In the Beginning

Creo este ser el punto de partida de " La Razon". Hoy le hare la historia de unos pioneros dominicanos en NYC.

Funny how life takes to so many different places and yet you might be standing in the same spot.

My dad Came to the US in early 1971, with about 300 dollars in his pockets and the "American Dream" in his mind. He and a group of men in this early time of what I like to call the "Dominican Rennaissance" in NYC worked long and difficult hours in this city. Working in Bodegas, Factories and whatever other odd jobs were found, some men toook the easy route and profitted from the dealings of the street, others like my dad decided to bust their humps and make an honest living, this was no easy task, sometimes working in excess of 16 hours in a single day and not finding the time for family ( while still having to keep one together). Many un-educated, my dad for example only has a second grade education, and believe it or not this is the norm in a small circle of prosperous business men in NYC, I have no memory of my dad until i was about 5 yrs old, he was never around always in a bodega working his tail off, first for someone else, then later for himself but still hard work. I guess I was blessed with not having to go through the hardships of the prior generation, but thats what he worked for or so he told me about 3 million times, but I dont forget how hard it was for him and his peers to reach the goals they set and realize the dreams they came on the plane with, breaking down language barriers, racial oppression and the like. Maybe for some life wasnt so difficult and the hours were not so long, but many of those havent achieved what my dad and others have in the short time given. Nowadays 85 percent of independant supermarkets in NYC are dominican owned and operated.

That is something to be proud of!!!!

when we lived in DR people used to look down on what my dad did for a living, as you know DR is or was a country where social standing is everything, and my friends parents were all doctors and lawyers who luckily never had to leave the country chasing "the dream", pero mi papa era un "campesino embullao" no porque en mi casa escuchabamos bachata a todo dar, ni porque andaba en un a supra con un musicon, pero solo porque era del campo y sin la educacion academica tenia logros economicos que sobrepasaban muchos doctores y abogados de la "Sociedad" santiaguera.

Though many wouldnt believe it, from the way me and my dad treat each other,

Mi papa es mi heroe, and it is because of him , que hoy soy el hombre que soy.

Punto y Aparte