Cuba: Race & Identity in the News

El Partido Independiente de Color  8/5/2008 Granma: by Silvio Castro

El significado de un Centenario  8/2/2008 Jiribilla:  por Fernando Martínez Heredia - "En la lucha contra el racismo existen profundas diferencias entre la posición oficial de la Revolución y las ideas que manejamos nosotros, por una parte, y lo que sucede en la práctica social, por la otra. Tiene gran importancia la dimensión histórica del racismo, como uno de los elementos que participó en la construcción de Cuba como realidad específica, es decir, en el nacimiento y primeros desarrollos de la cultura nacional, y el proceso histórico de las transformaciones, las derrotas y las permanencias del racismo en la cultura cubana hasta hoy. En la actualidad es vital que no nos conformemos con formar parte de una elite consumidora de las mejores ideas, satisfecha con el nivel “superior” que posee, sino que actuemos como institución en la lucha contra el racismo, con la mayor energía y eficacia posibles. ¿Por qué los debates del VI Congreso de la UNEAC, y los innumerables eventos, divulgaciones y conocimientos adquiridos sobre este tema en los últimos años no se generalizan, y no llegan a convertirse en sentido común? ¿Por qué no resulta posible llevarlos a la escala de la sociedad? ¿Por qué no pueden llegar a ser la guía de las instituciones y de las prácticas de nuestro estado para escolarizar e instruir a la población, para divulgar, para entretener educando? Cansa repetir que nuestro inmenso sistema educacional no es un lugar de formación antirracista, y nuestro sistema de medios de comunicación, totalmente estatal, tampoco lo es."

The Puerto Rican Experience - The Puzzle of Race and Politics  6/4/2008 Counterpunch: [closely parallels Cuba] - "Governor Rossello himself made the decision to use the entire U.S. census survey instrument without any modification in tune with the social, economic and political reality of Puerto Rico. The outcome, in an island with a strong African and Taino cultural and phenotypical influence, resulted in 80.5% of the population self-identifying as white. Therefore, Puerto Rico is “whiter” than the United States. The bureaucratic decision of former Governor Rossello basically enabled a “whitening” process that was accelerated by Puerto Rico’s colonial status. Since the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico, while it has not experienced a dramatically large black emigration (or received white immigrants to the island in large numbers) Puerto Rico’s “white” population has grown from 48.5% (1802) to 80.5% in 2000."

It's All About Vagueness - Puerto Rico, Obama and the Politics of Race  5/29/2008 Counterpunch: "Duany writes that Puerto Ricans have developed an elaborate racist vocabulary to refer to racially stereotyped characteristics. Kinky hair, for example, is referred to as “bad” (“pelo malo”). Meanwhile racial prejudice is apparent in folk humor, beauty contests, media portrayals, and political leadership. “In all these areas,” Duany says, “whites are usually depicted as more intelligent, attractive, refined, and capable than are blacks.” All of which is not to say that racism in Puerto Rico works in the same way as the United States. However, the island is hardly a “racial democracy” as some of the island’s boosters have claimed. Indeed, many Puerto Ricans deny their cultural heritage and physical characteristics and buy into an ideology of “whitening” through intermarriage with light skinned groups. Interestingly, a whopping 81% of Puerto Ricans called themselves “white” on the 2000 U.S. census."

Otra vez raza y racismo  5/26/2008 Caminos: "Con este tema, la revista Caminos del Centro Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King —recientemente presentada en la sede de esta institución, ubicada en la localidad capitalina de Pogolotti, en la capital habanera—, da continuidad no sólo a una edición anterior sobre el mismo tópico, aparecida en 2002, sino que ahora acoge nuevos acercamientos y reflexiones sobre un asunto afincado en los orígenes de la nación cubana . Ha animado también la aparición de este número de Caminos, el hecho de la creación de la Comisión para Celebrar el Centenario del Partido Independiente de Color (PIC), a la labor de cuyo presidente, Fernando Martínez Heredia, y de su secretaria, Leyda Oquendo, debe buena parte de la organización del dossier. Si bien la publicación de esta revista viene a llenar ciertos vacíos sobre raza y racismo en Cuba, el propósito de sus editores es contribuir a un debate necesario, a la vez, que dar fe -desde distintas miradas y expresiones de la sociedad cubana- de cómo se ve, se piensa y se siente el tema de la raza entre nosotros."

Raza y religión: entre República, brujería y civilización  5/26/2008 Cuba Literaria: publicado en 2005

Caminos magazine devotes its last issue to the ever controversial race question in Cuba  5/26/2008 Cuba Now: "Cuba’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center has published yet another issue of Caminos magazine, perhaps the only publication in the country devoted to socio theological thinking, which has become an unavoidable point of reference to understand different edges of Cuban social thinking."

Obama says he would meet with Cuba's leaders  5/23/2008 LA Times: "Sen. Barack Obama called today for "direct diplomacy, with friend and foe alike," saying he would meet with Cuba's Communist leaders in hopes of advancing democracy on the island. In a luncheon speech to the most powerful Cuban exile group in the country, the Illinois Democrat vying for his party's presidential nomination also said he would immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances. "It's time for more than tough talk that never yields results. It's time for a new strategy. There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans," he said, noting the prospects for influencing Cuba's political course by engagement and example. The annual Cuban Independence Day banquet of the Cuban American National Foundation cheered Obama's avowed commitment to fostering democracy in Cuba. But the audience showed its wariness of his talk of meeting with Cuban leaders. Mere handfuls applauded that statement from among the crowd of at least 500. Obama contrasted his plan to break nearly half a century of deadlock in U.S.-Cuba relations with the stated intentions of Republican rival Sen. John McCain. He said the Arizona senator "joined the parade of politicians who make the same empty promises year after year, decade after decade" when he promised Tuesday to maintain the status quo of refusing any dialogue with the Cuban leadership."

Raza y racismo - Los colores de la nación  5/17/2008 Jiribilla: "Con el tema "Raza y racismo", La Jiribilla, revista de cultura cubana, propone a sus lectores un acercamiento plural, polémico y multisemántico a una problemática poco tratada en nuestros medios de comunicación. Con toda intención se unen, esta vez, las revistas Caminos y La Jiribilla para dar a conocer una parte imprescindible de nuestra memoria histórica e identidad cultural, al tiempo que la inclusión de variados materiales —que van desde artículos hasta fotos, letras de canciones y documentos inéditos— abre nuevas oportunidades para contribuir desde el pensamiento y la cultura a la lucha contra las manifestaciones de racismo aún presentes en la Cuba actual. Ha animado también la aparición de este dossier, el hecho de la creación de la Comisión para Celebrar el Centenario del Partido Independiente de Color (PIC)."

