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GUEST COLUMN: 'Cuba's big black lie'
Published on: 3/17/2009.
The following is an edited version of an open letter written by Cuban Professor Carlos Moore, to President Raoul Castro of Cuba.
MR PRESIDENT:
I AM OBLIGED to frame this as an open letter because it is the only way I may get through to you directly.
Moreover, I want my fellow citizens and those worldwide who are interested in the vital problems of our times, to hear what I am about to say.
You are a descendant of Europeans born in Spain; I am a descendant of Africans born in the Caribbean.
We are both Cubans. However, being Cuban confers no specific privilege on either of us as human beings. What it does confer is the right to have a say in the affairs of the country of our birth. So, I avail myself of that right unapologetically.
I am aware of the vast differences that separate our respective ideas about life, social relations and how the affairs of our country should be conducted.
We also differ in how to interpret the daily realities that negatively impact the lives of most Cubans. But you as the president of our country, and I as a citizen, share a common responsibility; to shoulder the burden of shaping our present and moulding the destiny of our nation.
Regardless of class, gender, race, sexual orientation or political affiliation, whatever Cubans do, or refrain from doing will determine the future for all.
I have always upheld and respected our national sovereignty. That is why I steadfastly opposed any measure that could have endangered Cuba's independence, or hurt the best interests of its citizens, whether it be an economic embargo or threats against our national territory.
However, those same reasons have made me an advocate for the inalienable right of the Cuban people, or of any other people for that matter, to shape its future and manage its own affairs through representative institutions and elected officials.
The latter are chosen in truly free and fair democratic elections. During such elections, different ideas are debated and organised movements and parties, with differing political platforms and social proposals, vie for power.
Against dictatorship
I believe that only then can a people exercise its right to choose whatever suits them best. Therefore, I am against any form of dictatorship or totalitarian system, whether it be led by the so-called Right, or by what is designated as the Left.
I certainly do not share the opinion that democracy is a luxury reserved for the rich.
I will not beat around the bush to express my strong conviction that racism is our country's most serious and tenacious problem.
It is a phenomenon that gains new ground and expands its influence over our body politic, cultural life and economy.
Notwithstanding the grandiose, but vacuous speeches, or bombastic but no less deceitful declarations on the alleged elimination of racism and racial discrimination, wherever we look in socialist Cuba our eyes are confronted with a cobweb of social and racial inequities and racial hatred against black people.
White supremacy
No doubt, these issues were bequeathed to us through centuries of oppression. The revolution that empowered itself in 1959 merely inherited them.
However, the revolutionary leaders showed themselves particularly inept at correctly interpreting that reality. In the final analysis, these leaders were men and women from the white middle class that had always dominated the country, monopolised its political life and determined the direction of its economy.
Rather than destroy the legacy of white supremacy and its concomitant racism, the revolutionary government contributed to solidify and expand it.
It did so, when it declared the non-existence of racism, the end to racial discrimination and the advent of a "post-racial" socialist democracy in Cuba. Therefore, the leaders of the revolution that enacted so many beneficial social changes for our country, and the people who wholeheartedly supported the revolutionary process, were hostage to the same brutal past birthed by racial slavery.
As a consequence, Cuba is a country that speaks with two totally different voices, one white and one black, although at specific moments of our common history, these voices have spoken in unison.
Socialist Cuba is the only country in the world to have publicly proclaimed it had eliminated racism and racial discrimination and empowered its black population.
As a result, the revolutionary government repressed, persecuted and forced into exile those Blacks, whether intellectuals or working class, who argued the contrary. The latter were forced into labour camps, prisons, mental hospitals or driven out of the country.
Nowadays, many eyes are trained on this supposed "post-racial democracy", as people seek to understand why the revolutionary regime destroyed those who refused to endorse this "Big Lie".
Carlos Moore, a professor of international studies from Cuba, is in Barbados and will be delivering a public address tomorrow at 8 p.m, at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.
17 comment found!
help : 4/28/2009
cubans should stretch out their hands to places like "atlanta", and ask their help in combatting some of the problems of racism and poverty in "CUBA". there are some people there who would be willing to help! all you need to do is MAKE THEM AWARE that there are people ready to fight for their rights in "cuba".
Hmmm : 4/15/2009
I visited Cuba recently and now find myself somewhat confused and curious by what I'm hearing. During my brief stay there I did not encounter any racism nor hostility between the races/classes. Actually I feel inclined to return and maybe, who knows, in so doing the experience might very different. I need to read and read into this whole issue some more but what I will say is that Castro has proven to the world that we don't NEED America!
The US : 4/4/2009
The US is guilty for a lot of things that are going on in Cuba. Why do they have a steady commerce with China but not with Cuba? This shows the big cowards the US are... Cuba would be a better place (being communist or not) if the US would not punish the Cubans with this silly blockade.
CUBAN/LIES : 3/30/2009
MR.CARLOS, BELIEVE ME THINGS WILL GET BETTER IF MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU HAD THE GUTS TO SPEAK OUT. BUT THEY ARE JUST AFRAID I HOPE AND PRAY THAT YOU WILL BE OK IF AND WHEN YOU GO BACK TO THE LAND OF THE SUFFERING, MAY GOD CONTINUE TO KEEP YOU, AND MAY KEEP SPEAKING OUT. BYE FOR NOW.
