Cuba: Race & Identity in the News
Archive:7/93-9/03

The Revolution and Racism  9/22/2003 CubaNet: "Said Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, Cuba's parliament: "Unfortunately, these things [disparities in the treatment of blacks and whites] are very common in Cuba. It is a situation exacerbated, he said, by the introduction of capitalism into Cuba's socialist society by the country's burgeoning tourism industry."

Author lectures on Cuban identity  9/18/2003 Massachusetts Collegian: "Perez did say that his primary focus was the Cuban middle class. Perez said that the black population of Cuba was not represented in the "Miami tract" of white Cubans that were able to fly from Havana to Miami for $26 and take in American movies. But black Cubans nonetheless were influenced by American culture, "like the Grandes Ligas [Major League Baseball]." Afro-Cuban baseball players aspired to one day play in venues like Yankee Stadium and the old Ebbets Field. The first Cuban world champion boxer was an Afro-Cuban named Kid Chocolate; he won the title in Madison Square Garden, Perez said." - Perez is well known in academic circles for his consistent deprecation of the role of AfroCubans, and this extract, discussing the impact of US culture in terms of just sports, is consistent with that. As one student questioner put it, "Gardy Guiteau, a UMass graduate student studying social justice education, said, "There were parts of the narrative, like some of the questions at the end pointed out, that were missing. Specifically the Afro-Cubanos, and how what he was presenting reflected in that population." "

The Afro-Cuban story told on film  9/7/2003 Sun Sentinel, FL: "In one of Gloria Rolando's latest films, her hero has a tough time convincing others her story is worth telling. Imbued with nostalgia and a need to know her family's past, the character tackles misunderstanding and ignorance to unearth a long forgotten chapter in Cuban history. Rolando readily concedes the film's storyline might well be her own. Working on a shoestring budget, the independent filmmaker and screenwriter has spent the past decade training her camera on the cultural identity and traditions of Cuba's predominantly black neighborhoods, which she says are often ignored or stereotyped in Cuban television or movies."

Scholar traces Milton Hershey's Cuban ties  9/2/2003 AP: "The late Milton S. Hershey is best known as the founder of the giant candy company that bears his name and the builder of much of the Pennsylvania community where it is located, but he also owned sugar plantations in Cuba for about 30 years, according to a researcher. Thomas Winpenny, a history professor at Elizabethtown College who recently wrote about Hershey's Cuban connections in an article in the Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, said income from the plantations helped finance construction projects that continued in Hershey, Pa., through the Depression."

CUBA: TIERRA SANTA DE LOS ORISHAS  7/27/2003 Jiribilla: "Del 7 al 13 de julio de 2003 tuvo lugar en el palacio de las Convenciones de La Habana el Octavo Congreso Mundial de la Tradición y Cultura Orisha. En esta labor de resistencia cultural, las religiones hicieron la función de núcleos duros, permitiendo la pervivencia de la lengua, la música, los bailes, los cantos…"

8th World Congress on Orisha Traditions and Culture  7/21/2003 Granma: "The meeting (July 7-13) gathered over 400 participators — half of whom were delegates from Mexico, Canada, the United States, Belgium, France, Spain, Argentina, and Trinidad and Tobago — analyzing a wide range of topics in nine commissions. The first commission focused on education, culture and art; the rest as follows: continuity and change in the context of the Diaspora; ethical, philosophical and psychological perspectives; ethnicity, family and gender relations; rituals, ceremonies and experience in the Yoruba religious traditions; culture, identity and transculturation; ethno-biological perspectives; preservation and cultural continuity; culture and identity; and inter-religious dialogue. Yemi Elebuibon, Nigeria; Gilberto Ferreira, Brazil; Chief Adeyela Adelekan, Britain; Madam Joan Cyrus, Trinidad and Tobago; and John Watson, the United States presented the plenary session reports… The UNEAC president acknowledged that there are still “insufficient links at an institutional level, but Cuba’s Yoruba Cultural Association has added its name to the call we made for an antifascist world front. From the cultural point of view we have strong ties linking us to the world they represent because we have a large number of persons of African origin who were brought here as slaves and who left us their ancestry. This culture can be seen in all walks of Cuban life because everything here is intermixed, has become intermixed, and we are this huge ajaico (Fernando Ortiz employed this word, which is a type of Cuban stew). We are a third product, we’re not Congolese, carabali (Western African people), Chinese, from Seville or from Galicia, we’re Cubans.” " - the UNEAC president echoes a consistent Cuban reaction to the themes represented by the conference, one which dates back to Jose Marti.

The NAACP's silence on Cuba is deafening  7/19/2003 Tallahassee Democrat: "All of this brings me to Miami-Dade County where the NAACP held its 94th annual convention, and hotels were booked. Outside the facility, a group of Cuban exiles held a candlelight vigil this week to call attention to the plight of Cubans on the communist island. A group of former Cuban political prisoners, who are black, are calling on the NAACP to be consistent - and ethical and moral. They want the NAACP to hold Cuba's government to the same standard that the civil rights group has held other nations where inequalities reign."

Exiliados reclaman apoyo a la NAACP  7/15/2003 Miami Herald: "Exiliados cubanos de la raza negra, ex presos políticos y activistas de derechos humanos pidieron ayer la Asociación para el Progreso de las Personas de Color (NAACP) que reconozca las violaciones cometidas por el régimen de Fidel Castro y se solidarice con la campaña por la liberación de los prisioneros de conciencia en la isla."

U.S., keep your hands off Assata! Interview with Assata Shakur, part 2  7/9/2003 SF Bay View 

U.S., keep your hands off Assata! Interview with Assata Shakur, part 1  7/2/2003 SF Bay View 

My Michigan. There was a man. The guilty Weather bomber — and more  6/20/2003 National Review: scroll down for this - ""Ramon Humberto Colas, founder of Cuba's independent-libraries movement, held a briefing on June 11th for the press corps of the United Nations, where he was attending meetings. . . . "Reiterating [the movement's] offer to close down independent libraries, he said these would be unnecessary once Cubans have [broader] access to books and publications now forbidden and are free to exercise their cultural and intellectual rights. An Afro-Cuban, he also denounced the Castro regime's propaganda on racial issues; highlighted blacks' participation in the peaceful opposition movement; and denounced Castro's need to find external scapegoats and excuses for his failures and absolute control. . . ."

Three Men Executed in Cuba Were Black, First to be Killed for Trying to Escape  6/17/2003 BET: they were executed for a hijacking, not for leaving…

"Three Little Blacks"  5/27/2003 NewsMax: "The Association of Black Cubans in Miami held a protest on May 10 at the Bayfront Park in Miami to protest the arbitrary executions. Cubans of many ethnic roots attended."