¿Guerrita de razas o masacre racial?  5/17/2008 La Jiribilla: foto de Evaristo Estenoz, "director de Previsión, el órgano de prensa del Partido Independiente de Color," y de Pedro Yvonet, "uno de los líderes del Partido Independiente de Color"

Cómo surgió la cultura nacional (capítulo 1)  5/17/2008 La Jiribilla: de Walterio Carbonell, 1961

Documentos del Partido Independiente de Color  5/17/2008 La Jiribilla 

José Martí: apuntes sobre su antirracismo militante  5/17/2008 La Jiribilla: por Leyda Oquendo

Raza y Racismo  5/17/2008 La Jiribilla: edition devoted to "Race and Racism"

A 'Splendid' War’s Shameful Side - The finale of the Spanish-American war, rooted in misunderstanding and racism, still reverberates.  3/31/2008 Newsweek: "Thanks to Cuban insurgents, the Americans landed unopposed in Cuba and Spanish relief columns were pinned down and kept from the fight. But the Americans gave the Cubans little credit for the ultimate victory against the Spaniards. Incredibly, the American commanders barred the rebel army from attending the Spanish surrender ceremony in Santiago. Ostensibly the reason was to safeguard against reprisals, but the greater motivation, revealed by letters and diaries of the time, appears to have been the disdain with which the Americans regarded the Cubans as a mongrel army. The Spaniards (an all-white force) wanted to preserve their honor by surrendering to the Americans in Santiago. In the end most of the Spanish soldiers scattered elsewhere around Cuba, where there were no American forces, surrendered to the Cuban rebels without suffering recrimination. The vanquished Spanish soldiers were allowed to keep their arms and embark for Spain. But the Americans disbanded and disarmed the victorious Cuban army. America refused to end its occupation of Cuba until 1902, not until the American commanders were satisfied that the Cubans were sufficiently "civilized" for self-rule. (But the republic's constitution allowed Washington to send in American troops at any time.) Black officers and leaders were purged as uneducated and uncultured. Slavery had been abolished only in 1886, and blacks had not attained the social standing of whites, despite the egalitarian philosophy of rebel heroes like José Martí, who preached that there was no such thing as race, only humanity. Eager to appease the Americans (and get them out of the country), many Cubans became embarrassed and confused and lost sight of their own progressive principles. Before long, the Cuban leaders were guilty of their own racial prejudice, violently suppressing a political party formed by discarded and disenfranchised black veterans in 1908."

Afro-Cubans keep close watch on island politics  3/23/2008 LA WAVE: WAVE is a Black paper in Southern California with a circulation of 9.5 million - "On the face of it, Alberto Nelson Jones shouldn’t be one of Fidel Castro biggest fans."

Viejo periodismo  3/16/2008 Juventud Rebelde: "Fue así que se enteró del contenido de un informe del jefe de la Secreta al ministro de Gobernación en el que daba cuenta de que el millonario periodista Antonio San Miguel, el norteamericano Frank Steinhart, propietario de la empresa de los tranvías habaneros, y Juan Gualberto Gómez estaban detrás de la insurrección de los Independientes de Color, capitaneada por Estenoz e Ivonet, y habían financiado el alzamiento."

Afro Cubans and Race  3/8/2008 Democracy Now: published 4/00 - "Democracy Now! producer Maria Carrion recently spent time in Cuba and recorded a series of conversation by Afro-Cubans on race and racism."

Venezuelan activist lectures on social issues  2/29/2008 Daily Collegian: ""I'm not Chavista, I'm not Bolivarian, I'm a revolutionary," Garcia said. According to Garcia, this social movement evolves around racial and economic inequality in Venezuela. "The problem of racism [in Venezuela] is that is under the veil of racial mixture," Garcia said. Education, according to Garcia, is the solution to the country's problems. That is why the Afro-Venezuelan movement has made it a priority to implement more African elements in the school curriculum. "We went to the ministry of education to demand our participation," Garcia said. These demands were discussed with Cuban instructors that came to Venezuela to implement a new school agenda. Garcia admitted that the Cuban instructors had strategies, methods and objectives that should be included in the Venezuelan school system. However, when the question about the content that should be taught came up, disagreements arose. "The Cubans thought the issue of racism should not be included," Garcia said. After a month and a half of deliberations, Garcia said that they had won their petition. Garcia expressed that the Afro-Venezuelan contributions needs to be included because, "[Professors] are the first reproducers of racism," according to Garcia. According to Garcia, one of the mistakes made during the Cuban revolution was ignoring of the racism issue."

Desafíos de la problemática racial en Cuba  2/13/2008 Jiribilla: "La aparición del libro Desafíos de la problemática racial en Cuba (Fundación Fernando Ortiz, 2007), del economista y politólogo, Esteban Morales Domínguez, constituye de por sí un hecho trascendente dentro del campo de las Ciencias Sociales cubanas de hoy. El retraso de un estudio que, además de la perspectiva histórica, incluyera un análisis de la cuestión de la raza en la Cuba revolucionaria, ha postergado un debate que se ha realizado mayormente fuera de la Isla o hacia el interior de nuestra sociedad civil. Esta aproximación científica contribuye a legitimar la importancia de asumir el tema racial dentro de las agendas investigativas institucionales y dentro del diseño y puesta en práctica de las políticas sociales y culturales en el país."

New book focuses on racial issues in Cuba - Its author, Esteban Morales, scrutinizes the topic of race relations in the island from colonial times to present day.  2/4/2008 Cuba Now: "Economist, political scientist and essayist Esteban Morales Domínguez has repeatedly stated, in several articles and interviews, that lack of cultural knowledge and ignorance, among other factors, have played an important role in helping silencing and omitting racial issues in Cuba, rendering the topic unworthy of public debate. The publication of his book, Challenges posed by racial issues in Cuba, recently launched at Fernando Ortiz Foundation in downtown Havana, has opened one more space to fight back apathy and indifference, thus promoting awareness among those who still consider that the Negro issue does not call for assessments or scrutiny."

Antonio Maceo: The Bronze Titan  12/10/2007 Granma: by Fidel Castro

Attacking Tonyaa Weathersbee  12/2/2007 AfroCubaWeb: "Tonyaa Weathersbee is a columnist for the Florida Times Union out of Jacksonville. A member of the prestigious Trotter Group of African American columnists in the US, she has maintained an interest in Cuba and issues of race & identity there. In September, 2007, Tonyaa Weathersbee wrote an article about a recent trip she took to Cuba, One Race, Two Countries. A group of 4 Cuban Americans attacked her for this article in a letter to the editor, Cuba is no paradise for blacks, 11/07, citing a few myths that are common among Cuban Americans. AfroCubaWeb columnist Alberto Jones comments on this attack in A Failed Revisionist attempt To Mask Cuba’s Tragic History, 11/07."

Cuba is no paradise for blacks  11/29/2007 Florida Times Union 

Racismo, totalitarismo y democracia  11/9/2007 Encuentro: de Enrique Patterson - "Recientemente, La Jiribilla, publicación cultural online del régimen, publicó el artículo "El tema racial y la subversión", firmado por el Dr. Esteban Morales. Más allá de las omisiones, mentiras y descalificaciones (entre ellas, la demonización de quien escribe), resulta interesante el intento de re-abordar ¡por fin! el tema racial, aunque sea desde los paradigmas de las ya desgastadas ideología y práctica "revolucionarias". El reconocimiento, leve y tangencial, de los descalabros del régimen a la hora de lidiar con la tradición racista y discriminatoria indica la dificultad del poder para seguir negando la existencia de semejante flagelo en el seno del llamado régimen "socialista"."

