed my friend and wanted to chat. I later started to explain my topic, where it came from and why I decided to research it.  

I wanted to start off “light” and asked about her family’s traditions, to get a feel for how her family acted and how they felt about different traditions. Leahs family is quite religious and while they do not celebrate every holiday, they can be superstitious. When I asked this question, she named other valid points, but it was not until I spotted a remarkably interesting looking golden elephant and tiny little monkeys in her background that she told me “oh it’s an elephant, its back is facing the door for good luck and the monkeys mean hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil” and after my immediate interests I screamed at her “ those are family traditions Leah” she laughed and said “oh you’re right”. We later spoke about the fact that people in her community often find any reason to celebrate, “we celebrate everything, bro could’ve been born 6 months ago, and we will celebrate.” I started to laugh because I could relate, entering my neighbor’s house to find them partying just because they felt joy in the moment. Speaking about Dominican parties lead me to ask her about Dominicans pride in their culture, parties can have a lot of culture immersed into it. Her immediate response was “soy Domincana” (I am Dominican) loudly. I proceeded to stare blankly at her because I understand one language and it does not happen to be Spanish. She started to explain its meaning and how she hears that constantly, so she knows her people are proud.  

We then delved into deeper topics. She confessed she holds Dominicans to a higher standard. As a first generation she finds it disheartening when other people like her in her community are not taking and using opportunities. She feels they should be more thankful “their parents worked hard to get here and they’re fucking it all up.” She starts to feel like they are perpetuating stereotypes instead of striving to be better. She then went onto say she feels bad for saying that and I try to reason with her “no, I feel like that sometimes to, I hate when black people perpetuate stereotypes. It gives other another thing to blame on all of us” and she understood but explained those are not out thoughts, they are the thoughts they put on us. She feels bad for being so hard on her peers but at the end of the day people are going to see the bad so try to be your best to make you and your community proud. She does not want Dominicans to be seen as a monolith, but she cannot help but judge some when they act in a way she considers unacceptable because she knows first hands what some of them are risking.  

When speaking about these “bad acting Dominicans” the conversation of how stereotypes affect her, and her view of Dominicans came up. When she looks at Generation Z Dominicans in New York she finds herself perturbed by some. When they fit into these categories, she separates herself from them because “yes I expect more from other Dominicans, I hold them to a higher standard, I assume other parents have high standards for their children as well.” Her parents have ambitious standards for her, so she expects that other parents do as well, she feels they are the reason there are still these stereotypes. With that I asked about some positives about her culture to lighten her mood because I could tell this topic was upsetting her. 

 She and I both felt that overall Dominicans have a positive view in New York, aspects of their culture are loved by others in New York City, I personally see a lot of business in Dominican restaurants all over New York. Leah feels liked by her community overall and in the city, she feels she can relate to other even though they may not be Hispanic. That said, she feels like after moving upstate for college it has gotten much harder for her. Here she is a light skinned Hispanic and that gets her some form of privilege. As well as the fact there are just more people here that fit that description but upstate, she feels racism a lot stronger than what she used to. She been in extremely dangerous situations, somebody shooting at her and her POC friends and ignorant comments without anyone to call on, but the isolation of being the minority is troubling because “it doesn’t matter your skin tone, it doesn’t matter if you look white being white is most important.” Leah is studying to be a veterinarian, one of the reasons she chose that institution. While working in a barn/field she told another student she would be playing music, her manager walked up to her and stated “yes, you should play music, you’re out her in the field, don’t your people do that.” I was as shocked as she was when she told me. I immediately told her to report it, but she explained she needed that job and could not do something to jeopardize it. Facing racism is something I deeply familiar with and I do not think Leah expected it from her manager and it shocked her. She also said they assume she does not know English and belittle her due to that assumption. Lastly, she said people often ask if she is racist, they assume all Dominicans are racist and while I do not ask that I have a habit of assuming all people are racists so my first response was to laugh and say “guilty as charged, I have trauma” she explained it annoys her whenever others do it to her, it feels racist which I can understand. 

Digital Field Sight  

In the YouTube video, Bronx Dominican day parade – sidewalk, by SideTalk you can see 3 years ago the Bronx hosted the Dominican day parade. I parade to celebrate and highlight Dominican culture. They show many Dominican and New York natives express their excitement for the upcoming parade. You can hear them screaming “que lo que, que lo Que” a common slang of this culture. You hear another man scream “play the music and we gonna dance,” you can hear the pride in their voice, thy want to celebrate and are exited. Even a grandma is screaming “Que lo Que” with her red and white with her Dominican flag. Everyone has red, white, and blue on, repping their colors. Your u can hear the Dominican music in the background and feel the energy in the way they talk and act. They use curses and slang to really drive home their love for DR.  

Conclusion 

When I moved here, I never would have guessed id be so interested in a culture that was not my own, while I love my culture the most, I still find Dominican culture interesting and at this point a part of me. While it is not who I am personally, it is who the people I love are therefore it is important to me. Dominicans are an integral part of my community; I see their influence. I care about how they see themselves, how they view their peer, that is why the question what are Dominican women’s self-image like in America?  is so important to me. While Dominicans have such pride in their culture, it took a lot to get there, and they still have negative feelings about what their culture brings out in others. Overall, they stand to be an enormously proud community with a lot of joy to give.  

Work Cited  

Ibura, K. (2025). “there’s no racism here?” A black woman in the Dominican Republic. Retrieved from https://www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-magazine/post/theres-no-racism-here-a-black-woman-in-the-dominican-republic?srsltid=AfmBOorDQvvPQhF2cjEqdLAnah2TOGVk5xT1BnyalmujOCxxgip84mzb  

Middleton, T. J., & Owens, D. (2023). African American women and self-esteem. The Family Journal, 32(1), 33–40. doi:10.1177/10664807231207730  

Ortiz, B. (2014). NYC’s micro neighborhoods: Little Dominican Republic in Washington Heights, Manhattan. Retrieved from https://www.untappedcities.com/nycs-micro-neighborhoods-little-dominican-republic-in-washington-heights-manhattan/  

Rodriguez, Y. (2021). Dominican Identity and the Experience of Interpersonal Conflict (dissertation).  

Talk, S. (2021). Bronx Dominican Day Parade – Sidetalk. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y1GKpC2ZtQ