In Cuba, Racial Inequality Deepens With Tourism Boom
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HAVANA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As warming relations with the United States bring new money and tourists to Havana, some black Cubans like Miguel Campuzano Perez say racial inequalities are widening and they are being left out of a potential capitalist boom.
Cuba's economy grew by 4 percent in 2015 and more than 3.5 million tourists visited the island in the year Washington and Havana restored diplomatic ties, ending more than five decades of Cold War animosity.
New hotels and restaurants are opening around the capital famous for its colonial architecture and 1950s American cars, and Cubans with money to invest in businesses have seen living standards improve.
But with no access to capital, and no family living abroad to send back money, 54-year-old Perez said he and other black Cubans are being excluded from the benefits of economic liberalization.
"The black people don't have powerful families, and that continues generation to generation," Perez, a musician and former soldier, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"The people benefiting from remittances are white; the landlords are white."
As capitalism creeps into Cuba more than 60 years after a revolution that promised social equality, local residents and analysts are concerned about the gap between the haves and have nots and the ethnic undertones of growing inequality on the island.
'WHITE FLIGHT - TO MIAMI'
Just under 10 percent of Cubans identified themselves as black in the country's 2012 census. But statistics on Cuba's racial makeup are imprecise as more than a quarter of the population is a mix between various ethnic groups.
Following Cuba's 1959 revolution, the government of Fidel Castro, brother of current president Raul, introduced laws on racial inclusion, launched a literacy campaign, and universal public services in an attempt to tackle entrenched inequality.
African slaves, primarily from West Africa, were brought to Cuba by Spanish colonizers from the 1500s to work on the sugar plantations.
Slavery was formally abolished on the island in 1886 but blacks were still banned from some high-end establishments and excluded from well-paid, and most Afro-Cubans worked on plantations or as manual laborers.
Free education and healthcare programs from the communist government helped made it possible for previously disadvantaged groups to get jobs as teachers, doctors or government workers in the 1960s, residents said.
"Afro-Cubans have been the biggest reservoir of support for the revolution and are those most affected by worsening inequality," Paolo Spadoni, a political scientist at Augusta University in the United States told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Today, outright discrimination isn't the main cause of the growing wealth gap between blacks and whites, Havana residents said. Rather, migration networks, remittances and broader economic changes are the driving factors.
Much of the island's predominately white business elite left following the revolution with many settling in Miami, Florida, just 90 miles (150 km) from the Cuban coast.
"The vast majority who left to live abroad happened to be white Cubans," said Isaac Saney, a Canadian university professor who researchers ethnic issues in Cuba.
"They are sending remittances home and their relatives can invest in small businesses. This has led to an increase in racial inequality," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
TWO ECONOMIES
In 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's main trading partner, ravaged the island's economy, making life particularly difficult for residents who didn't have family members abroad.
The average salary for a government worker, about $25 per month, has lost three quarters of its purchasing power since 1989, Spadoni said. While poorly paid, many state workers continue to receive other perks like subsidized food, and accommodation.
Cuba has two currencies - the Cuban peso which is paid to state employees and is worth about $0.04 and the Convertible Peso, which is worth one US dollar.
In the pursuit of foreign currency, professors left university jobs to work as hotel waiters and doctors took to driving taxis.
Some black Cubans say they have trouble getting comparatively lucrative jobs in hotels, because of discrimination.
"You need to be white to get good work," said Daniel Alberto Suarez, 42, an informal tour-guide, while drinking rum with two female European clients.
"Hotel and bar owners are making good money, but for regular people life is hard. I have no family abroad to send me money."
A raft of economic reforms beginning in 2008 made it easier for Cubans to open private businesses, intensifying the importance of remittances as start-up capital.
Miguel Hernandez, who has light skin, manages a restaurant popular with foreigners in old Havana earning $100 per day, a large salary by local standards.
"There is a lot of inequality between my friends who work for the state, and me who works in tourism," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "People will study to be a doctor, hang the title on the wall, then go work in a restaurant."