Seeing the people, not Cold War politics  11/5/2007 Florida Times-Union: by Tonyaa Weathersbee, a member of the Trotter Group, an association of Black US columnists. This article discusses Alberto Jones, whose columns appear on AfroCubaWeb.

Acerca del negro en Cuba: logros y quimeras  10/24/2007 LASA: PDF, published in 2000.

The Open Wound: The Scourge of Racism in Cuba from Colonialism to Communism (Perfect Paperback), Arawak publications; 1st edition (April 18, 2007), 248p by Iván César Martínez  10/17/2007 AfroCubaWeb: "The chapters of The Open Wound follow a historical sequence tracing the devastating effects produced by this ideological political system on the psyche, the habits, the cultural and aesthetic values, the patriotic and revolutionary behaviors and the material life of the Cuban people. The work aims to demonstrate how for five centuries Cuba s darker-skinned population have not achieved real freedom, and to explain why the different moments in this long period -- colonialism and slavery; abolitionist period with colonial rule; republican-subordinated independent era; anti-democratic dependent regimes; and the period of communism or totalitarian socialism -- have not been able to solve the race-color problem so entrenched in the Cuban elite ideology of White supremacy. The work is also intended to serve as a tool to eradicate this terrible scourge by demystifying the so-called color-blindness of Cuban society and showing clearly the existence of a hierarchical color-structure of power that has never changed and that keeps the majority of the population -- Cubans that have been sentenced for the crime of having been born with a darker skin color -- at the bottom of the society, permanently excluded and reined in."

Black Cubans are still faced with racism  10/15/2007 Dallas Morning News: published 9/98 - "What the two stories illustrate, say Cuban authorities, is that while Mr. Castro and his government greatly improved the lives of blacks by ending official discrimination, informal racism survives in this heavily black nation. Only now, they say, is the mostly white Cuban leadership coming to grips with that reality. A special commission is assessing the problem. "There is no official racism here anymore," said Mr. Adlum, a retired diplomat. "But there is still a culture of racism. The mistake was to think that just by having everyone integrated, racism would fade away.""

Tourism and the Negrificación of Cuban Identity  10/15/2007 Transforming Anthropology: published 10/06

Entrevista con Eugène Godfried: Una llamada para el dialogo sobre la masacre de 1912  10/5/2007 AfroCubaWeb: con comentarios de Osvaldo Cárdenas, antiguo jefe del Seccion del Caribe del Departamento de las Americas del Comite Central.

Interview with Eugène Godfried: Call for dialog on the 1912 Massacre  10/5/2007 AfroCubaWeb: with comments by Osvaldo Cárdenas, former head of the Caribbean Section of the Department of the Americas of the Central Committee.

LOS RAPEROS: RAP, RACE, AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN CONTEMPORARY CUBA  10/5/2007 University of Texas: published in 2004 - "This dissertation explores the emergent movimiento de hip hop cubano (the Cuban hip hop movement) as a critical site to examine the interplay of race and social transformation in contemporary Cuba. Following Cuba’s post-1990 economic crisis know as the “special period,” the ethnographic investigation centers on the ways young Afro-Cubans are utilizing the expressive cultural space of rap music and broader hip hop “culture” to performatively fashion new kinds of transnationally engaged black identity and related race-based social critique. The author suggest that through such transnationally informed identity processes a new generation of Afro-Cuban youth are positioning themselves in strategic response to the shifting dynamics of race and class in a socialist Cuba increasingly shaped by the interpenetration of global capital and related free-market transformations. In a post-“utopian” Cuba characterized by economic dollarization, expanding tourism, rising social stratification, and – significantly – resurgent levels of racial inequality, the author’s analysis seeks to understand how these emergent subjectivities and the social critiques they invoke pose challenges to, as well as contribute to a current reconfiguring of nationally-bounded constructions of race and corresponding ideologies of national non-racialism. He additionally draws attention to the evolving negotiated relationship between Cuban hip hop as a new, potentially oppositional identity-based social phenomenon, and the Cuban state as it attempts to institutionalize hip hop within a prescriptive, socially homogenizing frame of revolutionary national culture. In turn, Cuban rap has come to occupy a unique site of racially-positioned critique within revolutionary Cuba, serving as a key actor in an evolving black public sphere predicated on the assertion of black political difference within a previously configured non-racial Cuban national imaginary. The author proposes that Cuban hip hop in this capacity represents a critical manifestation of, as well as an active social agent within the shifting transnational complexities of national racial formation in Cuba today."

Cuba: Raza y República  10/3/2007 Jiribilla 

Tourism reviving racism in Cuba  10/1/2007 Chicago Tribune: published 5/18/01, still topical!

Cuba, the Melting Pot  10/1/2007 Morning Star: "PEDRO-PEREZ Sarduy remembers the day in 1959 when Che Guevara came to the central square of his home town Santa Clara. "The square was packed," he relates. "We were all excited and avid to see and hear this hero of the revolution. At the front of the crowd were the white Cubans, behind them were the mixed race people and the blacks stood at the back. That's the way things were." "

Cuba’s Racial Democracy: What Now?  10/1/2007 New School: by Alejandro de la Fuente

Eugene Godfried Calls on Fidel Castro for Reflection and Action concerning the 1912 Massacre: YouTube Video  9/26/2007 AfroCubaWeb 

Guerra de Razas (Negros contra blancos en Cuba),  9/25/2007 AfroCubaWeb: published in 1912, this is a free PDF download - "Written during and right after the 1912 Massacre by reporters "embedded" with the Cuban Army, this piece of propaganda informs the public about the noble campaign against the "racist revolution."  The Epilog contains a list of those who partook of the Banquet celebrating the victory in Parque Central, la Habana, under the statue of Jose Marti, whose son, "Coronel Jose Martí y Zayas-Bazán," was one of the presiding Jefes."

Los Independientes de Color, Habana, 1950, de Serafin Portuondo Linares  9/25/2007 AfroCubaWeb: rare and classic text available as a free PDF download - "Linares was a member of the Communist Party and was roundly criticized by his party upon publication for not following a Marxist class analysis. Instead he analyzed the event as a racist slaughter, basing himself on primary sources. The Communist Party organ, Fundamentos, blamed the US and also the Independientes themselves whom it categorized as petty bourgeois and anarchists."

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 9/07  9/22/2007 AfroCubaWeb: "Here we track issues of race and identity in the anti-castro groups based primarily out of Miami."

