As mulattos, Dominicans can’t be racist: Mulatto former president

La Vega, Dominican Republic.- Former President LeonelFernández on Sunday said Dominican Republic can’t be a racist nation andinstead called the Dominican people a symbol of struggle and resistance againstthe world’s racial discrimination. "Dominican Republic isn’t a racistcountry because Dominicans are mulatto, a racial mix of blacks and whites."

He said Dominican Republic’s mulatto society means that it’samong the world’s most tolerant racially, “because it precisely involves a mixof whites and blacks.

"I want to say that we’re deeply proud, asDominicans, of our Hispanic and African roots, because we believe in a multiracial,plural, society made such as the Dominican Republic, and no one should mistakethat," said Fernandez, speaking at the tomb of ruling PLD party leader andfounder Juan Bosch, to mark its 40th anniversary.

Fernandez, who is mulatto, added that people seek tomanipulate the world by trying to create a false perception of the country interms of respect for human dignity. "It was here in the territory of whatis now the Dominican Republic where the world’s first revolution of blackslaves occurred.”