'PRESERVING THE REVOLUTION'
While many young people, black and white, said they're positive about Cuba's new direction, some older Cubans are concerned about what they could lose and what it could mean for the island's society.
"We need keep the ideas of the revolution: free education, healthcare, taking care of the elderly and racial equality," Maria Luz Fernandez, 52, a primary school administrator, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Earning $40 per month, Fernandez, who is of mixed race ancestry, is well aware she earns less than young waiters from her neighborhood who walk by the school wearing flashy cloths and knock-off designer watches.
Young people want big houses and cars, but "the revolution can't afford to provide that for everyone," she said, her long, gold fingernail extensions tapping the table.
With more foreign money coming into the economy, she hopes the benefits will trickle down, and teachers and other state employees will eventually see higher salaries.
"When the Americans come, (there will be less) equality," she said, as children wearing school uniforms and carrying pink Barbie backpacks wait for their parents.
"The government needs to share the new wealth with the people."
Comments
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me and my dark brother gonna put a stop to this ? ...
tired of ya high yella fukkas trynna to ? on us ever chance ya get -
so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
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so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
It's worked, been working and will continue to work so why will they change their tactic? It's on the oppressed to put a stop to it. -
Tom Joyner recently went to Cuba and said the women police officers wear short skirts and fishnets.
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I got family in Cuba. My grandpops on my pops side went to Cuba as a young boy(19) and went with 7 of his others brother to Cuba for work. Alot of Haitians back in the 1930s and 1940s went to Cuba for work. My grandpops and 3 of his brother went back to Haiti after being in Cuba for 24 years! Rumour is he and the 2 brother had secret families all over Cuba but left for some reason. He never explained to my father why he left Cuba.
My aunt said that he mentioned once there was always a disagreement between the brothers whether to go back to Haiti or not. But the other 4 stayed in Cuba to this day. That means my pop probably has Cuban cousins he doesnt even know. There is alot of Haitian descent Cubans. I wish my grandfather was alive to tell his time in Cuba. He died before I was born. I guess I got my weakness for latinas by my grandfather. -
Tom Joyner recently went to Cuba and said the women police officers wear short skirts and fishnets.
they got cops in the santo domingo airport riding these segways that make you stand with your feet apart but they wear these tight ass pants...it crazy -
Cuba bound this September
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? cubans,che, and ? felix rodriguez
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Cuban cacs are one of the most racist people facts. Mixed race and black Cubans are cool tho
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This seems like maybe there's some good investment potential there. If the white Cubans are being bankrolled by their rich exiled family members in the U.S. and that's what's giving them their advantage then it would be possible for someone with the right ties to do the same for black Cubans.
It would probably be easier to get the support of the gov't for this as well since if things continue this way you basically have the exiles buying back Cuba and turning back the clock to the pre-revolution days. -
PapaDoc223 wrote: »I got family in Cuba. My grandpops on my pops side went to Cuba as a young boy(19) and went with 7 of his others brother to Cuba for work. Alot of Haitians back in the 1930s and 1940s went to Cuba for work. My grandpops and 3 of his brother went back to Haiti after being in Cuba for 24 years! Rumour is he and the 2 brother had secret families all over Cuba but left for some reason. He never explained to my father why he left Cuba.
My aunt said that he mentioned once there was always a disagreement between the brothers whether to go back to Haiti or not. But the other 4 stayed in Cuba to this day. That means my pop probably has Cuban cousins he doesnt even know. There is alot of Haitian descent Cubans. I wish my grandfather was alive to tell his time in Cuba. He died before I was born. I guess I got my weakness for latinas by my grandfather.
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A lot of Caribbean people migrated to Cuba for work
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so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
This isn't really divide and conquer by whites. Who are the whites even dividing or conquering? Cuba's situation is an example of America infecting another culture with its sickness.
