The Uptown Funk

Caught between the deaths of COVID-19 and racial injustice, America has had to deal with her childhood trauma in its most literal sense. Uptown New York is no different. As a member of a community known for its rich cultures and sense of immigrant pride, I have allowed myself to step back from all the good my community has provided for itself and think critically on all its rotten parts too. Before I deep dive, Uptown consists of two neighborhoods; Washington Heights and Inwood. Harlem and some part of the Bronx are debatable, but at its core those two neighborhoods remain. As ethnic groups came and went throughout the 20th century, Uptown was dominated by Italians in the early 1900s, the German Jews in the ‘30s and '40s, and the Greeks, Cubans and Puerto Ricans in the '50s and '60s. When Dominicans came during the 60s, after the military regime of dictator Rafael Trujillo, they stayed till present day. Later coined the “Crack City” in the ‘80s to now being labeled the newest crown jewel of gentrification, it is no surprise that Uptown has taken pride in “beating the odds.” I put beating the odds in quotations because what has really led to Uptown’s current downfall and utmost embarrassment is the white man’s definition of “beating the odds.” Here is where the cookie crumbles.

After the death of George Floyd, this country has waged a war against our broken government system and racist police force. Yet more prevalent, there has been a war against ourselves that has led to on-going citizen’s arrests or as we like to say, cancel culture. For lack of better words, people are shedding light on all the fucked up shit people have or are currently saying or doing. This entails, but is not limited to: racism, sexism, homophobia, fatphobia, etc. Although some may say that sprinkled by the humor of Black Twitter and an intense social climate, people are cancelling left and right. I will not argue on that front, but at the root of this “culture” is accountability. Holding oneself accountable has never been an easy suit, and doubled by the gaze of thousands on their social media accounts it does not get any easier. I say all of this to reiterate... Uptown must do better.

A little after the looting and burning of Fordham in the Bronx, Uptown community members took it upon themselves to hold their own protests on the prevention of looting in Uptown and then mobbed a group of “suspicious” black men. Shortly after, videos surfaced of several community members expressing racist remarks, one video calling Black people thieves and rats. To spare everyone the history lesson, these are not isolated incidents and are very on brand for Dominicans and our internal hatred with our own blackness. Rooted in Taino, African and Spaniard descent, Dominicans have found comfort in the privileges colorism has offered us and internalized the belief that our drops of whiteness make us any better than any other Black person. Oh chile, I hope y’all not filling in y’all race as “white” on an application with a name like Yadilka.

Washington Heights, 1986

The African American Black lived experience is different and profoundly more difficult than that of Dominican Black, but those unfamiliarities of experience do not negate the racism we all have and continue to live through. This same racism has instilled in us that any association with African American Black is “bad” and our Dominican Black is “good,” and yet we are all dying at the hands of police brutality. Let us not forget the death of Jose “Kiko” Garcia by the NYPD not too long ago. We can no longer turn the cheek to our own faults and the racism we have allowed to seep into our family conversations and community values. I am here to hold you all accountable.

NY Daily News July 7 1992

1992 Riots in Washington Heights

My experience with first acknowledging and then loving my Blackness did not start at home. I had to unlearn a lot of negative stigmas, educate myself on anti-Haitianism in the Dominican Republic, and bring those conversations to my parents. Those conversations were not easy and they will continue to be uncomfortable. Dismantling systems of oppression and racism is and will never be comfortable. I will always be prideful of my culture and my Uptown community, but this pride coexists in a funk that only we can shake off. I am here to “cancel” us, open honest conversations, and take actions to wholeheartedly live within our orgullo. These said actions are:

1. Respectfully call out family members on their racist comments like “pelo malo / bad hair” when referring to curly hair and “tienes que mejorar la raza / you have to better the race” when referring to marrying white and “lightening” future generations.

2. Donate to a variety of bail funds, GoFundMe accounts, and organizations that cater to the fight against police brutality and those affected by its corrupt system. List is HERE

3. Sign a petition… yes as crazy as it sounds two seconds of your time could change A LOT. A petition signed by over 4 million people helped put pressure on officials in Colorado to reopen the investigation into the death of Elijah McCalin

4. Follow informative accounts on social media. As much as we would like to think that social media is a space to escape from our daily struggles, now more than ever, people rely on social media for news coverage. Be useful and also relay information that could be helpful to your peers and those who are younger (more impressionable) than you. Here are some Instagram accounts that I like: @dominicanwriters @inculturedco @chnge @brujasofbrooklyn @therapyforlatinx @theexecutivetea

5. Read a book :) The Brujas of Brooklyn have beautifully crafted a list of books on Dominican blackness that I have linked HERE .... and for my visual learners, Netflix has created a Black Lives Matter collection of series, films, and documentaries centered on the racial injustices of America.

I do not own the rights to any of the images used in this post.