Black People : The Debate on Race in Cuba

Mad Skillz

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Oct 28, 2004
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Cuba is racist, says a letter signed by 60 African American and Afro-Latin notables. Undoubtedly, “racism exists in Cuba, just as it does in every other country on the planet, especially the United States.” And just as surely, those who signed the letter have put their reputations in service of the same U.S. government and Miami (white) Cuban exile crowd that has always plotted against the Cuban revolution. The author poses the question: “Is there really a civil rights movement in Cuba or is the petition merely a grandiloquent expression of Afrogringoism?”

Full Article: http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/reverse-images-acrimonious-debate-race-cuba
 
Thanks Mad Skillz, for the link. As a Latino who has visited Cuba, I found the article interesting. Although the author tends to over romantiscize life in Cuba (and Brazil), I feel he is correct in his assesment. Fidel did make the elimination of racism a central plank of his revolution. An impossible task in a racist world. I spoke wit many older black Cubans when I was there and they love Fidel and what he has done for Afro-cubans. The special period brough change in the race dynamic. I was there in 1998. With the introduction of tourism - needed to get cash dollars - Race, class and gender isues came roaring back. The jobs in the tourist industry are coveted, because you gain access to tips - in dollars. When I took a taxi in havana, if a private taxi the owner/driver could be black, white, or whatever, But the government taxi's, that have access to the tourist zones, were driven by whites. Jobs in the tourist zones are dominated by whites.
What is of interest here is not that there is racism in Cuba. First, it stands the ideas of the Ferrer character on their head. racism has increased, or the need for the human rights movement he proposes, is needed because of capitalist changes, the opposite of his propaganda, that the revolution is racist. Then the question becomes:
Does capitalism promote racism? Is racism an integral component of capitalism?
Seeing that racism in Cuba is on the rise do to the introduction of capitalist change, Cuba is a perfect laboratory for this type of investigation.

I cannot believe that Maya Angelou and other African Americans could be duped into signing that letter. Amazing and hurtful.
This would be a wonderful PhD dissertation for a young brilliant black scholar.
ase

Cuba is racist, says a letter signed by 60 African American and Afro-Latin notables. Undoubtedly, “racism exists in Cuba, just as it does in every other country on the planet, especially the United States.” And just as surely, those who signed the letter have put their reputations in service of the same U.S. government and Miami (white) Cuban exile crowd that has always plotted against the Cuban revolution. The author poses the question: “Is there really a civil rights movement in Cuba or is the petition merely a grandiloquent expression of Afrogringoism?”

Full Article: http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/reverse-images-acrimonious-debate-race-cuba
 
Thanks Mad Skillz, for the link. As a Latino who has visited Cuba, I found the article interesting. Although the author tends to over romantiscize life in Cuba (and Brazil), I feel he is correct in his assesment. Fidel did make the elimination of racism a central plank of his revolution. An impossible task in a racist world. I spoke wit many older black Cubans when I was there and they love Fidel and what he has done for Afro-cubans. The special period brough change in the race dynamic. I was there in 1998. With the introduction of tourism - needed to get cash dollars - Race, class and gender isues came roaring back. The jobs in the tourist industry are coveted, because you gain access to tips - in dollars. When I took a taxi in havana, if a private taxi the owner/driver could be black, white, or whatever, But the government taxi's, that have access to the tourist zones, were driven by whites. Jobs in the tourist zones are dominated by whites.
What is of interest here is not that there is racism in Cuba. First, it stands the ideas of the Ferrer character on their head. racism has increased, or the need for the human rights movement he proposes, is needed because of capitalist changes, the opposite of his propaganda, that the revolution is racist. Then the question becomes:
Does capitalism promote racism? Is racism an integral component of capitalism?
Seeing that racism in Cuba is on the rise do to the introduction of capitalist change, Cuba is a perfect laboratory for this type of investigation.

I cannot believe that Maya Angelou and other African Americans could be duped into signing that letter. Amazing and hurtful.
This would be a wonderful PhD dissertation for a young brilliant black scholar.
ase
Capitalism cannot be used as an excuse, for racism since it is the 3rd realCommunist country left in the world since Russia haveing a stock exchange and China becoming a menber of the World Bank and the Trilateral Commision.

I was shocked to hear about this beacuse Castro as ststed did promise to end racism
 
Capitalism cannot be used as an excuse, for racism since it is the 3rd realCommunist country left in the world since Russia haveing a stock exchange and China becoming a menber of the World Bank and the Trilateral Commision.

I was shocked to hear about this beacuse Castro as ststed did promise to end racism

re-read my post again, then reconsider your response.
 
Castro may have promised the end of Racism in Cuba. But it’s up to all the people to implement. One can have laws against racism, but the people need to stop practicing it. Racism never left Cuba, but it was minimized due to greater equality. But once inequality is re-introduced with Capitalism, it welcomes competition, and in reverse.
 

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