First, the news…
Another one that goes unnoticed by black and mainstream media.
‘I have a dream’ becomes Castro’s nightmare
{Excerpted}
In the latest exchange in the US-Cuban cultural war, the electronic tickertape mounted on the fifth floor of the US Interests Section in Havana began beaming King’s quotes in 2,7 metre-high red letters.
The passages were interspersed with sections from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, promising freedom from arbitrary arrest or exile, and inspirational sayings from anti-communist leaders such as Poland’s Lech Walesa and the Czech Republic’s Vaclav Havel.
The illuminations so outraged Cuba’s president, Fidel Castro, that he called for a mass protest today in front of the mission, which is housed in the Swiss embassy. In a three-hour televised speech on Sunday night, Castro described the signs as a provocation intended to break off what limited contact has survived between the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations. “The US government … is deliberately trying to force a rupture in the actual diplomatic relations,” he said. “The gross provocation … can have no other purpose.”(more…)
It’s funny how American apologists for Cuba fail to inform us on the other side of Cuban politics. Politics that have consistently kept blacks out of the loop of opportunity (Before some of you try to make comparisons of that statement to black Americans, please check out both links below:
This link is a search result of everything I have posted on this site regarding Cuba (you may need to skip some articles as the search results pulls up every instance of the word “Cuba” being mentioned on this site.
While mainstream media is tripping over itself to grab the next Harry Belafonte soundbite that accuses America of being an imperialist nation, nobody dares to ask him or others like him about the real living conditions of blacks living in places like Cuba (where there are no blacks who hold significant roles in government), and Venezuela (where blacks are not included in the Census, or Constitution–please read “Venezuela: 150 years after abolishment of slavery, racism persists” ).
Sidney Brinkley of blacklightonline.com elaborates on the black Cuban experience:
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Cuba has a population of over 11 million people. Approximately 60% are Black. However, while the Cuban constitution declares everyone equal, Cuban society is stratified by race and color of skin. Viewed as a pyramid, White Cubans are at the Apex, mulattos or mixed race are in the middle and Afro-Cubans are at the bottom. The same position they occupied before the revolution.
There are virtually no Afro-Cubans found in the hierarchy of the Cuban government. And they are not found anywhere else in anything close to their numbers in the population. When it comes to addressing Cuba’s entrenched racism Castro plays the American left like a fiddle. He knows that all he has to do is acknowledge the sorry fact and that will be enough to impress the left. That Castro has done nothing to correct it is overlooked.
The truth is, the Black majority is being ruled by the White minority. If that wasn’t acceptable in South Africa, why is acceptable in Cuba? Indeed, that’s one reason the Castro regime is so strongly opposed to democracy. There’s the very real possibility that, for the first time in the history of Cuba, White Cubans would no longer be in control. (more…)
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Here is a letter drafted by William E. Herrera DÃÂÂaz, President José MartàCivic League (not able to verify if he is still the president of that organization) to the Congressional Black Caucus:
Havana, August 25, 1999
Congressperson Maxine Waters, President
Black Caucus, United States Congress
Congresspersons, Members of the Black Caucus
I am writing prompted by your recent visit to our country and the impression you may have had about the liberties of Black people in Cuba. I would respectfully like to suggest that you were not allowed to observe the full reality of Black people’s life in Cuba.
Blacks in Cuba are routinely deprived of their basic rights: Freedom of expression, of assembly, and other fundamental human rights are routinely denied by the State.
Eighty percent of the penal population is of Black extraction, incarcerated without the minimum procedural guarantees by the system of justice.
Ninety percent of the Black population lives in substandard conditions in decrepit buildings or in improvised lodgings, in unsanitary conditions and under constant threat of eviction.
Blacks have been systematically denied jobs in tourism, in the dollar stores and in other well-compensated fields, and they haven’t been well-accepted in leadership positions.
The opportunities available to Blacks in the government are null, with the exception of a few tokens placed there to foster an image of racial tolerance.
Blacks are also at an economic disadvantage in the dollar economy, since relatively few Blacks have relatives abroad to send them hard currency. The bulk of Cuban emigration has been White.
The majority of Cubans are either Black or of Black extraction, and so are those of us who are struggling for the reestablishment of democracy and for the rule of law. Black and White together, we have been driven to engage in civil disobedience to propitiate the conditions for a transition in the political system. We have tried to obtain the government’s cooperation to work toward a national understanding and we have been ignored, persecuted and jailed.
In this we have been inspired by the struggle for civil rights of Blacks in your country and by the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I am convinced that the Cuban government did not allow you the opportunity to appreciate fully the Cuban reality. I would respectfully ask you to keep this in mind when it comes time to analyze, or take a decision concerning, the situation in our country.
In Cuba, Blacks are doubly discriminated against: by virtue of their Cuban citizenship and by the color of their skin.
Very truly yours,
William E. Herrera DÃÂÂaz, President
José MartàCivic League
Letter found on the website of the Free Cuba Foundation
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