Afro-Cuban Identity in Pre-Revolutionary Cuba: The Dynamic Ethnie  9/10/2007 College of William and Mary Monitor: published in 2001

El tema racial y la subversión anticubana  9/9/2007 Rebelion: "En esta tarea de manipular el tema racial en Cuba como objeto de subversión política, están vinculados individuos como Enrique Patterson, quien relaciona el tema con los asuntos de la gobernabilidad o del potencial político contestatario, que según este individuo está presente en la población no blanca en Cuba. Enrique Patterson fue profesor de Filosofía en el Dpto. de Marxismo Leninismo de la Universidad de La Habana. Abandonó el país en 1990 y reapareció poco después en el Congreso de LASA en Washington, haciéndose acompañar de dos funcionarios, al parecer, del Dpto. de Estado. No resultando difícil inferir quien pagaba sus gastos y con que propósitos lo habían llevado al Congreso. Ahora vive en Miami y se dedica a escribir sobre la problemática racial en Cuba, con una línea de pensamiento que lo vincula directamente a los propósitos del Gobierno Norteamericano. En similar tarea manipuladora se halla Ramón Colás, que lidera en Missisipi un Proyecto de Relaciones Raciales. O la Revista Islas, que hasta hace poco buscaba conexiones para lograr producciones sobre el tema racial desde dentro de la Isla."

Red Against Black by Myles Kantor  8/20/2007 Front Page Magazine: "In addition to sharing heroic dissidence, Esteban Cardenas, Enrique Patterson, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, and Oscar Elias Biscet are black Cubans. The latter commonality is significant given the recurrent myth that Fidel Castro has enhanced black Cubans’ quality of life. "[B]lacks are demonstrably better off under Castro than they were under the Batista dictatorship," Randall Robinson writes in Defending the Spirit. Economist Jude Wanniski similarly claims that "Fidel made life better for black Cubans." In addition to brutalizing these and other Afro-Cuban dissidents, Castro’s totalitarianism subjugates Afro-Cubans as a whole; there is no Afro-Cuban exemption from "illegal exit," "disrespect," "illicit association," and other repressive policies. Afro-Cubans are enslaved, muzzled, and terrorized no less than white Cubans. In fact, there is evidence that Afro-Cubans are more acutely repressed. Prohibitive emigration, for example, has applied with greater intensity to Afro-Cubans. Patterson notes, "I am certain that because of my race, I was the first member of the group [the Democratic Socialist Current] that the political police went after.""

Race in Cuba  8/17/2007 History of Cuba 

U.S. blind to true colors of Cuba's problems - by DeWayne Wickham  8/17/2007 USA Today: published 5/30/02, still highly relevant. Dwayne Wickham is dean of the Trotter Group, an association of Black columnists.

Professor West, What About Castro’s Leftwing Victims?  8/14/2007 Front Page: published 2/12/02 - "Patterson’s being a black Cuban also didn’t endear him to the regime; black dissidents refute Castro’s propaganda that the Cuban Revolution has benefited them. "I am certain that because of my race," Patterson notes, "I was the first member of the group [CSDC] that the political police went after.""

LOS RAPEROS: RAP, RACE, AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN CONTEMPORARY CUBA by Marc David Perry, B.A., M.A.  8/13/2007 University of Texas: published 12/2004, 335 pages. This is a PDF, 930kb.

Afro-Cubans in Cuban Society  8/13/2007 Wayne Smith: published 12/1999. Wayne Smith was head of the US Interest Section in Havana under President Carter.

Sociedad Abakuá es tan fuerte en Cuba como en África,dice investigador Norteamericano  8/13/2007 WDS 

`La Gaceta' Discusses Cultural Influence Of Blacks In Cuba  8/12/2007 World History Archives: published 4/99

Black skin and Cuban leadership  7/17/2007 Jamaica Gleaner: by Ramon Colas, founder of the Independent Libraries of Cuba - "To be sure, the Cuban authorities would much rather blacks stay far away from investors and joint venture companies. This, in turn, brings about a situation in which investors (largely white) absorb these same attitudes and become complicit in an evil that affects millions of non-white Cubans. In the political realm discrimination is no less pervasive. Within Cuba's power structure, few blacks share the privilege of leading. Of the National Assembly's 600 deputees, only 18 per cent are black. A similar situation exists at the provincial and local levels. The executive is worse yet. When Cuba's leaders travel abroad, they could pass off as a Northern European delegation save for the black faces carrying the luggage or guarding the entourage. Unfortunately, the military is no different. That institution's leadership is made up of white officers. The three chiefs of the army are white; so are the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the police, the navy, and the air force. Similarly, the military's control over economic activities is all channelled through non-black officers. Only the low-ranking black soldiers remind us that Cuba is, after all, in the Caribbean."

Pro-Castro Columnist Compares Black Exiled Dissident to Maid  7/17/2007 Miami Herald Blogs: published 3/06 - "Andres Gomez, the leader of the pro-Castro group Antonio Maceo Brigade who lives in Miami, writes in a Cuban government publication that anti-revolutionary activity is undergoing a renaissance of sorts in the United States. He singles out for ridicule Bibliotecas Independientes, or Independent Libraries, a group that promotes literacy and the development of civil society in Cuba. Writing in cubadebate.cu, a Cuban government web site, Gomez uses the race of Ramon Colas, the group's leader, as part of his criticism. "This organization, whose only visible member includes a little Negro who travels a lot, whose style and mannerisms remind me of maids in Cuba before 1959, always dressed in their white uniforms -- seems to ignore, just like his masters, that in Cuba, for example, during the last 15 years, they celebrate annually a national book fair." Colas said it's the only time he has felt any "racism'' since he came to Miami about 5 years ago from Cuba. "He is using a series of offensive and racists words against me that you would never get away with using against African Americans," Colas said of Gomez… "It's not racist, really, it's an estimation of mine of what he is," Gomez said Wednesday. "It's not racist in the least. He is like that. And I maintain what I said. In any case, he'd be a shame to his race.""

With More Lives than a Cat: Walterio Carbonell  7/15/2007 Islas, Florida 

New attitudes on once-taboo race questions emerge in Cuba  6/26/2007 McClatchy Newspapers: "But listen to some blacks, particularly those born after 1959, and the failures of the revolution also become clear. “Everyone is not equal here,” said Ernesto, 37, as he dodged traffic on a Havana street. Tall and athletically built, he once hoped to be a star soccer player. He now gets by selling used clothing and said he’s continually hassled by police just because he’s black. In recent years, a new attitude has been emerging quietly, almost secretly, among Afro-Cubans on what it means to be black in a communist system that maintains “No hay racismo aqui”—there’s no racism here—and tends to brand those who raise the issue of race as enemies of the revolution. “The absence of the debate on the racial problem already threatens ... the revolution’s social project,” Esteban Morales Dominguez, a University of Havana professor who is black, wrote in one of his several little-known papers on race since 2005. Black filmmaker Rigoberto Lopez also broached the sensitive topic in a TV appearance in December, saying that while the revolution had brought about structural changes toward racial equality, “its results do not allow us to affirm that its goals have been achieved in all their dimensions.” Afro-Cubans familiar with the situation say black and white Cubans also have been establishing a small but growing number of civil rights-type groups. The government has not cracked down on such usually illegal activities, but neither has it officially recognized them."

