Race , Class , and Gender
Race , Class , and Gender
Old and new adventures of the revolutionary racism
Enrique del Risco
Writer Cuban resident in the United States
B
efore the heat of the economy and the statistics — in the midst of the conversion of Castroism to the capitalist faith — end up drowning the already muted cries of the ideology , we should agree on one thing : few regimes like the inaugurated on January 1 st , 1959 , although frustrated in the essentials of economics , have made fashionable so many products of the spirit : from the beards and long hairs of their heroes to the image of its Guerilla Holiness captured by Korda and disseminated by Feltrinelli ; from sport to educational achievements , though it was enough to put a microphone in front of an athlete to begin to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the education system . Among all these products only a few have had such a lasting impact on the universal consciousness — let ’ s remember that I ’ m writing from a hipster era , where the beards have returned without the long hairs — than the so-called racial policy of the Cuban Revolution . It matters little that — as noted by Sir Hugh Thomas — the programmatic text of the early Castroism ( History Will Absolve Me , 1954 ) contain neither the slightest allusion to the racial issue nor the word " black ", not even as part of the color spectrum . Or that at the dawn of that Revolution nothing announced that the racial issue would become a leitmotif during the early years of revolutionary power . Seen from a distance , it is understood . It wouldn ’ t be entirely consistent that a white son of a Spanish immigrant called a revolution on behalf of racial equality against a mestizo ruler — black in the stricter U . S . racial profiling — who more harm than good had carried out a discreet racial policy and suffered discrimination in his own flesh , as the official version has been insisting until today , by the Cuban bourgeoisie , even after having come to power . A few days after the triumph of the revolution , the very Fidel Castro said to an American journalist that the " matter of color " in Cuba “ did not exist in the same way as it did in the U . S .; there was some racial discrimination in Cuba but far less ; the revolution would help eliminate these remaining prejudices ” 1 . Let ’ s abstain from belaboring other statements by the leader of the Revolution about the same time , which insisted with persuasive vehemence on his noncommunist political affiliation . Just a couple of months later , in March 1959 , he called for a campaign with the slogan : “ Job opportunities for all Cubans , without discrimination based on race or sex ; let ’ s put an end to racial discrimination in the workplace ." 2 Whether there was too little or too much racism in Cuba before 1959 , for the Revolution
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