THE CASTRO NEWS NETWORK  5/17/2003 NY Post: "Here's a fact about the executed men that's gone virtually unnoticed: Lorenzo Copello Castillo, Barbaro Sevilla Garcia, and Jorge Luis Martinez Isaac were black. "This is very important," says Jaime Suchlicki of the University of Miami. Though Castro and his top officials are white, dark-skinned Afro-Caribbeans account for about two-thirds of the island's population - and many of its leading dissidents. They are among the most restless of Cuba's people, in part because they're the poorest. Afro-Caribbeans don't receive cash remittances from relatives in Miami, and are blocked from many of the coveted tourist-industry jobs. "By executing them, Castro was sending a clear message to a certain segment of the population," says Suchlicki. "But nobody's picked up on this. Certainly not CNN." "

History, race must be factored into Cuban equation  5/15/2003 Granma: historic article - first major Cuban piece on the racial dimensions of the Miami - Havana conflict. A sign of things to come?

Migrant memo focused on Haiti  4/26/2003 Miami Herald: Now the Haitian immigrants are being tagged as hiding Pakistanis and Palestinians among them, while Cuban immigrant escape this latest twist on an old theme.

Chair of African Women Association in Cuba  4/20/2003 Angola Press Agency: "Angola has been elected to a one-year term chairpersonship of the Executive Bureau of the Association of African Women based in Cuba. The Association will be chaired by Angola's embassy press attache in Cuba, Journalist Luisa Damiao, who was unanimously elected… Members of the 18-year-old Association are about 50 women from 13 African countries among diplomats and spouses of diplomats accreditted to Cuba. It has working relations with the Cuban Women Federation, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples, the Organisation of Solidarity to Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Africa House."

Keeping hope, conscience alive in Cuba  3/17/2003 Boston Globe 

From Havana to Harlem: Same Struggle, Same Fight, Panel Discussion, Harvard Law School, 3/3/03  2/28/2003 AfroCubaWeb: "We will be discussing the history of the relationship between Cuba, Africa, and African-Americans. What role have Cuba and Cubans played in African - American's fight for equality and justice in America? What role have they played in African wars for independance? The discussion will cover the connection between Cuba and the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s; Cuba and the Black Power Movement in the US; Cuba and African liberation struggles; Race in Cuba; African-Americans and Cuba's revolution; and more."

RAZA Y RACIALIDAD: REVISITAR LA MEMORIA HISTÓRICA  2/28/2003 Jiribilla: "Calificado como verdadero acontecimiento cultural, la presentación del libro Los independientes de color, de Serafín Portuondo Linares rescata una parte imprescindible de nuestra memoria histórica al poner en las manos de los lectores de estos tiempos un texto que forma parte de la conciencia nacional y que permite avanzar en la lucha contra las manifestaciones de racismo en la Cuba actual."

Trinidad Carnival: Afri-Caribbean Resistance  2/23/2003 TriniCenter 

Fidel attends Carlos Acosta‘s choreographic debut  2/17/2003 Granma, Cuba: Acosta wanted to be a lead ballet dancer, but the national dance company did not want a black in that role, so he went abroad to Euope and the US to make his fame. At 24, he is back in Cuba putting on a show about his life, to the acclaim of all. - "After the audience’s applause had faded away, Fidel mounted the stage to discuss the show, the book that Carlos Acosta is currently writing, and today’s dance in Cuba. In the presence of the cast and principal figures involved in the performance, including maestro Fernando Alonso and Contemporary Dance Company director Miguel Iglesias, the Cuban leader expressed his interest in national dance training centers and dance companies. He manifested his confidence that the country’s current cultural and educational policies will enable more children, like the lead role in Tocororo, to find new and better horizons through dance." - Words followed by deeds, witness recent contracts given to such groups as Raices Profundas to teach across Cuba.

Fidel Castro Ruz, en la clausura del Congreso Pedagogía 2003  2/15/2003 Consejo de Estado, Cuba 

Fidel Castro Ruz, at the closing session of the Pedagogy 2003 Conference, 2/7/03  2/15/2003 Council of State, Cuba: an important speech on racism in Cuba, given on 2/7/03. A hot topic in Cuba for those who know about it. " - From a BBC article on the speech: "Many blacks think that this is a historic speech and that the Cuban press has not given it the same exposure as they have the president's other speeches."

Advierten sobre racismo en Cuba  2/13/2003 BBC Mundo: "Los negros cubanos viven en peores casas, tienen los trabajos más duros y menos remunerados y, por si esto fuera poco, reciben entre 5 y 6 veces menos remesas familiares que sus compatriotas blancos. Por primera vez, el propio presidente de Cuba, Fidel Castro, reconoció en un discurso que la revolución no había logrado erradicar "las diferencias en el estatus social y económico de la población negra del país". Muchos negros piensan que se trata de un discurso histórico y se quejan de que los medios de prensa no le han dado la difusión que tienen las demás intervenciones públicas del presidente cubano. Incluso disidentes negros saludaron este discurso. "Es interesante que el presidente cubano haya reconocido que hay racismo, porque existen muchos que pretenden ocultarlo", dijo Manuel Cuesta, uno de estos disidentes."

A MIS AMIGOS NEGROS  1/30/2003 Jiribilla, Cuba: “Le he dedicado este libro a mis amigos negros que tuvieron sus antepasados en los esclavos, en el entendido de todo lo que hay que rescatar dentro de la cultura, que no sólo es un problema folklórico, ni de religiosidad, que inclusive se puede mercantilizar, sino que es un problema de raíces; y las raíces hay que trabajarlas con mucho cuidado para que las plantas no se estropeen.”

Fidel endorses the just nature of the united vote as a revolutionary strategy  1/18/2003 Granma: "In his address, Fidel outlined the ethnic composition of the new slate, observing the increased percentage of black and mixed race candidates, as well as women - who currently constitute 65% of the country’s technical force - brought about by the electoral processes of 1992-3, 1997, and this of 2002-3." An abridged version of the Mesa Redonda article in English.

Race and the Cuban Elections: "Nuestra única alternativa es la victoria"  1/17/2003 Mesa Redonda, Cuba: A rare official consideration of race in cuban politics - "Al retomar lo explicado en la Mesa por Ernesto Freire y Juan Vela, presidentes de las comisiones nacionales de Candidaturas y Electoral, respectivamente, Fidel valoró que entre los candidatos a diputados hay en esta ocasión un número de graduados universitarios y de nivel medio superior, crece la presencia femenina, así como de la de negros y mestizos, lo cual es fruto de la obra educacional y de justicia social desarrollada por la Revolución. En la Asamblea Nacional constituida en 1993, el porcentaje de negros y mestizos era de 28,36%, en el Parlamento que resultó de las elecciones generales de 1997-98, esa proporción fue de 28,29 y ahora representan el 32,84% de los candidatos a diputados." People of African heritage in Cuba constitute over 2/3 of the population according to Cuban government figures.