LOS NEGROS, LOS OLVIDADOS EN EL ''PARAISO SOCIALISTA'' CUBANO  6/20/2007 La Nueva Cuba 

A barrier for Cuba's blacks  6/20/2007 Miami Herald: "New attitudes on once-taboo race questions emerge with a fledgling black movement"

An American in Cuba - Nationality trumps race, and color still matters. But everyone struggles together.  2/21/2007 LA Times: "Yet color does matter here; a common history of slavery assures that. Digna Castañeda, a diminutive, decidedly black woman who teaches history at the University of Havana, said both countries have the infamous one-drop rule, though it is differently applied. "In the U.S., one drop of black blood makes you black," she explained. "But here in Cuba, it's the reverse — one drop of white blood makes you white." Which is to say, people with any bit of black ancestry like to identify themselves as white or mulatto, not black. This color aversion is awfully familiar to me. But Cuba's law is that there is no institutional racism. It is officially and culturally a mestizo nation. Still, I wonder: Where do they draw the line between mulatto and black? At what point is whiteness undetectable and blackness inarguable? And who draws that line?"

Cuba to Present African religions´ Dossier  2/9/2007 PL: "A dossier on the African religions and different theological books are among some of the innovations the editorial Caminos will launched at the 16th International Book Fair, announced sources of that headquarter. Caminos is attached to the Martin Luther King Memorial Center (CMMLK) will provide the readers with new titles."

Why black cubans support the revolution  11/9/2006 Socialist Action: published 9/94

Cuba y las tinieblas del racismo  10/10/2006 BBC Mundo: "La revolución cubana mejoró su situación, según afirmó Nicolás Hernández, presidente de la Fundación Nicolás Guillén, "gracias a las políticas educativas generales y al fin del racismo institucional". Gracias a estas políticas "se gradúan por primera vez en el país de forma masiva profesionales de la raza negra" pero aclaró Hernández que "todo ésto no es suficiente, hace falta la eliminación de las desigualdades sociales". La mayoría de los camareros en el sector turismo que tienen acceso a propinas son blancos. "Hay elementos educacionales y culturales sobre los que nosotros no trabajamos lo suficiente, comenzando por nuestra propia historia, en nuestras escuelas se estudia la mitología griega pero no la africana", aseveró Hernández. Por una u otra razón lo cierto es que los negros cubanos aún se encuentran en una situación de desventaja respecto de sus compatriotas blancos, tanto a nivel social como económico e incluso educativo. Nicolás Hernández reconoce que la proporción racial de los estudiantes universitarios es desventajosa para los negros, y el disidente Manuel Cuesta Morua afirmó que éstos son apenas el 3% de los alumnos de la universidad. Algo similar ocurre en el turismo donde los negros y los mestizos ocupan apenas el 5% de los cargos dirigentes según explican investigaciones del Centro de Antropología y reciben 1,6 veces menos propinas que los blancos... La historiadora y antropóloga María Iliana Foabada cree que "lo primero que hay que hacer es enfrentar que somos una sociedad racista, que reproducimos el racismo y que lo hacemos en todos los niveles". En lo que todos los entrevistados coinciden es en segundo paso "el debate abierto y la educación teniendo claro que todos sin excepción debemos pasar por esa educación" afirmó la historiadora."

South Africa: Overt Racism Gives Cuban Ideal a Sinister Hue  9/23/2006 Business Day, South Africa: "I HAVE lived in the US on and off for the past three years and have yet to experience racial profiling, or what people of colour in America know as walking/driving/breathing while black. I spent three weeks in Cuba in 2000, and was subjected to racial profiling five times -- all in one day. I am sure, then, that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) -- who swear by Cuba and all it stands for -- will understand why a leftist like me is not as enthusiastic as they are about that socialist island. I had my love of Cuba mugged out of me by racism."

Macua  8/15/2006 ArchivoCubano: "Escribir acerca de los Macua, etnia de donde proceden los últimos esclavos traídos a Cuba, es tan importante como sería hacerlo de los Yoruba, Mandinga, Arara, Ibo, Gangá, Carabalí, etc. "

Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power  8/6/2006 PBS  

De la Africanía en Cuba 1-5 Heriberto Feraudy Espino  8/1/2006 ArchivoCubano  

Yoruba: Un acercamiento a nuestras raíces  8/1/2006 ArchivoCubano  

África y los afrodescendientes necesitan acciones concretas de solidaridad  7/22/2006 Jiribilla: "Para Cuba, para los cubanos, África es algo muy entrañable. Es uno de los nutrientes de nuestra identidad y de nuestra cultura. Más de un millón de africanos fueron llevados a Cuba por la fuerza, después de haber sido arrancados de sus tierras de origen: provenientes de diferentes etnias, yorubas, congos, carabalíes y otras, trabajaron bajo el látigo, en el infierno de los cañaverales en beneficio de los hacendados de la Isla y de la Metrópoli colonial. Cuba, como nación, surgió de la mezcla de africanos, españoles y chinos. Las sublevaciones de esclavos y el cimarronaje nutrieron nuestra vocación por la libertad. Nuestras guerras de independencia contaron con la participación masiva de afrodescendientes, que dieron además brillantes jefes a nuestro Ejército Libertador."

El afrorrealismo: una nueva dimensión de la literatura latinoamericana  7/22/2006 Jiribilla  

Miradas comunes en Bahía  7/22/2006 Jiribilla: "Las ropas y los trazos fisionómicos de los participantes en la II Conferencia de Intelectuales de África y la Diáspora exhiben convergencias de identidades africanas. En la subida de la escalera rodante, un profesor de Historia de una universidad norteamericana, nacido en África, parece un ogá concentrado. En la cola del café, dos señoras africanas ostentan túnicas que podrían aparecer en las fotos del antropólogo Pierre Verger. En las mesas de discusión, un antropólogo bahiano discute con un ponente angolano y apenas una ligera variante de la entonación separa a ambos. En el pasillo, un mozambicano intenta identificar puntos comunes con un colega de Cabo Verde. El maestro keniano asiste a todo lamentando no poder dominar el portugués. El agente de seguridad, de terno oscuro, puede ser confundido con un embajador. La bahiaza de la recepción, con su imponente vestido amarillo, pudiera ser una sacerdotisa de Benin”. Reproduzco estas líneas de la crónica final del encuentro, escrita por el colega Paulo Reis en el diario Correio da Bahía, porque de algún modo resumen sucintamente la atmósfera de un Congreso donde las miradas de uno y otro lado del Atlántico se entrecruzaron hasta hallar puntos comunes no solo en la historia trágica que insertó el perfil africano en América, sino en la necesidad de construir un mejor mundo imprescindible para todos. Cuba estuvo presente en esas jornadas. Los representantes de la mayor isla antillana encontraron en Bahía un clima muy parecido al que predomina en las Fiestas del Fuego de Santiago de Cuba."

