Dominicans and Puerto Ricans

   I first became aware of the animosity between Dominicans and Puerto Ricans while doing an intake interview with two half brothers, one having a Dominican father, and the other having a Puerto Rican father.  They argued between themselves constantly and tossed in with "you're stupid' and "shut up" were "that's because you're Puerto Rican" or "#@$ Dominican".  The kids were under 10 years of age, so where did they learn this?

   Both populations are growing rapidly in our area but the Dominicans have arrived more recently.  Almost all of them have lived in New York city before moving to Pennsylvania.  I have heard from adult Dominican clients that there is conflict in New York also. I mostly hear of Dominicans who were picked on by Puerto Ricans (but that's just a small sample of people who volunteer this information).  Apparently fights also break out at the High Schools and clubs here in Pennsylvania.

   I finally asked one of the secretaries at my agency to shed some light on what is going on.  She is from the Dominican Republic and was born and raised in Brooklyn.  She explained to me how fights would break out just by saying "Puerto Rican" to someone, and how bad things were at the school she attended. I approached her a second time, a week or so later, asking "why?".  She said that Puerto Ricans are given everything by just being born on American soil, and just have it easy in general. Getting immigration papers and jumping through all of the hoops to become US citizens is difficult for Dominicans and many have family members who are without documents.  The Puerto Ricans have advantages from birth that they don't have to work for.

    On the other side, it seems that the Puerto Ricans, who have been citizens since 1898 and have migrated to the US and back for over a century, were here first.  In New York, the Dominicans are newer arrivals and less acculturated.  In the Leigh Valley they are also "new arrivals" and subject to the same bias that works against all newcomers.