Lo afroamericano en la antropología social y cultural  12/29/2002 Tribuna de la Habana: "Con el fin de contribuir a la profundización y promoción de los valores de la cultura cubana, estimular el análisis de la temática africanística y contactar el avance en los estudios de esta especialidad se efectuará el VII Taller Científico de Antropología Social y Cultural en la Casa Alejandro de Humboldt de la Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad, ubicada en la Calle de los Oficios esquina a Muralla, en La Habana Vieja., del 6 al 9 de enero… Durante el transcurso del taller tendrán lugar mesas redondas, las cuales abordarán temas tan puntuales como: Fernando Ortiz y Rómulo Lachatañeré; la discriminación también tiene un lenguaje de género ; estudios de sitios de cimarronaje o apalencamientos (emplazamientos de los negros esclavos en rebeldía);cultura, identidad y procesos de ressistencia; etnopsiquiatría. En este contexto se producirán conferencias de etnología, cultos populares y la simbología de las plantas en relación con el proceso de sincretismo de las religiones afrocubanas. Asimismo, proyectarán videos y presentarán el libro Los cabildos africanos de Matanzas."

FUSED FAITHS  12/27/2002 Sun Sentinel, Florida: repeating familiar dinsinformation - "The parallel faiths bleed into one another. Each deity, or orisha, has a corresponding Catholic saint, producing a religious syncretism that is distinctly Cuban." In fact, Yoruba religion took the images of the saints but not the theology, concepts, or rituals. The San Lazaro referred to as Babalu Aye does not even exist in Catholic tradition.

Institutionalized Racism  12/26/2002 CubaNet: from a Miami Mafia house organ, the pot calling the kettle racist? These numbers might appear to have significance, but in fact it is generall recognized by all but white Cuban Miami that Cuba's population is 70% of African descent - "To this should be added the fact that 70 percent of the prison population is black or mixed-race, groups representing 30 and 10 percent of the present population respectively, according to figures from the same center. This piece of information can vary according to the source, due to the variety of types within each racial group."

Black Cuba  12/16/2002 BlackCuba.com: new website from Havana Bay Company, Inc., based in Texas.

Black Cuba  12/15/2002 Kalamu Magazine: history and analysis.

Censorship against young poets and rap artists  12/13/2002 Cubanet: "Following the Hip Hop Festival held in Havana in August, the Casa de Cultura in Alamar received an order from the Ministry of Culture to review the lyrics of rap songs before the start of any concert. "This is a preventative measure to avoid any act of disobedience not in accord with our revolutionary process," the director of the center said to justify the measure. According to the comments of a city cultural official, the finale of the Hip Hop Festival was planned for La Piragua, an open-air, central location in Vedado, but due to the coverage by the foreign press and their reaction in the face of certain openly critical texts, it was cancelled and moved at the last minute to the amphitheater in Alamar… Poets, painters, musicians, performers, troubadors, the majority under 35 years of age, have converted an area far from the cultural circuit and center of Havana--and where daily life is pure tedium in one of the worst architectural contexts in Havana--into a center boiling with creativity. Nevertheless, the artists are starting to be concerned. In the opinion of many of them, a new policy of censorship and exclusion is being conducted by the municipal Casa de la Cultura, the provincial board of community culture and the Ministry of Culture." Cubanet is a Miami Mafia site, and the government response it portrays would be a knee jerk reaction to the articles in Washington Times, Miami Herald and others about Rap in Cuba being a dissident activity. Note also, in true right wing Cuban fashion, the complete lack of context expressed in this article, not even the word black or afrocuban is used.

En Cuba, la población negra es la menos favorecida  12/3/2002 AP: "Aunque negros y blancos en Cuba tienen en el papel iguales derechos y similar capacitación, los primeros viven en peores viviendas, tienen empleos menos remunerados y reciben poco de las remesas del exterior, según un estudio reciente. El estudio del Centro de Antropología, dependiente del Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Medio Ambiente, fue divulgado a un grupo de científicos y proporcionó reveladores datos sobre las relaciones interraciales en la isla, un tema sensible aquí. Entre 30% y 40% de los blancos reciben remesas del exterior, comparado con entre 5% y 10% de los negros, dijo el experto Pablo Rodríguez a cargo de la presentación de la muestra."

No Plans For NAACP Office In Cuba - Published report of possible Cuban Branch is untrue  11/27/2002 NAACP: "Kweisi Mfume, President and CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said today that a report published in The Washington Times that the NAACP plans to open an office in Cuba is not true. Mfume said: "We had no discussions with Cuban government officials or citizens regarding a possible NAACP branch in that country during our recent goodwill and trade mission to that nation. Our four-day trip was part of the NAACP's historical mission to establish people-to-people contacts both inside and outside of the United States." The Washington Times is owned by the rabid right winger, the Rev Sun Myung Moon.

NAACP to open Cuban office  11/27/2002 Washington Times:  "Cuba likes the idea of an NAACP chapter established there, and we are very open to it," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington office. "We have no timeline on this and haven't set a date to open the office." He added that establishing a chapter on the island run by communist dictator Fidel Castro is a "great move." Mr. Shelton was part of an 18-member delegation that visited Cuba for four days this month. The group included NAACP Executive Director Kweisi Mfume and several members of the National Black Farmers Association.

Cuban hip-hop: The rebellion within the revolution  11/25/2002 CNN: "A rebellion has taken root in Cuba, nourished by a stifling trade embargo, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and racial inequality. But these rebels use lyrics, not guns, and they dance instead of march. Hip-hop is the rebellion within the revolution. Its soldiers are Cuban rappers, (raperos). Their missions are poverty and racism."

Social change in Cuba is complex as black and white  11/24/2002 Seattle Times: "Pedro Perez Sarduy, a Cuban journalist, poet and novelist, has been talking about Afro-Cuban aspirations on his latest speaking tour of the United States. He gave a series of speeches in Seattle recently. I spoke with him after he talked to a group of students at Seattle University. Black Cubans, he said, have to make things work in Cuba. "Black Cubans don't have anyplace to go into exile." White Cubans have made a home for themselves in Miami, and in Spain, but where, he asks, can black Cubans blend in? Where can a people, whose culture is part European and part African and even a little Chinese, go and feel at home, except at home? Sarduy said that when he first came to the United States, many people weren't quite sure how to classify a man with dark skin who speaks Spanish. They had a different image of who was Cuban. Of the 3 million Cubans who live abroad, 2.5 million are of primarily Spanish descent, he said."

