Yes, Cuba has a race problem

[Sandokan]

Yes, Cuba has a race problemYes, Cuba has a race problem - Other Views - MiamiHerald.com

BY GAYLE McGARRITY
drgmcgarrity@hotmail.com

When I first returned to the United States in 1982, after living for 1 ½ years in Cuba, I was eager to share the extent to which racism and class divisions were still a glaring reality in ``Revolutionary Cuba.'' No one wanted to listen.

I visited Cuba first in 1976, with a group of Jamaicans interested in the legal and penal system. We never got even a glimpse of the prison system, but it was a great opportunity to get a first-hand view of Cuban society. One of the first things that made an impression on me was the way in which white and mulato Cubans stared at a couple in our group -- a very beautiful part Chinese, part Indian and part African woman and a very handsome, very black gentleman.

As an anthropologist and a woman of mixed racial descent, who is fluent in Spanish, I was in a unique position to capture the ideas and beliefs of Cubans of all different racial classifications.

Esteban Morales Dominguez exemplifies the apologists of the Castro brothers’ regime. He has a privileged life as a professor in Havana while lending a scholarly patina to the lies spread by the despots of the Castroite regime.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuban blacks have many complaints about the existing racism and believe is it getting worse. Cuba’s rappers have made racial complains a major theme of their songs. Young Cubans blacks are detained and harassed by the police for no apparent reason other than their race. They are asked for identifications and interrogated. This is political profiling of black males, an abuse of power by the military regime.

 

[Sandokan]

Castro brothers’ regime continued to exclude Cuban blacks from tourist-related industries, where they can earn hard currency. They are frequently excluded from jobs and responsible positions that require contact with tourists. They live in inadequate housing. Racism is alive and well in the workers’ paradise.

 

[Sandokan]

It is time for the world to know how blacks are treated in Cuba, how everyday their rights are violated. They are constantly followed and provoke by the police, who throw them in jail for any minor charge they can think off. Castro brothers’ totalitarian regime squelches all human rights in the island. Racism remain widespread under their regime.