Bennie G. Rodgers left us recently. Bennie G. Rodgers, 86, longtime executive editor and columnist for the St. Louis American, one of the leading black community newspapers in America. Jean Leopold Dominique (1930-2000) was violently snatched from our lives. Jean Léopold Dominique was a Haitian journalist who spoke out against successive dictatorships. He was one of the first people in Haiti to broadcast in Haitian Creole, the language spoken by most of the populace.
Enrique Patterson, a columnist at Miami's El Nuevo Herald, recently spoke at Baruch College in New York City about racial discrimination in Cuba. Patterson, who is Cuban-American, said Cuban culture has a tradition of racism that developed before Fidel Castro and has not ended under Castro's reign. Patterson said racism is preventing a transition to democracy.
"You must understand that we are very different in Cuba," insisted Gabriel Molina Franchossi, director of Gramma newspaper, the official organ of the communist party in Cuba. "To Afro-Cubans, big lips and big backsides are objects of beauty. To us, such images represent the feminine ideal." Afro Cubans also seem naive. Cubans are fond of saying that Fidel Castro abolished racism when he came into power 40 years ago, as though this can be accomplished by a simple decree. What they really mean, of course, is that Castro outlawed discrimination And again, who am I to say he hasn't? In the United States, discrimination didn't become illegal until the mid-60s when Congress passed a series of civil rights laws effecting voting rights, equal employment, and fair housing. By 1968, Richard Nixon was ending a wave of white backlash into power and the process of undermining those gains began. Blacks appear to have had a different experience in Cuba, where better than 40 percent of the population is either Black or mestizo (mixed) and where a fair percentage of those who are considered "white" acknowledge some degree of African or mestizo blood in their heritage. "We in Cuba are not so easily categorized as in the United States," said Reynaldo Calviac Lafferte, director of the International Press Center. He pointed to a wall in his office. "In the same family, there are some who are as white as that wall." Then he slapped his patent leathers. "And there are some who are as black as my shoes. For us, race is not an issue like it is for you."
"You must understand that we are very different in Cuba," insisted Gabriel Molina Franchossi, director of Gramma newspaper, the official organ of the communist party in Cuba. "To Afro-Cubans, big lips and big backsides are objects of beauty. To us, such images represent the feminine ideal." Under Castro, Blacks are well represented in the country's ruling bodies. Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world and mortality rates comparable to that of Europe and the United States. Successful Afro Cubans are quick to note that they and their children have been afforded opportunities since what they call "the triumph of the Revolution" that they would never have received under the old regime.
Except for inroads made in the first 10 - 15 years after the revolution, what is black has been heavily stereotyped; and nowadays there are no black actors to speak of on Cuban television, which is easy to see by tuning in. [Alden Knight] is best - known for his performance poetry - especially that of Cuba's mulatto National Poet, the late Nicols Guill'en our kind of Langston Hughes, the two of them having been contemporaries and friends. He regrets that it makes little sense in 1995 to perform Guill'en's classic 1964 poem of social redemption for the black Cuban: "Tengo [I have] is the sum total of what was achieved in this country for blacks, for the poor... and now it's been lost. I have said that when that poem can be read again in all honesty. We shall have regained what we had won by the end of the 1960s. When we were poor but equal. She and her sisters - three doctors and a philologist who specializes on Africa - were known since they were little as the daughters of Lilliam and Unan Emilio. The four were born and raised in Santiago de Cuba, the island's second and most Caribbean city, renowned for its history of rebellion, heroism and hospitality, as well as its more predominantly black population.
"In our Cold War fight with Castro, (we were) willing to subsidize Cubans to leave to come here and at the same time lock Haitians out. That is not fair, and we deserve a different policy," [Jesse L. Jackson Sr.] said. He said the U.S. pays to bring Cubans here, subsidizes them, but pays to send Haitians back to Haiti. "That's not fair," he stated. "Haiti fought for our freedom." "The Cubans are political refugees looking for political freedom, and they're given money to come, but, the Haitians are economic refugees so they must go back. There are more Haitians who've died... than Cubans," Jackson said calling for an end to the double standard of refugees between Cuba and Haitians seeking to come to America.
Then the charismatic Sundar Popo, who championed "chutney" music, or Indian soca, died of heart failure in May at the age of 57. Sundar Popo is remembered for "Your Mother's Love" and other hits. "People here are very superstitious," said businessman Danny Montano. They conclude "something has swept the country, something is wrong, and that's why so many bad things are happening."
I am referring to prejudice against those who are both Latino and black, whose ancestors arrived on Spanish or Portuguese Slave ships. Living in Los Angeles, it might be easy to think that most Latinos are brown-skinned and of Mexican descent; after all, the majority of our city's Latino population identify as Mexican. Latin American scholars and historians agree that about 95 percent of the Africans forcibly brought to the Americas were bought to what is now Latin America. They are concentrated in the Caribbean, Colombia and Brazil, where half of the population is of African ancestry. And many dark-skinned Latinos also live in the United States. A black Latina wrote recently in Hispanic Magazine that Latinos see blackness as a liability in this country because the Latino community seems to be perpetuating the long-standing racism in South America. In Peru, blacks are sill being used as ornamental images ... chauffeurs valets and servants and blacks in Brazil are still considered marginal members of society. And it was reported that "Batista's skin was not pink enough to gain membership to some Cuban elite clubs."
Randall Robinson, founder and president of TransAfrica will speak at 12:30 p.m. at the Black Business and Professional Association's (BBPA) 4th Annual African American Economic Summit to be held Saturday, May 20 at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Robinson is a noted activist and author of Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America. He is best known for his leadership in spearheading the movement to influence United States policies toward Africa and the Caribbean. Robinson played a significant role in the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s and the restoration of Democracy in Haiti.