You have to look back at history to really understand what's going on here. When Cuba was a Spanish colony, they revolted. Around that time, there was no racial divide. This is evidenced by the fact that many of the high ranking officers in Cuba's revolutionary army were black. Eventually, the US stepped in and offered assistance to Cuba. When they did, they came in and implemented Jim Crow policies that the Cubans had to abide by in order to retain US assistance. Eventually, Cuba won their independence and the US withdrew its troops. However, by then, the damage had been done. The white Cubans who had been given power by virtue of nothing more than being white were not going to give that power up and they didn't. So the racism took root. Fast forward to when Castro took over. One of the things he did was try to end racism in Cuba. Part of that meant taking back some of the wealth that many of the White Cubans had and distributing it more evenly among all the people. Of course the white Cubans didn't like that, so a lot of them bounced to the US where they were able to start new lives and build themselves up. Not coincidentally, the US imposed sanctions on Cuba that hurt the island and all the non-white Cubans that largely did not try to migrate away. Now that the US has opened relations back with Cuba, those the white Cubans that immigrated to the US are able to reach back to their families in Cuba and use the wealth they've acquired to help other white Cubans progress. Since black Cubans didn't leave at the same rates as white Cubans, they don't really have anyone in that position to help them out and thus there is now a growing divide.
It's not really about whites using some divide and conquer tactic. It's about America's legacy of racism and the effect it had on another country on which it was forced. -
PapaDoc223 wrote: »I got family in Cuba. My grandpops on my pops side went to Cuba as a young boy(19) and went with 7 of his others brother to Cuba for work. Alot of Haitians back in the 1930s and 1940s went to Cuba for work. My grandpops and 3 of his brother went back to Haiti after being in Cuba for 24 years! Rumour is he and the 2 brother had secret families all over Cuba but left for some reason. He never explained to my father why he left Cuba.
My aunt said that he mentioned once there was always a disagreement between the brothers whether to go back to Haiti or not. But the other 4 stayed in Cuba to this day. That means my pop probably has Cuban cousins he doesnt even know. There is alot of Haitian descent Cubans. I wish my grandfather was alive to tell his time in Cuba. He died before I was born. I guess I got my weakness for latinas by my grandfather.
What you complaining about? If you see my history of posting you know I always big up black women. I see black women as number 1 anyway. If I see spanish broad and she is bad,she is bad. But I will marry a black woman and start a family with a black woman. -
The Lonious Monk wrote: »so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
This isn't really divide and conquer by whites. Who are the whites even dividing or conquering? Cuba's situation is an example of America infecting another culture with its sickness.
You have to look back at history to really understand what's going on here. When Cuba was a Spanish colony, they revolted. Around that time, there was no racial divide. This is evidenced by the fact that many of the high ranking officers in Cuba's revolutionary army were black. Eventually, the US stepped in and offered assistance to Cuba. When they did, they came in and implemented Jim Crow policies that the Cubans had to abide by in order to retain US assistance. Eventually, Cuba won their independence and the US withdrew its troops. However, by then, the damage had been done. The white Cubans who had been given power by virtue of nothing more than being white were not going to give that power up and they didn't. So the racism took root. Fast forward to when Castro took over. One of the things he did was try to end racism in Cuba. Part of that meant taking back some of the wealth that many of the White Cubans had and distributing it more evenly among all the people. Of course the white Cubans didn't like that, so a lot of them bounced to the US where they were able to start new lives and build themselves up. Not coincidentally, the US imposed sanctions on Cuba that hurt the island and all the non-white Cubans that largely did not try to migrate away. Now that the US has opened relations back with Cuba, those the white Cubans that immigrated to the US are able to reach back to their families in Cuba and use the wealth they've acquired to help other white Cubans progress. Since black Cubans didn't leave at the same rates as white Cubans, they don't really have anyone in that position to help them out and thus there is now a growing divide.
It's not really about whites using some divide and conquer tactic. It's about America's legacy of racism and the effect it had on another country on which it was forced.
