I don't care who you are; that, right there, is funny.
In the late 60's, a number of prominent blacks traveled to various countries in Africa, from the US.
I guess they wanted to get in touch with their "roots".
Almost all of them came back within a couple of weeks, saying, "Nope, nope, nope".
Being black in America is only bad if you don't compare it anyplace else.
I saw this original PBS special I didnt’ realize how Blacks were treated in Cuba until I saw this special on PBS
Where is Sean Penn, Micheal Moore, Danny Glover on this issue...
They love Fidel and commies... but must hate the black man...
“According to anthropologists dispatched by the European Union (EU), racism in Cuban is systemic and institutional.[1] Black people are systematically excluded from positions in tourism-related jobs, where they could earn tips in hard currencies.[1] According to the EU study, black people are relegated to poor housing, were excluded from managerial positions, received the lowest remittances from relatives abroad, and were five times more likely to be imprisoned. Blacks also complained of suffering the longest waits in healthcare.[1]
Esteban Morales Domínguez, a professor in the University of Havana, believes that “the absence of the debate on the racial problem already threatens {...} the revolution’s social project”.[6] Carlos Moore, who has written extensively on the issue, says that “there is an unstated threat, blacks in Cuba know that whenever you raise race in Cuba, you go to jail. Therefore the struggle in Cuba is different. There cannot be a civil rights movement. You will have instantly 10,000 black people dead”.[6] He says that a new generation of black Cubans are looking at politics in another way.[6] Barack Obama’s victory has raised disturbing questions about the institutional racism in Cuba.[1] The Economist noted, “The danger starts with his example: after all, a young, black, progressive politician has no chance of reaching the highest office in Cuba, although a majority of the island’s people are black.”[7]
Jorge Luis García Pérez, who was imprisoned for 17 years, states that “the authorities in my country have never tolerated that a black person oppose the regime. During the trial, the color of my skin aggravated the situation. Later when I was mistreated in prison by guards, they always referred to me as being black”.[8]
As a black prisoner of conscience, Oscar Elias Biscet wrote to Coretta Scott King in January 1999, “They [black Cubans] have a very low political, economic, and judicial representation in contrast to the numerous prevailing black penal population. This situation is never publicly manifested by the government but is a component of Communism’s subtle politics of segregation.” Black Cubans such as Biscet and Jorge Luis Garcia Perez have been allegedly forcefully separated from their families for criticizing Fidel Castro.[9]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Cuba
“According to Voyages - The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, about 900,000 Africans were brought to Cuba as slaves. To compare, some 470,000 Africans were brought to what is now the United States, and 5,500,000 to the much vaster region of what is now Brazil. Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1886, on a Royal Order by Regent Queen María Cristina of Spain.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Cuba
VERY common to see the old lawn jockey and mamma figurines outside homes and businesses, you can buy small ones at the gift shop at the airport.
I would refrain from posting about Cuba until I had actually spent some time there.
“The blacks, those magnificent examples of the African race who have maintained their racial purity thanks to their lack of an affinity with bathing, have seen their territory invaded by a new kind of slave: the Portuguese.”
“The black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspirations.”
—Che Guevara, 1952 Diary
Cuba imported almost twice the numbers of black slaves as did the entire US. I don’t have the exact numbers but I was amazed at the sheer numbers that Cuba imported.