"They call me the plantation negro"

A few years back I was asked to look into traditional Caribbean song texts - the main research question being whether and to what extent these would show a different sexual morality. While analyzing these songs I found it hard to interpret the sometimes shocking racism of popular and apparently uncontroversial songs.

In particular:
"They call me the plantation negro,
for work to me is an enemy.
I leave working to the ox,
for God created work as a punishment".
(A mí me llaman el negrito del batey, / porque el trabajo para mí es un enemigo. / El trabajar yo se lo dejo todo al buey, / porque el trabajo lo hizo Dios como castigo).

The history of these songs led me to the following explanation:

Besides the popular merengue rooted in slavery, this song, as many others, is not part of that tradition but of a more modern revival in Dominican society. These 'authored' merengues go back to the 1920s and 1930s, and their popularity was fueled by two developments. In the first place, the growing importance of music radio stations on the island. In the second place, these songs gave expression to a nascent national consciousness.

They idea of a Dominican nation was still novel, the best proof of which is the temporary annexation to Spain from 1861-1865. For the process of nation building, it was essential for the upper classes and urban society to become disattached from their European background. In this context we have to understand the re-invention and the popularity of Dominican slave music; not the original, traditional version of this music but rather a parody of slave merengue.

Which is why this song depicts a racist caricature of a plantation slave.