Race and Patriotism in Afro-Cuba  11/19/2002 SF Bayview 

Race and patriotism in Afro-Cuba  11/13/2002 San Francisco Bay View: by Willie Thompson, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, CCSF - "Most of us met the anthropological research team called Project Orunmila in Regla, Cuba, 10 minutes from Havana. I spent the last day alone with this family-run document recovery, transcription and dissemination project that also operates a farm to provide financial support. I had earlier misunderstood the extremely important work of this group and unjustly accused them of insufficient rage at the historical and contemporary color prejudice still extant in Cuba, as though rage and alienation are the only appropriate responses. I clearly undervalued the depth and significance of their work and the African originated materials they are diffusing in Cuba and beyond. I quote from an annotation on one of their volumes, called “Awo Orunla Dice Ifa”: “This book is the widest and most complete compilation of the complex panorama of legends that once belonged to the Yoruba people of Nigeria and that are still standing in Cuba and in different areas of the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, etc.), the USA and several Latin American countries (Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil). The work is organized according to the Oduns of Ifa. All writings are therefore placed in corresponding order. This leads the user to a better comprehension and understanding of the panoramic vision of the mythological world of Ifa. It relates an organized knowledge about the men’s event as individuals, the way of thinking of those men, and about the society in which they live.” Sponsorship is needed for Project Orunmila to continue publication. The project may be reached by email at proyecto@orunmila.net or adeyeri@orunmila.net; by phone at 97-0677 (the home of Elsa, a neighbor) or by writing to Camilo Cienfuegos #109 e/c Oscar Lunar Y Nico Lopez, Regla 12 C.P. 11200, Ciuidad de la Habana Cuba."

Cuba's rap revolution: Tough times inspire musical commentary  11/4/2002 Seattle Times: "With the average Cuban peso salary about $15 U.S. a month, it's tempting for those without dollar-paying jobs to spend their time hustling for handouts instead. And those jobs — in hotels, state-run taxis or as licensed operators of restaurants and guesthouses — have proved elusive for Afro-Cubans."

Program director fired over banned music  11/1/2002 CubaNet: What did this Miami based news service say about various attempts to ban Cuban music in Miami? -- "NUEVA GERONA - (Carlos Serpa Maceira, UPECI / www.cubanet.org) - The administration of government Radio Caribe, in the Isle of Youth, south of Havana, fired the program director of a popular music segment because he programed rap music banned by the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television. Carlos Ramón Casallanas, the director of "Qué programa" (What a program!) a show with wide appeal among the young, played a Cuban rap number called "Respuesta a la tiza" (A response to the chalk) actually a sequel to an earlier number called "La tiza" (The chalk), but critical of social problems. "The program administrator at Radio Caribe told me the number was banned because of
‘ideological deviation’ but they never showed me the bulletin issued by the Institute," said Casallanas."

AFRO-CUBANS IN TAMPA  10/12/2002 Florida History: "A good friend of Afro-Cuban leader Rafael Serra, founder of New York’s La Liga, Marti sought the support of Tampa Afro-Cubans RUPERTO and PAULINA PEDROSO and Cornelio Brito. After an attempted assassination, Marti always stayed at the Pedroso Boarding House at 12th Street and 8th Avenue, with Ruperto sleeping in the hallway at Marti’s room. Marti often walked the streets of Ybor City with Paulina in public recognition of his deep respect for her."

Russia, Cuba, South Africa abandon racism conference over vote excluding whites  10/5/2002 AP: "The walkout did not come until two days later, on the fourth day of the six-day conference. It was led by Cuba, followed by South Africa, Colombia, Russia and the French overseas territories of Martinique, Reunion and French Guiana. "Cuba will never support any action aimed at segregating a group of people. Furthermore, Cuba believes that such a decision is intolerant and contrary to the purposes of this conference," Maria Morales, the Cuban delegation's spokeswoman, told the conference."

WHERE BLACKNESS IS BRIGHT?: CUBA, AFRICA, AND BLACK LIBERATION DURING THE AGE OF CIVIL RIGHTS  10/4/2002 New Formations 

Conferencia Mundial contra el Racismo, la Discriminación Racial, la Xenofobia y las formas Conexas de Intolerancia  10/2/2002 CIP: documents the 2001 UN conference on racism from the Cuban point of view

What about Black Cubans' Subjugation, Mr. Robinson?  9/20/2002 NewsMax: Myles Kantor at it again.

HOY FIESTAS DE LA CARIDAD DEL COBRE, PATRONA DE CUBA  9/7/2002 Radio Havana: La Caridad del Cobre is Oshun, Orisha of love, riches, and streams. Yet Catholicism prevails in this account despite the fact that Catholicism was never the religion of the people in Cuba, where there weren't enough priests to exterminate African religions - "La Fiesta de la Caridad del Cobre, Patrona de Cuba, incluirá mañana, la celebración de 46 procesiones en ocho provincias de la Isla, y una alocución del obispo de Cienfuegos, Emilio Aranguren, por la emisora radial "La Voz del Mar". En el Santuario Nacional de la Virgen del Cobre, en la provincia de Santiago de Cuba, el arzobispo Pedro Meurice oficiará una misa, a la cual asistirá una delegación de República Dominicana organizada por el sacerdote cubano Avelino Fernández, obispo de Barahona."

Rapping Cuba  9/5/2002 National Review: Right winger Myles Kantor, tireless defender of the Confederacy, opines on rap in Cuba. See Myles Kantor Archives.

Cuban youth protest through rap  8/20/2002 Washington Times: The Rev. Moon's paper decontextualizes, again.

Debaten acerca de la realidad cubana actual en evento de rap  8/14/2002 AIN: "Abel Prieto, ministro de cultura, señaló hoy que muchos de los programas actuales de la Revolución tienen entre sus objetivos erradicar los vestigios de segregación racial que algunos individuos insisten en perpetuar en nuestra sociedad. La intervención del dirigente tuvo lugar durante la jornada de clausura del coloquio previo al VIII Festival Nacional de Rap Habana Hip Hop 2002, encuentro organizado por la Asociación Hermanos Saíz (AHS) y que desde el pasado lunes sesionó en el Museo de la Música… Finalizando la cita teórica, Abel Prieto anunció que el día 31 de este mes se inaugurará la Agencia de Rap, institución que difundirá esta manifestación artística en el ámbito nacional y extranjero, y que contará además con su propio sello discográfico."