Natalia Bolívar: África no renace, ocupa su lugar  7/22/2006 Jiribilla: "Si feliz estuvo Natalia Bolívar Aróstegui de que la llamaran para participar en la II Conferencia de Intelectuales de África y la Diáspora, muy contenta integró la delegación oficial cubana presidida por Abel Prieto, ministro de Cultura. Aún ríe satisfecha de los intercambios, incluso, antes de viajar. Como la mayor parte de lo que acontece en la vida de esta investigadora, la invitación del gobierno de Brasil para que participara en la conferencia, la tomó por sorpresa, mucho más cuando desde hace años amasa el sueño de conocer el gigante sudamericano. Se dice que en la II Conferencia de Intelectuales de África y la Diáspora se abogó por el renacimiento del continente negro. En tu opinión, ¿qué significa tal empeño? No estoy de acuerdo con usar la palabra renacimiento, porque renacer es volver a nacer. Desde que supuestamente el continente africano fue descubierto por los portugueses en el siglo XV, ha aportado a los llamados países desarrollados inmensas riquezas que van desde minas de diamante hasta toda la cultura. Europa, EE.UU.… han expoliado a África sin darle siquiera una pieza para sus museos. África no renace, África está buscando su espacio en la cultura, en la humanidad… Lo que ha influido ese inmenso continente se puede ver como uno de los miles de ejemplo en Picasso. Fue en el museo del hombre donde se inspiró en las grandes piezas, expoliado desde África por los franceses. Con esa impronta que recibió, Picasso copió las máscaras en “Las señoritas de Avignon”, obra que marca su tránsito de lo clásico a toda esa otra expresión que consiguió en sus obras posteriores. África lo que está haciendo es tomar conciencia de qué es y cuánto le deben."

Africa, Diaspora Debates in Brazil  7/13/2006 PL: "The meeting began yesterday with speeches by Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil, and Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal, among others, as well as by the president of the African Union, Alpha Oumar Konare. Today´s session includes the long-awaited participation of expert Natalia Bolivar, as special guest to the round table talk "Religion and Culture in Africa and the Diaspora." "

El triángulo invisible del siglo XX cubano: raza, literatura y nación  4/15/2006 Temas: PDF, 225kb, by Roberto Zurbano, Ensayista, Casa de las Américas

Mi Cubanidad  3/11/2006 Un Bohio: published 10/05, nice column - "My worldview was tinted by that dogmatic brain-washing (heavy on the bleach) until 26 March, 2000 when I had the good fortune of encountering the indomitable Dr. Alberto Jones, a generous Guantanamero, in the historic chapel of my alma mater. Dr. Jones is a fascinating man whose energy belies his actual age. A defiantly and politely proud patriot, he also takes great pride in his Jamaican ancestry. I have taken great pride in passing along quite a few of Dr. Jones' columns and essays over the years. Among the things I am grateful for about our friendship, the one thing that stands out the most is the opening of what is an ever-increasing devotion to freethinking and truth seeking. A price tag cannot ever be put on that gift and I will be ever grateful for it. The times when I have heard an African-American express any opinion about Fidel Castro, most of the time, the opinion that is expressed is one based on that individual’s perception of a certain significant level of respect he or she has for the Cuban leader. This perception of Castro is often muddied by the incessant and confusing demonizing of him and his initiatives as practiced by both this country’s corporate media and successive administrations in Washington, D.C. Thus, the question that logically follows is “what are we missing about Castro when it comes to skin color?”"

Cuba: My words speak for themselves  2/17/2006 The Royal Gazette, Bermuda: "WITH regard to Cuba, I have always made clear that there are some policies and programmes emanating from its Revolution which I agree with – and many others that I do not support. Despite the distortions some correspondents have engaged in, there remains a written record of my Commentary essays in this regard. My words speak for themselves. However, I will speak to the position of black people in Cuba to the extent that there does indeed exist a degree of political oppression in that country. But I don't believe they are singled out for oppression – from what I understand Afro-Cubans do not experience greater indignities than do any other Cuban population groupings. The long-term future of the Castro Revolution is an issue that the Cuban people themselves will have to resolve. However, it is interesting that Cuba's black population gained the most from the Revolution. Cuba, before the Revolution, had a far higher degree of racism as far as the black Cuban was concerned than exists there now. And, by the way, no matter what my detractors say about Cuba's own so-called form of "apartheid", you will never hear Nelson Mandela making critical comments about Fidel Castro because of the role his military played in the fight against South Africa when they invaded southern Angola – another conflict which I was able to follow in real time through the medium of short-wave radio. These days it is worth noting that black Cubans enjoy a demographic advantage mainly because, in the main, it is white Cubans who have fled to Florida and other jurisdictions. And I fully expect that we will see a renewal of racial conflict in Cuba if and when the exiled Cubans ever return to that country. Another interesting fact is that Central Intelligence Agency, in a study about supposed weak spots in the island nation, has concluded that the strongest support for the current Cuban government lies within Cuba's black population. This conclusion stands in marked contrast to some of the comments made recently in this paper concerning the nature of the Cuban society."

Negroes with Guns: Robert Williams and Black Power  2/7/2006 Independent Lens: "NEGROES WITH GUNS: Rob Williams and Black Power tells the dramatic story of the often-forgotten civil rights leader who urged African Americans to arm themselves against violent racists. In doing so, Williams not only challenged the Klan-dominated establishment of his hometown of Monroe, North Carolina, he alienated the mainstream Civil Rights Movement, which advocated peaceful resistance. For Williams and other African Americans who had witnessed countless acts of brutality against their communities, armed self-defense was a practical matter of survival, particularly in the violent, racist heart of the Deep South. As the leader of the Monroe chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Williams led protests against the illegal segregation of Monroe’s public swimming pool. He also drew international attention to the harsh realities of life in the Jim Crow South. All the while, Williams and other protestors met the constant threat of violence and death with their guns close at hand."

We support Cuba because Cuba supports Blacks and Africa - Response to Chabot Cuba Conference report  11/9/2005 SF Bay View: 'The problem is, when you speak of Cuban realities - or realities in Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil etc. - who is Afro-Cuban and who is not? When I first went to Cuba in 1974, years after the first waves of gusano defections to Miami, I was informed by reliable medical authorities that so many whites had left that by then fully 80 percent of the Cuban population was susceptible to sickle cell anemia. In other words, Cuba was becoming darker by white political default. Furthermore, throughout Cuban history - and throughout the histories of all the previously mentioned former Spanish and Portuguese colonies - peoples of African descent of many gradations of color have populated most of the economic and political categories - with the general exception of the very top, of course - so that a veneer of color has enshrouded all Cuban society."

