to settle for a small room as a stage and no more than thirty people as a public. We had the possibility to amplify neither our beats nor our voices with the usual power, since we only had a few small computer speakers. I did not see fists up after ending a performance, but I noticed a lot of receptivity among the attendees. All of them established a close relationship with every dialogue generated from the speakers. It was a space of participatory and inclusive exchange, with plastic artists, musicians, human rights activists, members of the LGBTI community and other guests who interacted and brought their experiences to the deliberative atmosphere we all created there. After a discreet and quick presentation by Marthadela Tamayo, facilitator in Cuba of the magazine Identidades, Juan Antonio Madrazo, Coordinator of the Citizen Committee for Racial Integration( CIR), explained how the Cuban government has not produced any real change in the social condition of the Afro-descendants. They are living in a similar way as they did before 1959. Madrazo also looked at the disparities and the racial discrimination in the labor market, where the black population is in a position of total detriment and marginality. After him, a Cuban Spoken Work ´ s artist and others from the plastic arts made their presentations. Finally, we had the turn to“ throw it.” That ´ s how the great majority of rappers refers to the act of singing. Total silence in the room and our performance begins. The musician El Nene( 9 mm)— as he is known in the Cuban rap scene— integrates with me the duo La Alianza( The Alliance). He began with a poem related to racial discrimination and, especially, to the importance of feeling as an Afro-descendant in a country where, allegedly, the racial problems are a matter of the past. After him, it was my turn. I had thought to deliver something lighter in content, but since I couldn’ t generally express and externalize my feelings, due to the censorship against the so-called underground artists, I decided to perform a poem entitled FSRSF( fruits, seeds, roots, stems and flower). It speaks of my feeling about problems I experienced and observed in a society full of prejudices and marked by a totalitarian and retrograde regime. From a personal point of view, as a way of relief and without further pretension, I offer these verses to the readership.
A cigarette, a coffee, a comforting song. In a verse that was gone, a disappointment, a yearning. Ladies in White and handkerchiefs that pretend to be the flags In parades of a people that awaits freedom. How many springs, summers, winters Those who allowed that the tender was taken away from us, Who erased your ideas from the notebook And turned this angelic island into hell. How can this situation be possible? And with so many options available, they tell you that there is no option. How can it be possible to forgive them? If they do not forgive you, whether you ´ re right or not. How can I ask why our solution Wouldn ´ t be the most convenient for this revolution. Here where dreams are fed with despair It is easier to cry due to impotence that to give your opinion.
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