Cuba's blacks drop behind as economy leans on exiles' money  8/11/2002 Dallas Morning News: "In trying to wrest the island from economic crisis, Cuba legalized possession of dollars in 1993, but experts say that in doing so, the government unwittingly put blacks and other mixed-race Cubans at a disadvantage. That's because blacks have a much harder time getting their hands on dollars. Legalization of the dollar meant that Cuban exiles could begin to openly send their relatives money. But that helped whites more than blacks since most Cuban-Americans, 84 percent, are white. Today, exiles send their relatives an estimated $700 million to $800 million – a windfall in cash-strapped Cuba, which received just $68 million in foreign economic aid in 1997, U.S. officials say. Whites use the cash remittances not only for food and other necessities, but to get ahead. They fix up their homes and rent them to tourists. They repair old jalopies and turn them into unofficial taxis. They convert living rooms to restaurants. Many blacks who don't have relatives abroad look for jobs where they can make dollars – such as the tourism industry, the country's biggest dollar-earner. But even then, because of discrimination and other factors, they say, jobs are hard to get."

EL TRATAMIENTO DEL TEMA NEGRO EN EL RAP  8/1/2002 Jiribilla: Tomás Fernández Robaina is a respected author on AfroCuban issues and culture working out of the National Library in Havana.

APUNTES HISTÓRICO-CULTURALES SOBRE LAS SOCIEDADES DE COLOR EN LA CIUDAD DE HOLGUÍN  7/7/2002 Esquife: "Las sociedades de instrucción y recreo desempeñaron en el decursar de la historia de Cuba --desde la colonia hasta el mismo triunfo de la Revolución-- una labor encomiable en el fomento, promoción y desarrollo de la cultura nacional, mediante la realización de actividades relacionadas con el baile, música, literatura y fiestas tradicionales, entre otras. También fungieron como centros de conspiración revolucionaria en preparación de las diferentes gestas independentistas del pueblo cubano, siendo notable el impacto que tuvo el accionar de los negros y mulatos a través de sus instituciones de instrucción y recreo en la vida socio-cultural holguinera en los diversos períodos de su historia."

La Guerrita del Doce, noventa años después  6/17/2002 Granma: "Al cumplirse noventa años de la Guerrita del Doce, el proyecto Color Cubano de la UNEAC patrocinó un seminario sobre el tema, abordado desde una perspectiva interdisciplinaria. Historiadores y científicos sociales, en conferencias y mesas redondas analizaron los contextos epocales y las repercusiones del hecho, visto también mediante la memoria afectiva con un documental de Gloria Rolando, tuvo como cierre un recital de Rogelio Martínez Furé. La presencia de un público muy participativo demuestra el interés existente por un tema poco debatido hasta ahora, indispensable para entender los complejos procesos que intervienen en la formación de la conciencia nacional y para consolidar la imagen de nuestra propia identidad."

Reporting on Cuba’s 'Reporters'  6/16/2002 Black Press USA 

Black journalists get close-up view of Cuba  6/11/2002 Final Call: "The week included a symposium with Cuban journalists, press conferences with Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban parliament, and Ruben Remigio, president of the Cuban Supreme Court, tours of Granma newspaper, the Cuban radio and TV institute and a private session with Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando."

From exile with love - Former Black Panther Assata Shakur speaks to America from Cuba  6/11/2002 Final Call: "Final Call Staff Writer Nisa Islam Muhammad traveled to Cuba with a group of 15 journalists under the guidance of DeWayne Wickham and the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies. They are documenting the African influence in the Americas. While there, she was granted an exclusive interview with exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur."

A Catalan symbol in the Cuban capital  6/7/2002 Granma: The injection of substantial funding and organizational work from each Spanish province is another factor pushing afrocubans into a corner, along with the remittances from "white" Miami and the effects of white dominated eurotourism - "YESTERDAY Artur Mas, first councilor of the Catalonian government, while on an official visit leading a large delegation of government officials, businesspeople and journalists from that autonomous Spanish region, inaugurated Catalan Plaza, along with Cuban authorities including Carlos Lage, secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, and Vice President José Ramón Fernández."

Perils of life without a free press are evident in Cuba  6/3/2002 Florida Times Union: Tonyaa Weathersbee is part of the Trotter Group

Rasta growing in Cuba  6/2/2002 Newsday: "Reggae concerts are increasingly common here, the most visible sign that Rastafarianism, the religion formed in Jamaican slums in the 1930s, is attracting a wave of black followers in atheist Cuba. For some Afro-Cubans, Rastafarianism is a means of individual expression in a society that places a premium on conformity. For others, growing dreadlocks and smoking or selling marijuana is a way to attract the attention of dollar-toting tourists. For most, the movement offers spiritual comfort during an economic crisis that has disproportionately hurt Afro-Cubans, the country's poorest people. "There is a lot of racial discrimination here. Rastafarianism is a way to create a black identity and build a message of unity," dreadlocked Elijio Flores said."

In Cuba, Race Is No Longer an Issue -- But Color Is  5/30/2002 Chicago Tribune: another Trotter Group columnist makes some good points: "But as the government has flirted with capitalism, legalizing private possession of the dollar and signing contracts with big hotels to lure tourists, another echo of the old regime has returned: lighter-skinned Cubans displacing those with darker skin for highly visible and lucrative jobs in the country's bustling new tourism industry. Also the millions of dollars in "remittances" that Cubans in the United States and elsewhere send their relatives back on the island every year reach few "black" Cubans because more than 90 percent of the exiles are "white." As a result, the long-standing economic gap between darker and lighter Cubans widens. I use quotation marks around "black" and "white" because the terms don't mean the same as they do in the United States, with our traditional "one-drop rule." Race in Cuba, as in the rest of Latin America, is somewhat fluid: You are pretty much what you say you are, even within the same family."

Castro or not, Cuba would have had a revolution in race relations  5/30/2002 Louisville Courier Journal: While the title may be a little optimistic, as anyone who has visited Miami knows, the columnist's heart is in the right place: "Indeed, a highlight of the Trotter Group's week-long visit to Cuba, my second trip to Cuba with the columnists' group, was meeting Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando. What an amazing personality. Rolando was forthcoming enough to say that Castro's 43 years in power haven't succeeded in bleaching negative color-consciousness out of Cuban society. She doesn't consider race as a side issue, as many Cubans do, but as central to her existence as a black Cuban, a woman and an artist. One of her films, "Raices de mi corazon," tells the story of the massacre in 1912 of more than 6,000 members of a political party formed by black veterans of Cuban's two liberation wars against Spain in 1908. The party, Independents of Color, was a response to the marginalization of black Cubans." See our pages on Gloria Rolando and her films, along with photo galleries.