Chabot Cuba conference faces a challenged Afro-Cuba  10/19/2005 SF Bay View: "The panelists reported that the income gap between Black and white Cubans widened during the "special period" (1990s) after the fall of the Soviet Union and the tightening of the U.S. economic blockade. Remittances - money sent by Cubans in the United States to their families in Cuba - go mostly to white Cubans, 30 to 40 percent. Only 5 to 10 percent goes to Black Cubans. White families received 58.3 percent of total income in 1999, while Black families received only 4.3 percent. This income gap reproduces the race and economic stratification system of the past and is a predictor of the position of Afro-Cubans in the future. Twenty percent of the audience was African North Americans, who met with other African North Americans and Alberto Jones on Sunday to explore a remittance program for Afro-Cubans and to educate and organize African North Americans to put an end to the U.S. blockade and travel embargo against Cuba."

Katrina's Window Into Slavery's Past — and Present  9/21/2005 Village Voice: "Rebecca J. Scott's Degrees of Freedom is a fascinating and well-written piece of comparative history, but it's not exactly written for a mass audience. Its subtitle, however, says that it should be: "Louisiana and Cuba After Slavery." Scott (see photo) is a University of Michigan law and history professor who spent years trying to understand what happened after the Civil War — and after the Spanish-American War — to the hundreds of thousands of slaves working in the huge sugar-cane industries of Louisiana and Cuba. Those who are rebuilding New Orleans would do well to capitalize on what's inside Scott's suddenly extremely timely book. With the Bush regime in power, that's unlikely to happen. But here's a question posed and analyzed by Scott: After slavery, how did the African Americans fare, compared with the African Cubans? I'll be more simplistic than Scott: Since slavery officially ended, the African Americans have been treated worse, and this was apparent long before Fidel Castro was even born."

Primer graduado estadounidense de la Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina - "Como afroamericano, aquí en Cuba me siento libre"  8/27/2005 Rebelion 

SECRET CUBAN DOCUMENTS ON HISTORY OF AFRICA INVOLVEMENT  8/4/2005 National Security Archives: originally published in 2002.

Miscelanea II of studies dedicated to Fernando Ortiz (1881-1969): an online machine-readable transcription  5/13/2005 NY Public Library: includes ON THE RELATIONS BETWEEN BLACKS AND WHITES -- Fernando Ortiz -- (1943) [English translation]

Race and Ethnicity in Cuba  5/8/2005 Indigenous People of Africa and Americas 

The complexity of some Cuban roots  5/5/2005 Progreso Weekly: "Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories is the visual autobiography of one family that confronts questions of Diaspora, class, immigration and identity. It highlights the historical journey of a black Cuban family, revealing that the Cuban-American experience is more complex, racially and ideologically, than is popularly understood."

IX aniversario de la Fundación Martha Jean Claude  3/27/2005 Jiribilla 

Dos momentos de la esclavitud blanca en Cuba  3/6/2005 Cubarte: "El 6 de marzo de 1854 el puerto de La Habana estaba singularmente animado con la llegada de la primera partida de colonos gallegos que, bajo la consigna de un proyecto denominado "Salvación y progreso para España y Cuba", venían contratados supuestamente para trabajar la tierra en la Isla…. La naciente empresa, fruto de la tozudez y ambición del diputado a cortes gallego Urbano Feijóo Sotomayor, bajo los sellos de legalidad y el respaldo del gobierno colonial, escondía los más crueles y bajos intereses, pues sometió a aquellos infelices al trabajo esclavo, como a los antecesores grupos de culíes chinos que habían empezado a arribar a Cuba desde 1847 y los bozales de origen africano."

CUBANS FOUGHT FOR US INDEPENDENCE  3/1/2005 Cuba Now: "The facts are almost unknown: Cuban Creole officers, NCOs and soldiers, members of the Mulatto and Black battalions, organized in Havana, fought under the Spanish flag in the War of Independence of the so-called Thirteen Colonies."

Links of Cuba and Africa highlighted at Havana launching of book by Sankara  2/28/2005 The Militant: "In this book, We Are Heirs of the World’s Revolutions, Pathfinder presents five speeches by Thomas Sankara between 1983 and 1987 in which he expresses clearly and firmly his revolutionary ideas, not only in defense of his people but of all the exploited of the world,” said Ulises Estrada in opening a meeting held here February 10 as part of the annual Havana International Book Fair. Estrada is the director of Tricontinental magazine, published by the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (OSPAAAL).Some 70 people attended the event, which presented Somos herederos de las revoluciones del mundo, the recently published Spanish-language translation of the booklet. It was one of many book launchings organized throughout the fair, which took place February 3-13. Thomas Sankara was the central leader of the 1983-87 popular revolution in the West African country of Burkina Faso."

El pueblo, en andas, despidió a Lázaro Ros  2/9/2005 AIN 

Robert F. Williams and armed self-determination  2/2/2005 SF Bay View 

You can't break the ties between us  1/15/2005 Cuba Now: An interview with Danny Glover

Presencia de la cultura africana en los pueblos americanos y caribeños  11/26/2004 Tricontinental: "La presencia de la cultura angolana y africana en América, en las manifestaciones de las artes plásticas y danzarias, en los gustos culinarios, en las tradiciones y en el lenguaje de los pueblos americanos y caribeños, quedó demostrada en la magistral conferencia ofrecida por Rogelio Martínez Furé, reconocido africanista, fundador del Conjunto Folclórico Nacional de Cuba."

Cuban Rastas gather surreptitiously  8/13/2004 Dallas Morning News: "A great many Rastas are in jail," said Eligio Flores Ruíz, 32. "The government doesn't accept us. They say we're a threat to the revolution. They're bothered by the fact that we're free thinkers." Government supporters deny that and say what bothers them is that Rastas break the law – they smoke marijuana."

Dialogue with Founding Leaders of Guantanamo’s Social Club ‘La Nueva Era’  8/6/2004 AfroCubaWeb: by Eugène Godfried

Dialogue with Juan Cruz, Past President, ‘Marianao Club Social’ - La Havana  8/6/2004 AfroCubaWeb: by Eugène Godfried

The African Cuban Diaspora’s Cultural Shelters and Their Sudden Disappearance in 1959  8/1/2004 AfroCubaWeb: by Eugène Godfried - "Thus, it is a deliberate choice to employ the method of interviews with distinguished personalities who were directly involved in the activities of those ‘Sociedades de Negros’, ‘Societies of Blacks’. Nowadays, we depend on oral history to be able to look into this past in order to comprehend the present Cuban society. It is also high time that grassroots sections among cultural workers and activists in Cuba themselves speak their mind to brothers and sisters all over the world. In so doing, a longstanding silence around this eye – catching subject will be transformed into a vibrant exchange between Cubans and friends from all around the world."

José Martí and Racism: His Visit to Curaçao  7/25/2004 AfroCubaWeb: Eugène Godfried

José Martí y el Racismo: Su Visita a Curazao  7/25/2004 AfroCubaWeb: Eugène Godfried

‘We must say No to the politicians’ An interview with Antonio Castañeda, Babalawo and president of the Yoruba Society of Cuba  7/22/2004 Progresso Weekly 

CARTAS A JUAN GUALBERTO GÓMEZ  7/15/2004 Jiribilla: incluyendo "Protesta de los cubanos de color de Key West"

EN EL FIEL DE LA PATRIA  7/15/2004 Jiribilla: "Nicolás Guillén, que compartió noches de tertulias habaneras con Juan Gualberto, destaca su don de conversador, su sentido del humor y pone de relieve "la máscula tarea de fraguar nuestra nacionalidad (…), su penetración política para fijar el verdadero papel que correspondía al negro cubano en la lucha contra España"."

