El Caribe, Dominican Republic

America – Not the Americas

By Pedro Domínguez Brito

December 03, 2007

Dominican Republic – El Caribe - Original Article (Spanish)

When I first visited the Old Continent [Europe], someone asked me where I was from. "I'm from America," I replied. “So you're from the United States?”, he asked me. "No," I replied, "I'm from America."

Schools in the United States teach that our continent is not one, but three: America, or themselves, Central America (including the Caribbean) and South America. Their maps have the continents in different colors, to avoid confusion.

We adopt this discrimination – not even Fidel protests. This explains those famous meetings between presidents in the region called the “Summit of the Americas,” clarifying that George [Bush] is probably not be from the same place as Evo [Morales, President of Bolivia].

We adopt with the same distinction when, occasionally, we say, “you know those Americans,” referring to inhabitants of the colossus to the North. In the Dominican Republic, even one of our airports bears the name, “The Americas.”

In Europe, we are simply “sudacos” [“South American”, but somewhat derogatory]. Categorizing us simply as Americans would be too daring. They think that word is too big for us.

"It is as if for all the world, America comprises only the United States. The rest of the hemisphere is something else, with “America” as a surname, and to be even more derogatory, we are called Caribbeans and seen as savages. They believe that visitors to our shores should bring aspirin and that tourists can go on safari, only to hunt lions, rhinos and baboons.

And with no intention of discriminating against the Saxons and Arians who inhabit these lands, I am sure that the truest Americans are those born thanks to the great racial encounter of the indigenous, black and white races. This mixture yielded the flavors of the Amazon, drums, maize, tobacco, Duarte, Montezuma, Bolivar and Martí …

The United States of America is the name of a great nation. It is not called “America of the United States” or even “the United States is America.”

I come from America. I am an American with Tamboril parents, though my patriotic symbol is not the eagle and I prefer rice and beans to McDonald’s and Víctor Víctor’s bachata to Elvis’s rock'n'roll.   

Truly, there is a rich America and a poor one. Mostly, the poor have made the rich rich, and the rich have made the poor poor. However, America is all one thing, no matter how many times it is called three. Or are there perhaps seven continents?