U.S. blind to true colors of Cuba's problems  5/30/2002 USA Today: "Gloria Rolando's short film, Roots of My Heart, ought to be required viewing in the White House. Made without the support of the government-run organization that sanctions and finances much of this island's movie industry, her film is the story of the massacre of more than 6,000 people on this Caribbean island, a brutal episode that took place long before Fidel Castro came to power. But the story that Rolando tells is the key to understanding why Castro remains hugely popular among this island's 11 million people and why they largely mistrust Cuban exile leaders in the United States." See our pages on Gloria Rolando and her films, along with photo galleries.

DANNY GLOVER IN HAVANA AGAIN - A place in the heart  5/27/2002 Granma: "Danny was recently elected president of the TransAfrica Forum, an influential nongovernmental organization promoting decisive and equitable participation by the African American community, specifically, and all people in the United States in that country’s decision-making and the society in general; educational efforts on human rights and social policy; and recognition and exchange with African peoples and black communities around the world, especially in the Caribbean, whose ancestors were slaves. He explained that TransAfrica has made valuable contacts in Cuba, and hopes to keep increasing that communication and carrying out mutually beneficial concrete actions. "I’m sure that even in the short run there will be pleasant surprises."

OPINION: There is a plus side to the Cuban struggle for food  5/27/2002 Times-Union, Jacksonville: Tonyaa Weathersbee is part of the Trotter Group of black US columnists.

Lead Story has show on AfroCubans  5/26/2002 BET News: "The impact of the U.S. embargo on Afro-Cubans and their relationship with African Americans, the United States and other Cubans. For more information, visit www.afrocubaweb.com"

Varela Project offers false hope of change in Cuba  5/24/2002 USA Today: Wickham is a founder of the Trotter Group of African American columnists who recently visited Cuba again.

A dialogue with Afro-Cubans  5/23/2002 Louisville Courier Journal: Trotter Group columnist - "We're in Cuba to participate in a special project on Afro-Cubans; we're also involved in a symposium with Cuban journalists sponsored by Delaware State University's Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies."

History, race must be factored into Cuban equation  5/21/2002 USA Today: DeWayne Wickham of the Trotter Group led 9 African American columnists to Cuba in February 2000 and was also recently in Havana for a symposium with Cuban journalists.

Havana Symposium  5/20/2002 Trotter Group: a national US group of black columnists - "The Trotter Group will meet with Cuban journalists, government leaders, athletes, entertainers and others at a symposium in Havana, May 20-25, 2002. Members: Log into the members-only forum for additional details."

IN CUBA, FORGING A BLACK IDENTITY  5/19/2002 Newsday: "It felt like Kingston or Montego Bay, but the concert took place this month on the outskirts of Havana and was attended by local Afro-Cubans, not rum-sipping tourists. Reggae concerts are increasingly common here, the most visible sign that Rastafarianism, the religion formed in Jamaican slums in the 1930s, is attracting a wave of black followers in officially atheist Cuba."

Cuba cuenta - Una fotografía nacional  5/17/2002 Granma: "El primer censo cubano del que se tenga noticia data de 1774, época en que la Isla vivía bajo dominio colonial español y cuando apenas poblaban el país 171 620 habitantes, la mayoría blancos (56,2%), seguidos por negros (29,3%) y mestizos o mulatos (14,5%)." According to figures from other sources - a total population of 172,620 inhabitants: 96,440 whites, 31,847 free blacks, and 44,333 black slaves.

La guerra de las razas - Autor: LUIS JESÚS GONZÁLEZ  5/14/2002 Cuba Ahora 

Congressman Accuses Castro Of Targeting 'People Of Color'  5/9/2002 CNS: Let us just savor the irony of a Republican from New Jersey talking about racial profiling in any location other than his own state.

Castro Persecutes Blacks  5/9/2002 NewsMax: the sources are NewsMax, a right wing publication, and the CANF, neither of which have a good track record on civil rights in the US.

Con Danny Glover, una vez más, en La Habana  4/28/2002 Cultura, Cuba: "A la pasión por el conocimiento de la sociedad cubana, el cine, la música y las artes plásticas —se confiesa admirador de Manuel Mendive y Flora Fong— acaba de sumar esta semana interés por el trabajo que desarrolla Rogelio Martínez Furé en torno a las tradiciones de origen africano, las novelas históricas de Marta Rojas y las investigaciones sobre la interacción entre las culturas de Cuba y los Estados Unidos que lleva a cabo el Centro Juan Marinello y promueve nuestro amigo común James Earlie desde la Smithsonian Institution."

Un hispanista cubano: Don Fernando Ortiz  4/20/2002 Notinet, Cuba: in the context of today's Hispanification of Cuba, Ortiz, inventor of the term 'afrocuban,' is here being invoked as promotor of la hispanidad.

Fascinante espectáculo cubano en Berlín  4/19/2002 Granma: Some wonder if exporting Tropicana style sexploitation of African exoticism is the best face Cuba can present…

The Rap Revolución - In Cuba, an Insistent Musical Voice is Pounding Home Its Points and Protests  4/14/2002 Washington Post 

Afro-Cuban Voices: On Race and Identity in Contemporary Cuba  3/29/2002 Africana.com: See also our page on Pedro Perez-Sarduy, the co-author.

Presencia negra, al fin, en Hollywood  3/26/2002 Granma: no word of similar problems at ICAIC, the Cuban Film Institute, under its previous president Alfredo Guevara.

Reactions to William Rasberry's column on Cuba  2/18/2002 AfroCubaWeb: by Alberto Jones

Reactions to William Rasberry's column on Cuba  2/18/2002 AfroCubaWeb: Alberto Jones reacts to William Rasberry's column "Cuban Surprise."

Young Cubans turn to hip-hop  2/16/2002 Washington Times: from the Reverend Sun Yung Moon's conservative paper in DC, with a predictable spin.

Opportunity or Exploitation?  2/11/2002 Washington Post: "Critics, including the American Interests Section, which substitutes for an embassy here, say the young Americans are suffering serious privations and are unable even to be in contact with their families in the States." Come, come Mr. Rapsberry, like it's easy to do that for anyone in Cuba!