Cuba : 3/28/2009
I'm a Barbadian living in Aruba; can Professor Moore's lecture be recorded and made available on-line for all Caribbean blacks who supported the Cuban regime to hear? Caribbean leaders need to take note and use this as leverage to place additional pressure on a political change there. Yes, it's going to very interesting to hear Mr. Commissiong's views on this.
Negativity Bias : 3/28/2009
Why are people always so quick to jump @ bad news - it's sad. I'm sure there's racism in Cuba, like there's racism everywhere else. And yes it's wrong for Cuban leadership to deny that there is and pretend it doesn't exist but if we're talking about racism let's talk about racism. Let's not take this opportunity to to bash this nation based on years of American propaganda. Also, does anyone know the story of Cuba before it was Castro's Cuba - that story too needs to be told. "I pray now for President Raoul Castro and his regime, I pray that they would stop being in denial and address the social issue of racism in that country so that it's people can begin to heal. I pray God that you would unite black and white; that the black citizen be allowed to charter his own destiny in this country in any position he see's fit. Continue to bless Cuba, unite its people and make them one." As a black person I forgive the ignorance of white men and I encourage every black person to rise obove racial hatred and discrimination, we know who we are and everyday we continue to prove we are a great people.
Cuba : 3/26/2009
It is sad to hear what individuals are going through, its the 21st century and supposedly, a civilised world. Racism is everywhere in the world, people just don't admit it because we're accustomed to the regime. Carlos Moore is brave to speak up, a REAL leader for black people!
Castro's Cuba : 3/25/2009
Carlos Moore was born into a family of Jamaicans resident in Cuba, grew up in New York City and returned to Cuba after 1959 to support the new regime. He was recently on NPR radio in the city to promote a memoir. There is an account in the book of how his attempt to bring the reality of racism to Fidel's attention resulted in his near execution by the regime. Many fewer will have access to the planned Barbados lecture than to the book. May you have Peace!
: 3/25/2009
It would definitely be great to hear the recording of the lecture. I am very disappointed as well that I will not be in Barbados to hear the lecture. I actually imagined that this was the situation in Cuba because of the attitude of the Cuban American people of European decent that I encounter in Boston.
Cuba : 3/22/2009
Not suprised at all. You don't have to go to Cuba to experience the racism that Professor Moore has addressed. It is evident in Miami's Little Havana and anywhere there is a Cuban community. The "white" Cubans outwardly display their dislike for blacks. I had a person on the phone tell me some years back upon hearing my last name, and I assuming I was a White Anglo, that he was Cuban and could not stand those black monkeys. I'm sure that by the time I was finished telling him what I thought about him and his family, he would be very careful before opening his ignorant mouth to utter a statement such as that to anyone ever again.
Racisim in Cuba: 3/21/09 : 3/21/2009
Would any person of African descent be surprised that there is racism in Cuba? Wherever there is Red, white and Blue combination on country's flag, Black people catch hell .... isms & skisms etc. After more than 400 years I would think that we have learnt that lesson by now .... hence the significance of Obama's victory. We need to take a lesson from the Jews ... Never forget! I wonder why do people always invoke God is this issue of racism ...what color GOD does most people pray too ... consciously or unconsciously! Hugh-Boston
: 3/21/2009
iamablackman ihavebeentocubaandiswearthatiwillnevergobacktherebecauseihaveseenitthedarkeryourskincolourthemoreyouareignoredandiambeingpoliticallycorrecthereracismdoexistthere.
Racism in Cuba : 3/21/2009
I always wondered about the blacks of Cuba because I have not seen any in prominent government positions.I guess the blacks are only good for sports. Through out the world those who are not black in complexion think they are superior to those who are black and those who have straight hair if even they are black or dark in complexion think they are superior the man of African origin.Good job Mr Moore. Those who believe in God if God was going to put us in paradise or hell based on our complexion the people of black pigmentaion will be in big trouble? One pastor prayed at President Obama's inauguration prayed that he hopes the day will come when blacks will have to say back. May God help us.
Cuba,s farce : 3/20/2009
For years the people,s of developing nations have stood alongside CUBA,S SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT,even when horrid stories were leaked to the world about gross mistreatment,including torture,inprisonment and death against citizens who dare to voice a different opinion regarding government,s policy.Now A person of African descent,PROF:Carlos Moore have spoken out against racism and it,s ugly tentacles.I am calling on all those who refuse to or who endorsed the Castro,s regime policies over the years to address this two headed monster.White supremacy, racism,sexism or crimes against the population, up to and including the denial of their freedom of speech and the denial of their citizens to choose their government is wrong and immoral.
Commissiong et al : 3/19/2009
I wonder what David Commissiong and all the other friends of Cuba' we have here in Barbados make of this bombshell from Professor Moore!
Cuba big black lie : 3/18/2009
Could you send your story to the New York Post, the New York TIMES. I ask this because many people of Caribbean ancestry who have enjoyed the plush living in the USA have bought into the assumption that all is rosy in the Caribbean country vis a vis...racism. They need awakening.
Cuba Big Black Lie : 3/17/2009
Wow!! I wish I could be there to hear this lecture. Can someone record it and put it online.
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