In Sammy Sosa’s native Dominican Republic, the desire and everyday struggle to be fair is the stuff of legends. Black and light, and the right shade of light, underlie much of the societal tensions amongst the peoples of Hispaniola, with Haitians in the West and dark skinned Dominicans regarded unequivocally as less-than. So it should not be surprising that the formerly black Sammy Sousa is now a lighter version of himself.
Skin whitening has a long history in the Dominican Republic, as author Junot Diaz reminds us in “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao“, with his reference to former dictator Rafael Trujillo, “who bleached his skin, wore platform shoes, and had a fondness for Napoleon-era haberdashery.”
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