Cuban surprise  2/4/2002 Boston Globe: "Perhaps I was surprised most by what I thought I knew best: Cuba's racial situation. I'd been led to believe by black Cuban expatriates that Fidel Castro, though he at first had no particular regard for blacks, had, with the exodus of white Cubans to America, entrusted the civil service, the military officer corps, and much of the middle class to blacks. It was one eason I'd been convinced the Miami Cubans were kidding themselves to dream of a triumphal return to power. Well, in truth I saw hardly any brown-skinned or black Cubans running anything - not as managers or ministers or maitre d's, not even as cashiers, clerks, or hotel maids. Black Cubans are in plentiful supply, as a stroll through the poor sections of Havana will make clear. But all the good jobs in this socialist paradise seem to go to people we used to describe as ''light, bright, or damned near white.'' Ask nonblack Cubans about this phenomenon, and they'll blink as though they've just noticed it for the first time. There's just no color problem in Cuba, they'll insist." The brothers here were not leading you astray: there is a marked difference between the eurotourism sector, completely dominated by whites, and other sectors of the economy, such as medicine, biotech, and even politics where afrocubans have reached senior positions. See the writings of Pedro Perez Sarduy on this site for a discussion of this phenomena. See also Alberto Jones' response to this column, Reactions to William Raspberry's column on Cuba

¡ALTO SONGO, SE QUEMA LA MAYA!  2/1/2002 Jiribilla, Cuba: (FRAGMENTO DE CANCIÓN DE RACHEL) - Los negros son peligrosos con un machete en la mano, muy peligrosos. El asunto, según yo lo recuerdo, empezó por lo de la Ley Morúa. Morúa fue un hombre decente del gobierno, pero tenía la desgracia de ser mulato. Miguel Barnet"

1912: ¿Racismo vs Racismo?  2/1/2002 Jiribilla, Cuba: "Evaristo Estenoz: "La marginación republicana contra los negros empezó a vislumbrarse aun antes de la fundación misma de la República, desde las primeras determinaciones nacionales. ¿Qué fue si no la sustitución del Ejército Libertador (donde éramos por lo menos el 80 por ciento) por una nueva institución armada en cuanto comenzó la intervención yanqui? - Rosa Muñoz Kiel y Marcel Lueiro Reyes Estudiantes de Comunicación Social Universidad de la Habana"

EL ALZAMIENTO DE LOS INDEPENDIENTES DE COLOR (1912)  2/1/2002 Jiribilla, Cuba: This topic is also treated in Gloria Rolando's film, "Roots of My Heart," which the filmmaker will tour through the US in its English version fall '02.

LA MASACRE DE LOS INDEPENDIENTES DE COLOR  2/1/2002 Jiribilla, Cuba: first time this has been discussed in recent Cuban media: "Los orígenes del movimiento de los Independientes de Color se remontan a la preterición, en la recién estrenada república, a que fueron sometidos los mambises negros y mestizos en particular y en general la población negra. Esto se debió a diversos factores ; en primer lugar los prejuicios raciales creados durante 400 años por el poder colonial español, así como por la presencia del ocupante norteamericano. Silvio Castro Fernández | La Habana"

LA MASACRE DE LOS INDEPENDIENTES DE COLOR (LA GUERRA DE 1912 EN CUBA)  2/1/2002 Jiribilla, Cuba 

LA MASACRE RACISTA DE 1912 (FRAGMENTO)  2/1/2002 Jiribilla, Cuba: article by Aline Helg, the author of "Our Rightful Share," part of a series in Jiribilla, an offshoot of Juventud Rebelde.

MÁS ALLÁ DEL COLOR CLIENTELISMO Y CONFLICTO EN CIENFUEGOS, 1912  2/1/2002 Jiribilla, Cuba: "La rebelión no se limitó a Oriente. Cuando se amplía el alcance de la investigación a otras regiones, surge un cuadro más complejo. Una mirada cuidadosa al entramado de acontecimientos en Cienfuegos, en la provincia central de Santa Clara fue un lugar significativo de la organización del Partido Independiente de Color y el único lugar de insurgencia armada en 1912. Alejandra Bronfman | Estados Unidos"

Guantánamo embraces an ethnically rich past  1/27/2002 Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale: "The Cuban revolution in 1959 brought an end to these migrations, but to find the Guantánamo of old with its rich ethnic blend just ask for La Loma del Chivo, Goat's Hillock, on the eastern edge of town. There, descendants of the West Indian settlers still cook up saltfish and dumplings and offer them up in perfect English with a sweet island lilt. The red pods of the ackee tree, Jamaica's national tree, peek over concrete walls. And every Saturday at the 96-year-old Tumba Francesa Pompadu, the only remaining Haitian cultural center, Haitian descendants drum out the rhythms of their ancestors' homeland and dance the dances modeled long ago after French favorites like the minuet. "It was a social criticism," said Emiliano Castillo Guzman, 37, one of the Tumba's drummers. "The slaves tried to imitate or mock their masters with these dances. In the beginning their festivals were held in huts on the sugar cane plantations or the coffee plantations."

Introduction to Race and Ethnicity in Cuba  1/26/2002 Kalamu 

MLK Day plaque honors wrong James Earl  1/16/2002 Houston Chronicle: word is, it was Cuban Americans who made the switch. This fits their known pattern of low level racism. "Many of Merit Industries' workers are young Hispanic women with limited knowledge of English, Miller said. "We probably make two errors for every 100 items," he said."

'Negroes With Guns'  12/28/2001 NewsMax: NewsMax is far to the right. The author seeks to trade on Robert William's legacy.

Officials From Nigeria, Haiti and Cuba to Join Stellar Line Up At Atlanta Confab International Town Hall Meeting to Kick-off State of the Black World Conference  11/26/2001 Black Press USA 

National Identity On Trial: The Case of Post-Revolutionary Cuba Race, Socialism and Disunity  10/1/2001 College of William and Mary: " The Cuban experience presents socialist ideology with a difficult dilemma. Ethnic roots, identity, desire and "tradition" are not neatly forgotten for the sake of class-consciousness and socialism. Can these obstacles to national unity be overcome? Many socialists see revolution as a complete break with the past, a cleansing point where the previous character of a nation is radically transformed, and previous conflicts and prejudice are wiped out. This idea operates on the assumption that such conflicts are entirely structural; and if structural oppression is eliminated and replaced with a planned aim at national unity and equality, then the people of a nation will lead a march for the same goals. But in reality, people retain loyalties for complex reasons. Not all relations prior to revolution are relations of oppression. Moreover, many people have established relations with strong roots of solidarity that will not be abandoned for abstract concepts presented by an intellectual elite."

Interview with Dr. Lillian Guerra  9/28/2001 COHA: "It is impossible to ignore race in Cuba, but racism is expressed very differently than it is in this country. For example, African-American military personnel who had spent time in Cuba before Fidel often saw Cuba as a racial paradise. They did not recognize the racism in their interactions, linguistic difficulties aside, because racism in Cuba is more indirect and "polite."