This is all sorts of ? up smh.. -
PapaDoc223 wrote: »I got family in Cuba. My grandpops on my pops side went to Cuba as a young boy(19) and went with 7 of his others brother to Cuba for work. Alot of Haitians back in the 1930s and 1940s went to Cuba for work. My grandpops and 3 of his brother went back to Haiti after being in Cuba for 24 years! Rumour is he and the 2 brother had secret families all over Cuba but left for some reason. He never explained to my father why he left Cuba.
My aunt said that he mentioned once there was always a disagreement between the brothers whether to go back to Haiti or not. But the other 4 stayed in Cuba to this day. That means my pop probably has Cuban cousins he doesnt even know. There is alot of Haitian descent Cubans. I wish my grandfather was alive to tell his time in Cuba. He died before I was born. I guess I got my weakness for latinas by my grandfather.
Yoooo real talk man like two weeks ago I was just telling my pops the same thing( my pops Haitian he raised me since I was ? am from Nicaragua but I was raised in Miami. Now Miami has predominantly amount of Cuban immigrants right... Well I was just telling him I know a lot of good Cuban folks but one thing I could never understand from my experience for instance at one of my jobs is, I noticed a lot of racism from Cubans yes towards blacks. But not only Americans am talking about I noticed racism against Haitian folks and even black Cubans their own I usually stay away from people that are racist period so I don't ? with em but ? like that makes me sick especially when you know at least half of Cuba is of African ancestry so even those ? people who choose to be racist are of mixed descendanse is just crazy to me how ignorant a lot of times we Hispanics can be as far as black history.
Like two weeks ago I was telling my pops like 7 out of 10 Cuban folks (black or light skinned ) have French last names put two and two together the nearest place to Cuba ? literally few miles away is Haitii and Haitii or should I say la Hispaniola got their independence from France I don't know man reading is fundamental especially books outside our school system reading is fundamental bob Marley said it best "know your History in the abundance of water the fool is thirsty". Rat race! -
felliwonda wrote: »PapaDoc223 wrote: »I got family in Cuba. My grandpops on my pops side went to Cuba as a young boy(19) and went with 7 of his others brother to Cuba for work. Alot of Haitians back in the 1930s and 1940s went to Cuba for work. My grandpops and 3 of his brother went back to Haiti after being in Cuba for 24 years! Rumour is he and the 2 brother had secret families all over Cuba but left for some reason. He never explained to my father why he left Cuba.
My aunt said that he mentioned once there was always a disagreement between the brothers whether to go back to Haiti or not. But the other 4 stayed in Cuba to this day. That means my pop probably has Cuban cousins he doesnt even know. There is alot of Haitian descent Cubans. I wish my grandfather was alive to tell his time in Cuba. He died before I was born. I guess I got my weakness for latinas by my grandfather.
Yoooo real talk man like two weeks ago I was just telling my pops the same thing( my pops Haitian he raised me since I was ? am from Nicaragua but I was raised in Miami. Now Miami has predominantly amount of Cuban immigrants right... Well I was just telling him I know a lot of good Cuban folks but one thing I could never understand from my experience for instance at one of my jobs is, I noticed a lot of racism from Cubans yes towards blacks. But not only Americans am talking about I noticed racism against Haitian folks and even black Cubans their own I usually stay away from people that are racist period so I don't ? with em but ? like that makes me sick especially when you know at least half of Cuba is of African ancestry so even those ? people who choose to be racist are of mixed descendanse is just crazy to me how ignorant a lot of times we Hispanics can be as far as black history.
Like two weeks ago I was telling my pops like 7 out of 10 Cuban folks (black or light skinned ) have French last names put two and two together the nearest place to Cuba ? literally few miles away is Haitii and Haitii or should I say la Hispaniola got their independence from France I don't know man reading is fundamental especially books outside our school system reading is fundamental bob Marley said it best "know your History in the abundance of water the fool is thirsty". Rat race!
Here: .................................
Just sprinkle those ? throughout that diatribe and then it might be somewhat readable. -
The Lonious Monk wrote: »so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
This isn't really divide and conquer by whites. Who are the whites even dividing or conquering? Cuba's situation is an example of America infecting another culture with its sickness.