GALERÍA de fotos -- Juan Gualberto Gómez  7/15/2004 Jiribilla 

JOYA DE NUESTRA HISTORIA  7/15/2004 Jiribilla: Juan Gualberto Gómez - "Votó contra la Enmienda Platt todo el tiempo, incluso, cuando se produce el chantaje por parte de Estados Unidos que amenazó la soberanía cubana, si no se aprobaba la Enmienda. Jamás se avino al chantaje, como sucedió con otros cubanos. Mantuvo su actitud patriótica, la defensa de sus ideales, de sus principios, que no eran más que los ideales y principios de José Martí."

JUAN GUALBERTO GÓMEZ Y LA RAZA DE COLOR  7/15/2004 Jiribilla: "Para la década del 40 del siglo XX había un gran nivel de frustración por el silencio que con respecto al tema negro existía. Una manera de enfrentar este silencio fue la aparición de biografías de los negros y mulatos más sobresalientes de Cuba. Por eso la editorial de Ciencias Sociales, como una manera de rendirles tributo ha decidido reeditar la biografía: Juan Gualberto Gómez: un gran inconforme."

JUAN GUALBERTO GÓMEZ, ANTIPLATISTA Y ANTIMPERIALISTA  7/15/2004 Jiribilla: "Cuando el 20 de mayo de 1902 se proclama la República de Cuba, en muchos pechos quedaba la huella más amarga, la de la Enmienda Platt. Junto al ex presidente de la República en Armas, Salvador Cisneros Betancourt y otros patriotas, Juan Gualberto Gómez encabezó la batalla de la dignidad, en nombre del pueblo de Cuba."

UN PATRIOTA ENTERO  7/15/2004 Jiribilla: "El 11 de junio de 1892 José Martí elogia en Patria la entrada de Juan Gualberto a la Sociedad Económica: “Él quiere a Cuba con aquel amor de vida y muerte (...). Él tiene el tesón del periodista, la energía del organizador y la visión distante del hombre de estado”."

Race and patriotism in Afro-Cuba  6/23/2004 SF Bay View: "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."

La Fundación Cultural Martha Jean-Claude en la Feria Internacional del Libro y el bicentenario de la Independencia de Haití  6/22/2004 Tricontinental 

Marginación y carnaval: la imagen del negro en la fotografía cubana  6/13/2004 Tel Aviv University: [Hay que señalar que tomaron muchos retratos de negros en el siglo XIX, y que tenemos algunos en AfroCubaWeb.]

POR EL RESCATE DE NUESTRAS RAÍCES  6/3/2004 Jiribilla: "Cada año, desde 1997, la fiesta internacional del Disco cubano ha sido dedicada a un país determinado. Esta, su VIII edición que se está celebrando desde el 23 hasta el 30 de mayo, está dirigida al Caribe al que nos unen ancestros, historias, mares, arte, cultura y en especial la música, que es la expresión más diáfana que enlaza nuestros pueblos. Por tal motivo, conversamos para La Jiribilla con Richard Mirabal Jean Claude, director de la fundación Martha Jean Claude, de la hermana República de Haití."

African-Americans Challenge US Blockade on Cuba  5/26/2004 Cuba Now: "The Virginia-based African-Awareness-Association announced that a delegation of African-Americans will organize a freedom ride (on bus and aircraft) to Cuba next July to challenge US travel restrictions."

Cuba's Desire For Equality Ignores Obvious  4/19/2004 Washington Post: "There is no doubt that many black people know they are somehow stuck at the bottom of Cuba's social and economic ladder. Still, they find the concept of cooperation over competition appealing. For many, Castro's quest for a nonracial, egalitarian society is nothing if not noble. Nevertheless, race problems cannot be solved until they are acknowledged. History is replete with examples of what happens when a nation -- in the strong embrace of an iconic, charismatic or even tyrannical leader -- attempts to gloss over ethnic and racial differences among its citizens: When the leader dies, so does the unity."

Cuba: Race Problem Cannot be Solved Until it’s Acknowledged  4/15/2004 Black America Web: "EDITOR'S NOTE: When U.S. voters go to the polls in November to pick a president, Florida — and its heavy concentration of Cuban Americans — may again play a central role in determining who wins. Nowhere will this contest be more closely watched than in Cuba, whose fate may be determined by the election's outcome. More than 90 percent of Cubans in South Florida are white; over 60 percent of the people in Cuba are black. In this series, BlackAmericaWeb.com examines the role that race plays in Cuba — and in the tug-of-war between the government of Fidel Castro and Cuban exile leaders in Florida."

Cuba's Rastas: the religious, the philosophical and those making a fashion statement  4/11/2004 Jamaica Observer: "Long dreadlocks stuffed into trademark red, black, green and yellow tams (knitted caps), which sometimes carry a symbol of an Afro-Cuban religion or even a US flag, Bob Marley t-shirts and camouflage pants - that is the typical look of Cuba's young Rastafarians, a growing urban presence. The Rastas of this socialist island nation are mainly found in Havana and tend to be young Afro-Cuban men from poor neighbourhoods, who seem to carry Reggae music in their blood. "People don't look on us kindly," Yosvany Reyes, a 27-year-old craftsman, told IPS. "In Cuba, people don't know very much about what being a Rastafarian means. They generally think we're dirty drug addicts or bums who just wander around the streets not doing anything." "

Maceo un combatiente de las ideas  1/9/2004 Tribuna de la Habana: "En un cálido elogio, publicado en Patria el 6 de octubre de 1893, Martí subrayó la valía intelectual de Antonio Maceo afirmando que este serviría a la Revolución " con el pensamiento más aún que con el valor". Con semejante frase el Maestro quiso significar la impresionante cultura del bravo general en las cuestiones de la política y la guerra."

DIVERSIDAD, IDENTIDAD Y POLÍTICA CULTURAL  12/19/2003 Jiribilla: "No se puede tratar a las culturas populares extrayéndolas de su contexto, ni imponiéndoles una folclorización banal para poderlas exhibir, que desvirtúe su esencia popular, ni tratándolas a partir de parámetros técnico-artísticos abstractos, que no funcionan en un contexto donde la creación no emana de prácticas académicas, sino de la tradición que se traslada, y se recrea, de padres a hijos."

'Black Cuban Forum'  11/10/2003 CubaNet: published in 2/00, discusses an organization which got $40,000 from NED/CIA last year. CubaNet got $64,000.

Organizaciones financiadas por la NED contra Cuba  11/10/2003 Jiribilla: published in April, relevant today! Note the "Black Cuban Forum"

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 

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."

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!!!

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 

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

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."

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.