Conferencia Mundial contra el Racismo la discriminación racial, la xenofobia y otras formas conexas de intolerancia  8/30/2001 AIN, Cuba 

Situación del racismo en el mundo, 8/21/01  8/21/2001 Mesa Redonda: "Lourdes Serrano, directora del Centro de Antropología del Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Medio Ambiente (CITMA), denunció en la Mesa Redonda que el desarrollo tecnológico es empleado en la propaganda racista y explicó cómo ésta debe ser atacada. Sobre el caso de Cuba, explicó que no vivimos en una sociedad cerrada y recibimos influencias de todas partes del mundo. Como indicó la panelista, la Revolución no ha podido borrar, de golpe y porrazo, los problemas de discriminación heredados de la época de la seudo-república; sin embargo, hoy exhibimos una ejemplar hoja de principios de igualdad y equidad social."

Debts of slave owners and racists  8/15/2001 Granma: "We are talking about the intellectual denigration of black people. The idea is that they are some kind of animal, which justifies their sale and purchase like merchandise. And of course, the infamous texts that constituted the Black Codes. Dominant history has taken it upon itself to conceal these roots of slavery, racism and segregation, which still impact on present-day blacks, as much within Africa as in countries where they were taken by force by European or American slave traders in order to exploit their labor."

The fight against racism: getting to the bottom of the problem  7/13/2001 Granma: "WHERE racism, racial discrimination and other forms of intolerance are concerned, "we must get to the bottom of the problem, because the politics, the constitution, the theoretical and philosophic framework are one thing, and concrete everyday events are another." These are the words of Celeo Alvarez Casildo, president of the Organization for Ethnic Community Development in Honduras, in an interview with Granma International, during the recent conference on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia in Havana attended by non-governmental organizations from Cuba and neighboring countries."

The fight against racism: getting to the bottom of the problem  7/13/2001 Granma, Cuba: "‘It is not enough for a black man to be made head of a company,’ affirms Celeo Alvarez, a racial activist from Honduras, whose African communities have 90-95% unemployment and underemployment, as well as serious health and education problems"

ESTEREOTIPOS Y PREJUICIOS VINCULADOS A LAS RELIGIONES DE ORIGEN AFRICANO  7/1/2001 La Jiribilla, Cuba 

Cuba plagued by racism in tourism  6/1/2001 Detroit News: "SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba -- This is the capital of Cuba's black belt, the place where slaves rose up against Spain in the 1800s and where Fidel Castro's band of revolutionaries in 1959 declared a society that would forever end racism on the island. By the accounts of many observers, Castro went a long way toward achieving his goal of a raceless society. He outlawed discrimination. He built schools and hospitals by the score in poor communities where people of color lived. It is curious, then, to enter the Melia Santiago, eastern Cuba's first five-star hotel, and find that none of the employees in the lobby are black." Yes!!!

EL RACISMO EN LA MUSICA DE CUBA.  4/1/2001 Boletin AfroLatino: "El movimiento iniciado por algunos compositores, en favor de la música afrocubana provocó una violenta reacción por parte de los adversarios de lo negro. Como lo señala el escritor cubano Alejo Carpentier. "A lo afrocubano se opuso lo guajiro, como representativo de una música blanca, mas noble, mas melódica, mas limpia. Sin embargo, los que pretendieron usar la música guajira en obras de largo aliento, observaron que, despues de una partitura, nada les quedaba por hacer. La razón es muy simple, el guajiro canta sus decimas, pero no inventa música."

Cuba spreads medical care as political tool  1/30/2001 USA Today: Wickham is a founder of the Trotter Group of African American columnists

Is Cuba A "Racial Democracy"?  1/28/2001 Africana.com 

Reflections On Race And The Status Of People Of African Descent In Revolutionary Cuba  11/1/2000 AfroCubaWeb: by Eugene Godfried, Radio Havana and Radio Progresso. His opinions!

Cuba Begins to Answer Its Race Question  10/27/2000 Washington Post 

On Racism - An excerpt from Terrence Cannon's book: Revolutionary Cuba  8/8/2000 Global Exchange 

Blacks Question Conciliation Toward Cuba  6/23/2000 National Center for Public Policy Research: "Network Cites Abuses and Anti-Black Racism by Communist Regime" - from a conservative washington think tank and its houseboys, The National Leadership Network of Conservative African-Americans.

AFRO CUBANS AND RACE  4/27/2000 Democracy Now: scroll down to get the story and its accompanying audio file.

Response to Sidney Brinkley's article entitled "Racism in Cuba and the Failure of the American Left."  12/1/1999 AfroCubaWeb: By Lisa Brock

Afro-Cubans in Cuban Society  12/1/1999 CIP: by Wayne Smith, summarizing a conference held in Washington.

If You Only Understood  12/1/1999 First Run Icarus Films 

Racism In Cuba And The Failure Of The American Left  10/18/1999 Black World Today: See answer by Lisa Brock, Response to Sidney Brinkley's article".

If You Only Understood  1/1/1999 Icarus Films: "The most moving moment of the 20th Festival of Havana (1998) was the showing of IF YOU ONLY UNDERSTOOD, a social study of the daily life of eight young black women in today's Havana... The film talks about themes not publicly discussed in Cuba: racism, emigration, and certain traumatic experiences like the 'international missions.' Upon leaving the cinema, people who didn't know the filmmaker, embraced and congratulated him." - Gary Krebs, NEWE BURGER ZEITUNG (Zurich)

Black Cubans are still faced with racism  9/17/1998 Dallas Morning News 

Recreating Racism: Race and Discrimination in Cuba's "Special Period"  7/1/1998 Georgetown University: "Race," an Afro-Cuban-American businessman wrote in the Miami press not long ago, "is at the heart of Cuba's crisis." Although statements like this are not unheard-of, most analyses of the Cuban transition or the so-called Special Period treat the country as if it were a racially homogenous entity. A candid discussion of race is generally unwelcome among Cubans, particularly among white Cubans, who frequently claim that racism has never been a problem on the island and that its open discussion will only serve the divisionist purposes of the enemy, however defined."

Cuba's struggle against racism  3/11/1998 Green Left Weekly: This article seems to be based on a serious undercount of blacks and mulattos, who by most accounts number around 70% in Cuba: "Such figures are useful, however many other studies suggest that the percentage of blacks or mulattos is closer to 35-40% of the population in the post-revolutionary period."

Racism Revisited  9/1/1996 Columbia University: "I run into frustrated Germans in the streets all the time who can't find anyone in the hotel who can speak to them," he said. "But because I'm black, I can't find a job in tourism no matter how many languages I speak."

Despite Cuba's History of Tolerance. Castro is a Calculating Racist - Here's Why  7/30/1993 Miami Herald: filled with misconceptions, some of which are analyzed. A favorite of the Miami Mafia, reprinted on the site of the Directorio Revolucionario Democratico Cubano.