You have to look back at history to really understand what's going on here. When Cuba was a Spanish colony, they revolted. Around that time, there was no racial divide. This is evidenced by the fact that many of the high ranking officers in Cuba's revolutionary army were black. Eventually, the US stepped in and offered assistance to Cuba. When they did, they came in and implemented Jim Crow policies that the Cubans had to abide by in order to retain US assistance. Eventually, Cuba won their independence and the US withdrew its troops. However, by then, the damage had been done. The white Cubans who had been given power by virtue of nothing more than being white were not going to give that power up and they didn't. So the racism took root. Fast forward to when Castro took over. One of the things he did was try to end racism in Cuba. Part of that meant taking back some of the wealth that many of the White Cubans had and distributing it more evenly among all the people. Of course the white Cubans didn't like that, so a lot of them bounced to the US where they were able to start new lives and build themselves up. Not coincidentally, the US imposed sanctions on Cuba that hurt the island and all the non-white Cubans that largely did not try to migrate away. Now that the US has opened relations back with Cuba, those the white Cubans that immigrated to the US are able to reach back to their families in Cuba and use the wealth they've acquired to help other white Cubans progress. Since black Cubans didn't leave at the same rates as white Cubans, they don't really have anyone in that position to help them out and thus there is now a growing divide.
It's not really about whites using some divide and conquer tactic. It's about America's legacy of racism and the effect it had on another country on which it was forced.
There absolutely was a racial divide bruh don't spread false information, to the point their own president wasn't allowed in certain club due to him being a mulatto (Batista, the one Castro kicked out) Cuba is racist just like every other country the only difference is there is little shame/issue with interracial dating/marriage -
The us did not introduce racism into Cuba that's 100%false
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The Lonious Monk wrote: »so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
This isn't really divide and conquer by whites. Who are the whites even dividing or conquering? Cuba's situation is an example of America infecting another culture with its sickness.
You have to look back at history to really understand what's going on here. When Cuba was a Spanish colony, they revolted. Around that time, there was no racial divide. This is evidenced by the fact that many of the high ranking officers in Cuba's revolutionary army were black. Eventually, the US stepped in and offered assistance to Cuba. When they did, they came in and implemented Jim Crow policies that the Cubans had to abide by in order to retain US assistance. Eventually, Cuba won their independence and the US withdrew its troops. However, by then, the damage had been done. The white Cubans who had been given power by virtue of nothing more than being white were not going to give that power up and they didn't. So the racism took root. Fast forward to when Castro took over. One of the things he did was try to end racism in Cuba. Part of that meant taking back some of the wealth that many of the White Cubans had and distributing it more evenly among all the people. Of course the white Cubans didn't like that, so a lot of them bounced to the US where they were able to start new lives and build themselves up. Not coincidentally, the US imposed sanctions on Cuba that hurt the island and all the non-white Cubans that largely did not try to migrate away. Now that the US has opened relations back with Cuba, those the white Cubans that immigrated to the US are able to reach back to their families in Cuba and use the wealth they've acquired to help other white Cubans progress. Since black Cubans didn't leave at the same rates as white Cubans, they don't really have anyone in that position to help them out and thus there is now a growing divide.
It's not really about whites using some divide and conquer tactic. It's about America's legacy of racism and the effect it had on another country on which it was forced.
There absolutely was a racial divide bruh don't spread false information, to the point their own president wasn't allowed in certain club due to him being a mulatto (Batista, the one Castro kicked out) Cuba is racist just like every other country the only difference is there is little shame/issue with interracial dating/marriage
The Spanish American War where the US introduced segregation in Cuba was in 1898. Batista took office in 1940 well after the damage was done. There was no Jim Crow style segregation in Cuba prior to the US intervention. -
? cubans,che, and ? felix rodriguez
Che wasnt Cuban
Plus he gave a speech at the United Nations condemning the US on how they treat people of color.
