Twitter:@danieluh
Eight Dominican cultural figures had some pretty harsh words for Junot Diaz after he and three other writers published an open letter in the New York Times criticizing the country’s decision to strip citizenship from Haitian immigrants and their children. Diaz labels the act as “racist” and claims it has unleashed “hatred and xenophobia” between Haitian and Haitian-Dominican communities.
The letter quickly fired up eight intellectual figures on the island – including Eduardo Gautreau de Windt, Pura Emeterio Rondón and Efraim Castillo – to write their own attack through media outlets in the country, and what they had to say was not pretty. They accuse him of “not knowing the content and reach of the ruling,” and label his presence in the country as a “mockery and a cynical gesture” to those citizens who are highly concerned for the situation.
But it doesn’t stop there. They go IN on a personal level and criticize Diaz’s writing, saying he has “little capacity for reflection and a disrespectful and mediocre use of the written word.” Ouch. I think his millions of fans and shiny Pulitzer Prize beg to differ on that one.
Soon after, Diaz responded to the harsh criticisms on his Facebook on December 4:
You tell them, boo! It’s pretty clear where Diaz stands on this-what do you think of the ruling?