IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 7

Descendants in 2015," some of the progress
by African descent in Latin America countries with an accurate assessment of the fight
in terms of development and results. This
section closes with the stimulating and instructive work "Ending White Supremacy
Within Myself," by Laurent Stuparitz, who
gives a heartfelt testimony —on the basis of
her own experiences as a white woman—
about the particularities of the racial issue in
the United States, particularly in her
hometown, Pittsburgh, by addressing the
historical and current crudeness of this phenomenon. The author calls on her countrymen to react against the social injustices that
affect all the people, while presenting her
experiences as part of groups with the common goal of reaching others to develop their
ability to learn the true history and really
understand that racism is White Supremacy.
A new section has been incorporated into
this edition: "LGBTQ in Cuba and the
World." The first two works come from the
first forum of the group AfroMás and they
establish as a premise "The LGBTQ Cubans
with an independent voice". Afrodescendant leaders like Manuel Cuesta
Morúa, Fernando Palacio and Eroisis González have highly praised AfroMás in terms
that could be summarized thusly: The
Afro Más Forum was really valuable in virtue of the organizational capacity of its leadership and the quality of the presentations
and talks, which generated interest and the
type of structured conversation seeking to
create a systematic plan for continuity. This
forum is a key element for the cohesion
needed by the civil society groups to drive
greater participation and to provide more
visibility to a sector difficult to articulate in

Cuba. AfroMás makes it clear it is willing to
work in partnership with other project of the
civil society. In "The Oracle of Ifá’s Guidelines and the LGBTQ community," Lázaro
Alcides Correoso emerges as a pioneer in
this field with his innovative approach, as
prestigious babalawo, to the issue that religions are not limited by s kin color, sexual
orientation, cultural level or even by age,
and religion should not be stereotyped either
by race or intellect or by sexual preference.
Ashé —the life-force that runs through all
things, the power to make things happen—
is an innate, not a learned behavior; therefore no human being can be discriminated
because of his/her sexual preference. The
diversity was created by Olodumare and
nobody can question it. An elementary
school teacher, Edelmiro Castillo highlights
in "Racism, Violence and Discrimination
Mark Persons, Groups, Peoples and Countries " the sad, absurd and harmful act of
discrimination against certain groups, such
as people of African descent and the
LGBTQ community. He explains how they
are suffering today even “symbolic violence” through sexist images and texts, uncivilized voices and questions both in the
media and the entertainment industry, which
have become barriers to the access to basic
rights. Castillo also calls for strengthening
the struggle for human rights and to demand
protection by the law and help to alleviate
the actual ailments. In that very sense, the
interview by Nonardo Perea, "A Difficult
Conversation," delves into the psychological
and social criteria of stereotypes that prevail
in the Cuban family and in the society with
harmful
consequences.
The
section
concludes with the piece of Mitchel Ovalle

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