Dont diss a true legend -
felliwonda wrote: »PapaDoc223 wrote: »I got family in Cuba. My grandpops on my pops side went to Cuba as a young boy(19) and went with 7 of his others brother to Cuba for work. Alot of Haitians back in the 1930s and 1940s went to Cuba for work. My grandpops and 3 of his brother went back to Haiti after being in Cuba for 24 years! Rumour is he and the 2 brother had secret families all over Cuba but left for some reason. He never explained to my father why he left Cuba.
My aunt said that he mentioned once there was always a disagreement between the brothers whether to go back to Haiti or not. But the other 4 stayed in Cuba to this day. That means my pop probably has Cuban cousins he doesnt even know. There is alot of Haitian descent Cubans. I wish my grandfather was alive to tell his time in Cuba. He died before I was born. I guess I got my weakness for latinas by my grandfather.
Yoooo real talk man like two weeks ago I was just telling my pops the same thing( my pops Haitian he raised me since I was ? am from Nicaragua but I was raised in Miami. Now Miami has predominantly amount of Cuban immigrants right... Well I was just telling him I know a lot of good Cuban folks but one thing I could never understand from my experience for instance at one of my jobs is, I noticed a lot of racism from Cubans yes towards blacks. But not only Americans am talking about I noticed racism against Haitian folks and even black Cubans their own I usually stay away from people that are racist period so I don't ? with em but ? like that makes me sick especially when you know at least half of Cuba is of African ancestry so even those ? people who choose to be racist are of mixed descendanse is just crazy to me how ignorant a lot of times we Hispanics can be as far as black history.
Like two weeks ago I was telling my pops like 7 out of 10 Cuban folks (black or light skinned ) have French last names put two and two together the nearest place to Cuba ? literally few miles away is Haitii and Haitii or should I say la Hispaniola got their independence from France I don't know man reading is fundamental especially books outside our school system reading is fundamental bob Marley said it best "know your History in the abundance of water the fool is thirsty". Rat race!
Here: .................................
Just sprinkle those ? throughout that diatribe and then it might be somewhat readable.
Sorry dawg I don't have perfect literacy when writing -
The Lonious Monk wrote: »so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
This isn't really divide and conquer by whites. Who are the whites even dividing or conquering? Cuba's situation is an example of America infecting another culture with its sickness.
You have to look back at history to really understand what's going on here. When Cuba was a Spanish colony, they revolted. Around that time, there was no racial divide. This is evidenced by the fact that many of the high ranking officers in Cuba's revolutionary army were black. Eventually, the US stepped in and offered assistance to Cuba. When they did, they came in and implemented Jim Crow policies that the Cubans had to abide by in order to retain US assistance. Eventually, Cuba won their independence and the US withdrew its troops. However, by then, the damage had been done. The white Cubans who had been given power by virtue of nothing more than being white were not going to give that power up and they didn't. So the racism took root. Fast forward to when Castro took over. One of the things he did was try to end racism in Cuba. Part of that meant taking back some of the wealth that many of the White Cubans had and distributing it more evenly among all the people. Of course the white Cubans didn't like that, so a lot of them bounced to the US where they were able to start new lives and build themselves up. Not coincidentally, the US imposed sanctions on Cuba that hurt the island and all the non-white Cubans that largely did not try to migrate away. Now that the US has opened relations back with Cuba, those the white Cubans that immigrated to the US are able to reach back to their families in Cuba and use the wealth they've acquired to help other white Cubans progress. Since black Cubans didn't leave at the same rates as white Cubans, they don't really have anyone in that position to help them out and thus there is now a growing divide.
It's not really about whites using some divide and conquer tactic. It's about America's legacy of racism and the effect it had on another country on which it was forced.
Crazy ? right there man thanks for that info -
felliwonda wrote: »The Lonious Monk wrote: »so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
This isn't really divide and conquer by whites. Who are the whites even dividing or conquering? Cuba's situation is an example of America infecting another culture with its sickness.
