Stirring the Melting Pot and How We Got Gitmo

The United States tried to upset Cuba's melting pot from jump. From the beginning, there was a movement to annex both Cuba and Puerto Rico, despite Spain's ownership of both islands, as well as repeated attempts to get the Cuban government to “dehumanize” its Negroes, by implementing jim crow laws and other forms of discrimination routinely practiced on the mainland.



As I said before, it was about the economy and the need for free labor to drive it along with the fear that whites would be murdered in their beds if, blacks were allowed to roam free. So, while rich Spanish/white Cuban slave and plantation owners may have agreed with the US, the government did not. Nor did the rebel forces moving toward independence.

Major General Antonio Maceo, Revolution Square, Santiago Cuba 

Jose Marti named Antonio Maceo, a black man as his Major General. He also used The Mambis. Fighters from the Dominican Republic, who took their name from a Black Spaniard named Juan Ethninius Mamby who fought in the Dominican war for independence and also for the Cubans in a previous war for freedom.



Marti made it clear to the US in his Proclamation of Montecristi, in which he outlined his policy for the War. He said: The war was to be waged by both blacks and whites, black participation was crucial for victory, Spaniards who did not object to the war were to be spared, and private property was not to be damaged if at all possible. The Proclamation did not end racial discrimination by any means. But it kept it from taking root and blossoming in Cuba, the way it did in America. Cuba, to this day recognizes African/Negro contributions to culture, while the United States still does not in any real sense of the word.



Cuba won its War for Independence with the help of the Americans, an outcome that have proven to be a two edged sword. Americans continued to meddle in Cuban affairs under the guise of “protecting” Americans as well as American interests on the Island. By the end of the War that included a military base named Guantanamo, that sits on a bay under an open ended lease, signed in 1903, still functioning today.  GITMO is infamous today for housing the alleged terrorists accused of plotting against America. Most people in the United States want it shut down, however it is still open and in use. The base also is the site of truly American fast food. Mickey D's is there as is Subway. No other American fast food exists anywhere else in Cuba.
 

Cannon salvaged from USS Maine which was blown up in Havana Harbor

Remnants of the War sit along the Malecon, where you can see the cannons salvaged from the remains of the USS Maine, sent in to Havana Harbor to protect citizens, but blown up as it sat in the Harbor soon after arrival. 258 people died on the ship. The remains of the ship itself sat in full view in the Harbor for the next 14 years. The bombing incident was the excuse the US used to justify its entry in the War itself.



Both Jose Marti and Antonio Maceo fell in battle, but their images are everywhere. A Marti Statue dominates Revolution Square in Havana, among other places. Marti is considered Cuba's founding father. Maceo is considered one of Cuba's greatest generals.



It is hard to describe the feelings engendered by the statue of this man, on his horse. It is a massive stone figure on a hill, located in the Revolution Square of Santiago. It simply dominates the horizon.

General Antonio Maceo

Maceo was even more controversial after death. Shortly after he was buried, he was dug up and his remains, especially his skull, were examined by a team of doctors, who concluded that his skull was “perfect.” So perfect, in fact, that Maceo could not possibly be a black man, despite his very dark appearance and his pre death claims that he was of Negro descent.



From that point on for a while, pictures of Major General Maceo were touched up. In other words, his skin was lightened to reflect his “inner whiteness.” This went on until somebody in government re-found their lost senses.



More to come...

Free to Be...

If I had to describe my time in Cuba with just one overwhelming feeling, it would be “comfortable.” I felt very, very at home where ever I went on the island. I was no longer the “fly in the buttermilk” that I've been all my life, with the exception of within my group. No matter where I went, brown people outnumbered white people and that eased me, unconsciously, sometimes. I guess internally, my mind recognized that I am among my people and there was no need to be on guard.

Cementerio Santa Ifigenia, where Cuban founding father Jose Marti and other  war heroes are buried

In my home land of the United States, Blacks, whether they want to admit it or not, walk around constantly on guard when out and about, both in and out of the ghetto,  out of an innate fear that your actions might be misconstrued by the powers that be. It doesn't matter how rich you are, how long you've lived in the area, where you happen to be. One day the stars can line up and for some reason, the police, your neighbors, your alleged friends, suddenly don't recognize you and things happen. You're thrown in jail or accused unjustly for driving down the wrong street, or walking into the wrong store. We have yet to solve the myriad of problems generated from slavery and the resulting residue of institutionalized racism that persists today.

In Cuba, we were eight fellow travelers from the United States, five white and three Black. Our tour guide was Cuban, white Cuban. Our tour leader, who lives in the United States, was originally born in Iran. In this group I will not use the term “American” to refer to us, because at least one of us was from Canada. True, he was born in North America and lives in the USA. Technically, the term “American” does not apply to Canadians, only those of us born in the USA. We USA born tend to forget that we share the continent of North America with at least two other countries. And, in the rest of the world, outside of the USA, Canadian is good, while Americans are not viewed as positive or good people in general. “Americans” are viewed as rich and generally clueless about the pain and suffering our country, our government causes others around the world.

Our group also represented a very successful slice of US society, professionally and financially. We were all past or approaching retirement age, baby boomers, with the exception of our tour leader, who was a very young 35. Outside of our Cuban tour guide, surprisingly, the next youngest was me at 62.

Another common denominator was our politics. We were all rabid liberals, who spanned the country from east to west, and who had voted for Barack Obama. None of us was happy with his policies, as well as his timid nature in governing, but each of us shuddered at any mention of the currently available alternatives. Of course, none of us knew any of this before we booked the trip. We were complete strangers until we met up at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. The US is more united than we think.

Now I would be remiss if I painted Cuba as this fantasy island totally free of racism and bigotry. It's not. More slaves were brought to Cuba than to the United States. Slavery ended in Cuba, several years after it was outlawed in the US. Rich Cuban landowners practiced the same racism toward Blacks that whites practiced in the US. In fact, just after Cuba's War for Independence from Spain, the USA tried to get Cuba to enact Jim Crow segregation laws in order to “control” the black population. But founding father Jose Marti refused to be bullied. The biggest upshot of the Cuban War was that the country managed to kick out the Spanish, but got saddled with the US and its race/ color based bigotry against blacks, browns and the indigenous peoples.

White racism on both Cuba and in the United States has always been fueled by the need to propel the economy and fear. The need for free labor to work the sugar cane, rice and cotton fields and the fear of possibly being murdered in their beds due to their treatment and disenfranchisement of a huge portion of the population in general. Simply put, slaves and blacks outnumbered whites, therefore whites felt they had to enact rules, regulations and engage in behaviors to convince slaves and free people of color not to mount a revolution similar to what happened in Haiti. 

 

The current embargo, now stretching 60 years, is very similar to the one the US enacted against Haiti when that island sought to get rid of the French. The US sided with the French for exactly the same reasons. Haiti has never recovered. Cuba despite some hiccups has basically refused to allow the US to overturn its melting pot. Batista, who was overthrown by Fidel Castro was Black, in fact. And that is what fuels my comfort. . It's not about wealth, or importance of position or the amount of material goods that we can accumulate. It's a feeling of internal peace devoid of stress and tension, that my skin color alone, is not going to get me in trouble or prevent me from working or going to school, ever again. 

Ministry of the Interior, Revolution Square, Havana Cuba

 

I am free in the United States of America. But I feel truly free in Cuba. That is the difference to me.

Part II tomorrow...