> Cuba Begins to Answer Its Race Question > ============================= > [Jim Williams, Robin Busch and Nancy.Mikelsons sent us this article > from the Washington Post] > > By Eugene Robinson Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday , November > 12, 2000 ; Page A01 > > HAVANA '��'�� Maria del Carmen Cano, a scholar at the Cuban > Institute of the Book, studies race in Cuba. For years that was an > obscure and lonely task, but now people are beginning to pay > attention. To illustrate why, she tells a story about her husband. > > He is tall and very dark-skinned. Not long ago, on a day off from > work, he was making his way through a downtown Havana neighborhood > in shorts, tennis shoes and T-shirt, a bulging knapsack slung over > his shoulder--he was taking the family's computer to be repaired. > Approaching from the opposite direction was a white man, also in > sneakers and T-shirt and shorts, also toting a full knapsack. They > crossed paths right in front of one of the policemen who stand, > sphinxlike, on Havana's busy street corners. > > The officer stopped Cano's husband and demanded to see his identity > papers, letting the white man pass without a second look. > > When the policeman learned that he had just detained a lieutenant > colonel in the Cuban military, he was effusively apologetic. "But > from then on," Cano says, "my husband had a greater appreciation > for my work." > > Breaking a long-standing taboo on discussing Cuban society in > racial terms, scholars and even officials here are delving into > issues of race, racism, racial stereotypes and stubborn patterns of > discrimination. They have found, as Cano says, that "it's > unrealistic to assume that a good communist or a good revolutionary > can't also be a racist." > > Black Cubans, by any material or educational measure, have made > great advances in the past four decades, their progress often cited > by officials as one of the signal accomplishments of President > Fidel Castro's revolution. As one example, officials report that in > this country of 11 million people, there are more than 13,000 black > physicians; by comparison, in the United States, with a black > population four times as large, the 1990 census counted just over > 20,000 black doctors, according to the leading U.S. association of > black physicians. > > Intermarriage between whites and blacks is commonplace in Cuba. > Race relations, especially among individuals, are much more relaxed > and amicable than in U.S. neighborhoods--and unlike in the United > States, virtually all Cuban neighborhoods are racially integrated. > > But many young Afro-Cubans--those too young to remember what things > were like before the revolution--contend that a form of structural > racism exists in Cuba, and that it is getting worse. > > The Cuban version of the "New Economy" is based not on computers or > the Internet but rather on tourism, which is growing by leaps and > bounds while the rest of the Cuban economy languishes. Young blacks > say they are underrepresented on the staffs of the big new five-star > hotels and the ancillary service businesses springing up around > Havana, the Varadero beach resort and other major cities. In > today's Cuba, with the economy substantially "dollarized," those > with access to tourists--and the dollars they spend--form a kind of > new elite, and this elite of waitresses, doormen, tour guides and > cab drivers appears much whiter than Cuba as a whole. > > The government's position, famously expressed by Cuba's > independence hero Jose Marti, is that race does not matter, that "we > are all Cubans." But to scholars, including those who remain fully > committed to the revolution, some worrisome racial issues have > become self-evident. > > Academics say that black Cubans are failing to earn university > degrees in proportion to their numbers--a situation to which Castro > has alluded publicly. The upper echelons of the government remain > disproportionately white, despite the emergence of several rising > black stars. And while perceptions are difficult to quantify, much > less prove true or false, many black Cubans are convinced that they > are much less likely than whites to land good jobs--and much more > likely to be hassled by police on the street, like Cano's husband, > in a Cuban version of"racial profiling." > > Even the most outspoken critics of the way the government has > handled, or ignored, the issue of race in Cuba do not believe the > racial problems here are as acute or widespread as in the United > States. They share the worry of Cuban officials that foreign > observers will oversimplify the situation, seeing it in stark terms > of black and white when the more appropriate image is a spectrum of > beiges and browns. > > Several black Cubans interviewed for this article were especially > anxious that reports of Cuba's racial problems not be seized on by > the Cuban American community in Miami, which is overwhelmingly > white--and which was founded by a core of people who made up much > of Cuba's pre-revolution white elite. Many here question whether > there would have been such hubbub in Miami over Elian Gonzalez had > the boy been black instead of white. > > "There is a feeling that to talk about this issue is to divide the > unity that is necessary to face American imperialism," said Tomas > Fernandez Robaina, senior researcher at the Jose Marti National > Library and a preeminent scholar