You have to look back at history to really understand what's going on here. When Cuba was a Spanish colony, they revolted. Around that time, there was no racial divide. This is evidenced by the fact that many of the high ranking officers in Cuba's revolutionary army were black. Eventually, the US stepped in and offered assistance to Cuba. When they did, they came in and implemented Jim Crow policies that the Cubans had to abide by in order to retain US assistance. Eventually, Cuba won their independence and the US withdrew its troops. However, by then, the damage had been done. The white Cubans who had been given power by virtue of nothing more than being white were not going to give that power up and they didn't. So the racism took root. Fast forward to when Castro took over. One of the things he did was try to end racism in Cuba. Part of that meant taking back some of the wealth that many of the White Cubans had and distributing it more evenly among all the people. Of course the white Cubans didn't like that, so a lot of them bounced to the US where they were able to start new lives and build themselves up. Not coincidentally, the US imposed sanctions on Cuba that hurt the island and all the non-white Cubans that largely did not try to migrate away. Now that the US has opened relations back with Cuba, those the white Cubans that immigrated to the US are able to reach back to their families in Cuba and use the wealth they've acquired to help other white Cubans progress. Since black Cubans didn't leave at the same rates as white Cubans, they don't really have anyone in that position to help them out and thus there is now a growing divide.
It's not really about whites using some divide and conquer tactic. It's about America's legacy of racism and the effect it had on another country on which it was forced.
Crazy ? right there man thanks for that info
No problem. I recommend the "Black in Latin America" video series. It's pretty enlightening as far the history of blacks in the Western Hemisphere. People tend to forget or don't know, that most slaves didn't even come to the US. Way more were sent to South America and the Caribbean. Black Americans tend to have an exaggerated view of how much of the African diaspora we actually represent. -
The Lonious Monk wrote: »The Lonious Monk wrote: »so whites still using the old divide and conquer strategy eh.....
This isn't really divide and conquer by whites. Who are the whites even dividing or conquering? Cuba's situation is an example of America infecting another culture with its sickness.
You have to look back at history to really understand what's going on here. When Cuba was a Spanish colony, they revolted. Around that time, there was no racial divide. This is evidenced by the fact that many of the high ranking officers in Cuba's revolutionary army were black. Eventually, the US stepped in and offered assistance to Cuba. When they did, they came in and implemented Jim Crow policies that the Cubans had to abide by in order to retain US assistance. Eventually, Cuba won their independence and the US withdrew its troops. However, by then, the damage had been done. The white Cubans who had been given power by virtue of nothing more than being white were not going to give that power up and they didn't. So the racism took root. Fast forward to when Castro took over. One of the things he did was try to end racism in Cuba. Part of that meant taking back some of the wealth that many of the White Cubans had and distributing it more evenly among all the people. Of course the white Cubans didn't like that, so a lot of them bounced to the US where they were able to start new lives and build themselves up. Not coincidentally, the US imposed sanctions on Cuba that hurt the island and all the non-white Cubans that largely did not try to migrate away. Now that the US has opened relations back with Cuba, those the white Cubans that immigrated to the US are able to reach back to their families in Cuba and use the wealth they've acquired to help other white Cubans progress. Since black Cubans didn't leave at the same rates as white Cubans, they don't really have anyone in that position to help them out and thus there is now a growing divide.
It's not really about whites using some divide and conquer tactic. It's about America's legacy of racism and the effect it had on another country on which it was forced.
There absolutely was a racial divide bruh don't spread false information, to the point their own president wasn't allowed in certain club due to him being a mulatto (Batista, the one Castro kicked out) Cuba is racist just like every other country the only difference is there is little shame/issue with interracial dating/marriage
The Spanish American War where the US introduced segregation in Cuba was in 1898. Batista took office in 1940 well after the damage was done. There was no Jim Crow style segregation in Cuba prior to the US intervention.
Just because it wasn't Jim Crow style doesn't mean there was no segregation. That's just misinformation. Keep in mind Cuba kept slavery the longest in this hemisphere besides Brazil
