From Sugar to Revolution: Women’s Visions of Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic

The Heart of Home: A Conversation with Loida Maritza Pérez

In this interview conducted in March 2001, a year after the initial publication of Geographies of Home and thus at the height of the novel’s dissemination and discussion among scholars, Loida Maritza Pérez reveals that she is most interested in raising questions rather than positing facile solutions to the various fragmentations of identity often experienced by Caribbean peoples , especially women, and especially those residing in exile from their home-islands.1 * * * Myriam J. A. Chancy (MC): Inotedonthebookjacketthatyouwerebornin the DR in 1963. I was wondering a little bit about your process of migration. Loida Maritza Pérez (LMP): Ah, yes. My parents came, then siblings, et cetera. So I came when I was three years old and have basically lived in [different parts of] New York City. MC: Did you find there were difficulties in adjusting to American life, or were you too young … LMP: I was too young … like I said, I was three years old. But it doesn’t matter how young a person comes. I may have come when I was three years old, THE HEART OF HOME A Conversation with Loida Maritza Pérez 271 but my family is Dominican and remained Dominican even though [they lived] in the United States. Meaning, my parents, to this day, do not speak English. Spanish is my first language and culturally, I was raised Dominican. So I still have a sense of exile even though [I] live in New York City, among peers, et cetera. MC: So you still have a sense of dislocation? LMP: And I think that will continue for the rest of my life. I mean, I don’t mean to sound dark but, for example, the first time I went to the DR I was eighteen years old and I was thinking, “Oh, here’s a place where I’m finally going to fit in and will be recognized for who I am and there will be no racial or cultural problems because, you know, I am Dominican. I am from there.” And, of course not, whenever I go back there, you know, I’m Americana. And then here, in the United States, I’m always other. It’s this thing about not being …white enough, black enough, Latina enough, and I use those three [markers] because people have certain stereotypes of what Latina or Hispanic is. In this country [the U.S.], it is viewed as a race. MC: Right. LMP: You know? And Hispanic, Latino, et cetera, et cetera, is not a race. It’s more of a culture. [Race is] more a way of categorizing people neatly. Latinos can be black; they can be red; they can be yellow; they can be white; they can be any colour. And it’s not just in this country that it’s thought of as a race. I have to say that Latinos themselves are guilty of trying to further that idea. For example, people from the Caribbean and Latin America—but specifically let’s talk about the Caribbean or the Dominican Republic—come to this country and [say], “Oh no, they’re Latino; they’re not black.” Because, in their mind, Latino is closer to the ideal of “white.” It’s a way of differentiating and denying the history and the common ties.… Well, you know, in the DR there arenoblacks.Isaythattongueincheek:they’reallindios,itdoesn’tmatterhow dark they are. My attitude is, excuse me, Indians were massacred! So what’s this with Indians? You’re black, but please, don’t say that to anybody. It’s quite problematic. That’s one of the issues I’m interested in writing about, more specifically, in my second novel, because that’s why the Haitian massacre took place. And it wasn’t just Haitians, it was also black Dominicans who were killed. If you have certain political views, and you’re black Dominican, you’re considered Haitian—like that person who was running for president a couple 272 REVOLUTION: The Dominican Republic of years ago [José Francisco Peña Gómez]. Of course he lost, because everybody kept saying he was Haitian. MC: I heard about that. I was in the Dominican Republic this January [2000], forthefirsttimeandIwasverysurprised.Well,“surprised”maynotbetheright word. I suppose I went there thinking that the issue of race would not be as obvious as I’d read about. I was categorized in the DR [by someone there] as a morena...