on race. But he added, "In many > places, blacks have more problems getting a job than white people. > I'm not telling you a secret." > > Recently Castro has acknowledged lingering traces of racial > discrimination, using a speech last year to pin the blame on racist > attitudes introduced during the U.S. occupation of Cuba following > the Spanish-American War. > > His brother, Vice President Raul Castro, the second most powerful > man in Cuba,tackled the subject in March, in a speech that black > Cubans still remember and parts of which they cite verbatim. He used > a more down-to-earth example that people could relate to their > everyday lives: If a hotel denies entry to a person because he is > black, he said,then the hotel should be shut. > > When black Cubans gather, the topic of racism readily emerges. But > the government does not permit clubs, associations or movements > based on race; there is no NAACP in Cuba, nor would one be allowed. > > Cuban race relations are thus conducted on the individual level, > and because of cultural factors they lack the element of > confrontation. This is a nation where a man can refer to his dark- > skinned girlfriend as "mi negra," or "my black woman," without > giving it a thought or raising any hackles. It is a society where > friends can tease each other about how dark their skin is and no > one takes offense; where a tan-skinned woman can casually say of a > party she attended,"Oh, there were a lot of negros there, so I > left," and no one seems uncomfortable or embarrassed. Cubans love to > laugh, love to employ their well-developed sense of irony. > > "There is an important difference between our two countries," said > Alexis Esquivel, an artist who has helped organize groundbreaking > exhibitions here on the theme of race. "In the United States, you > can't joke about race, not at all, but you can talk about it > seriously. Here in Cuba, you can joke about race all you want. But > you can't talk about it seriously." > > Cuba's Racial History > > Cuba has a familiar history of slavery and emancipation, but also a > history of widespread intermarriage. The result is that racial lines > are not nearly so clearly drawn, or so immutably fixed, as in the > United States. There has not been a census since 1980-81, and at > that time a majority of Cubans identified themselves as white. Most > Cuban scholars discount that result, estimating that the Cuban > population is between 60 percent and 70 percent black or mulatto > (mixed-race). They also question the usefulness of official > government statistics on race that are based on that census. > > Cubans reserve the term "black" for people with very dark skin and > kinky hair. Many African Americans who consider themselves black > would be called mulatto in Cuba, and some--with light skin and > straight hair--would be called white. The pre-revolution racial > hierarchy put whites on the top, blacks on the bottom and mulattos > somewhere in between; the revolution ended all official > discrimination, but as in virtually every country with a history of > slavery, traces remain. > > "The economic crisis has taken the lid off," said researcher Cano. > "Now there is new space for racist attitudes to exist." > > She referred to the implosion of the Cuban economy following the > dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, which ended a > lifeline of subsidies and eliminated the only viable markets for > Cuban goods. The early 1990s were desperate years in Cuba, a time > when people accustomed to a reasonable standard of living were > suddenly hungry, when gasoline was in short supply and power outages > were a daily occurrence. The government calls it the "Special > Period"--and although the situation has greatly improved, Castro > has not yet declared it at an end. > > The crisis exacerbated tensions, and many black Cubans began to > feel that in this egalitarian society, they were getting the short > end of the stick. After Castro made it legal to possess and spend > dollars, remittances from overseas relatives eased the pain for some > Cubans. But since so many of the Cubans in Miami and elsewhere who > could afford to send money home were white, the relatives on the > receiving end in Cuba also tended to be white. > > During the leanest years there were episodes of unrest. The worst > came in the summer of 1994 along the seafront in Central Havana, a > neighborhood that happens to have a high percentage of black > residents. Crowds took to the streets and police officers came under > attack. It did not qualify as a race riot, but arguably was the > closest thing post-revolution Cuba had seen. > > The turmoil prompted Castro to allow a limited safety-valve exodus > of rafters to set out for Florida--the first mass departure in which > there were substantial numbers of blacks as well as whites. > > The conventional wisdom to that point had been that blacks were > among Castro's most faithful and avid supporters--beneficiaries of > both concrete benefits and memorable gestures, from Castro's > legendary choice to stay in Harlem during his first New York visit > to his decision to send thousands of Cuban troops to faraway wars in > Africa. Shortly after the 1994 disturbances, the government > accelerated a move to promote young, activist black officials to key > posts, even inviting them into the inner circle. > > (to be continued) > > ------------------------------------------------ >
