With Dominican Republic Elections Set for Sunday, NY Dominicans are Caught Up in Campaign Fever
Dominican immigrants vote in their homeland’s national election on Sunday. We bring you election coverage from our partner El Diario/La Prensa.
Dominican immigrants vote in their homeland’s national election on Sunday. We bring you election coverage from our partner El Diario/La Prensa.
New York’s Hispanic community became significantly more diverse over the last decade. Yet when you take a look at Hispanic representation in the city’s political landscape, it would seem that Puerto Ricans have the job of speaking for all.
A taco truck in East Harlem, a traditionally Puerto Rican section which has become more Mexican in recent decades. (Photo: D. Graglia)
Despite the U.S. Latino population’s diversity and widespread presence, certain Hispanic groups have traditionally been associated with specific U.S cities – Mexicans in L.A. and Chicago, Cubans in Miami, Puerto Ricans in New York.
But New York’s Hispanic face is rapidly changing. By 2024, a new study says, New York’s largest Hispanic group will be Mexicans, with Dominicans in second place. The predicted shift is due to both the migration of Puerto Ricans to other states and other parts of the metro area, and the ongoing influx of people from other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, “The Latino Population of New York City, 2007” was authored by Laura Limonic, research associate at the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. [You can download it in pdf by clicking here.]
There are so many Dominicans in New York today that the city is sometimes called the thirty-second province of the Dominican Republic.
Feet in Two Worlds journalist Diego Graglia reports on the roots of the city’s Dominican community—how they got here, how political activism shaped their early arrival, and how they have preserved what one person in Diego’s story calls their community’s “Dominicanness.”
Diego’s story, “Feet in Two Worlds: Dominicans in Manhattan,” aired on November 5, 2007, during All Things Considered on WNYC, New York Public Radio. You can listen to it online on the WNYC website or you can press play below.
[audio:http://audio.wnyc.org/news/news20070511_feet_in_two_worlds_graglia.mp3]