...Hang Out In "This Neighborhood": Inwood, NYC, NY

There are a LOT of Dominicans in Inwood.

Like...a STUPID amount of Dominicans. And I'm not sure if you're familiar, but Dominicans aren't really partial to black folks. Puerto Ricans...sure! They love us!(We go together like plantanos and collard greens. Just as my Mom....and Dad. OK. And me. Ahem.) But Dominicans? They're not feeling us. AT ALL.

And we're not exactly sure why. I mean, we KNOW why, so rather, I should say...we (black folk) really don't get it.

There are plenty of Dominicans who, if they never opened their mouths, you'd never know they were Dominican. AND we have the same hair! I mean, anybody who's ever had their hair blown out by a Dominican can't go back to doing it themselves. So what gives? Why all the beef with black folks?

That's easy. It always...always come back to (you guessed it) slavery.

Have a seat and let me school ya.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti share a island in the Caribbean called "Hispaniola."

Long story short, the Spanish colonized Haiti using slaves imported from (lets say it together) Africa. The Spanish, however, weren't alone. The French and the British hand a hand in the rich Caribbean land. (Explains Haitian "patois"...which would be the "ebonics" of French.)

I just lifted this off of http://www.internationalist.org

"Throughout Dominican history, reactionary nationalist politicians have appealed to the racist ideology of “antihaitianismo” to shore up their hold on power in “their” two-thirds of the island. Following the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804 – the first successful slave revolt in history, defeating the combined efforts of French, British and Spanish expeditionary forces – the Haitian revolutionary armies marched into Santo Domingo three times, finally driving out the Spanish colonialists and abolishing slavery in 1822. Even after Dominican independence from Haiti was declared in 1844, conservative landowners were so worried about a “Haitian threat” that they reannexed the country to Spain. It took the 1861-65 War of Restoration (coinciding with the U.S. Civil War), under the leadership of black general Gregorio Luperón, to regain Dominican independence."

So. Haiti and the Dominican Republic have a sorted past, just as rich in racism as the good ol' USA. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have the capitalist influence to urge them do "what's right". Not Haiti. They had to have a good old fashioned slave revolt. But the difference is...their slaves actually got their freedom. Haiti became the land of the "ex slaves", not because the former owners deemed them "human" with the God-given rights of all humans. But because the Haitians would fucking kill them if they tried that slavery shit again. Church.

Now we get to fear. You're living right next door to former slaves who hate you.
And you hate them right back. Pass that thinking right down hundreds of years, and ladies and gentlemen, I give you, present day Dominican thought.

To them, a black person is worse than a "nigger". Not sure exactly what that is...but yeah, to them...it exists. And there's no changing that. Fucked up, huh?

SO... fast forward to 2007. Inwood.

Esso has a company softball game there, so we head uptown and the game has just ended. However, we pass a restaurant that looks great. DAMN good actually. Live music and patrons are sitting outdoors, lazily sipping on sangria.
What the hell? Let's hit it.

Mamajuana Cafe has a really cool Spanish vibe. Not Dominican...not Puerto Rican...Spanish...but also, kinda Indian. Warm earth tones, candles glowing, conquistadors and vintage pictures straight from Espana. And the staff...well, not too warm to us initially, which is to be expected. Three black women in a heavily populated Dominican area...we're not getting greeting with open arms. (Hey...this is about breaking down walls. We're gonna run into a few.)

We initially requested to sit outdoors. We were told there was a party of twelve coming, so our only options were to sit in the back by the bathrooms. After quickly doing our usual "Don't try to play me because I'm black" scan of the restaurant for better seating...we agreed. There wasn't really any place else to go.

The waiter was nice, and after a few jokes (and POOR attempts at pronouncing the dishes in Spanish), he warmed up pretty quickly. We ordered the Sangria (fantastic!) and littered the table with various appetizers, all of which were just as good as the next.

OH...did I mention the live music? We happened to be there on "Spanish" night and were treated to a live performance, including dance. Thursday night, we learned, is Brazilian night, and on Sunday, unlimited Mimosas accompany a buffet-style brunch.

Hell yes.

By the end of the night, we had the waiter teaching us Spanish and almost got into a fight. (We didn't. Almost tho. ALMOST.)

All in all we decided, Inwood is just going to have to get used to us. Or we're just going to have to get used to Inwood. Because we're coming back. O YE!

Black Factor: Not feeling you. Try to speak Spanish though. You'll see the attitude change immediately.

Cost: Damn decent. Dinner for three with drinks, $80.

Come back: For sure.

-N

www.mamajuana-cafe.com