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The Privilege of Being Visible1
Marlene Hernandez Azor
PhD in Social Sciences and Humanities
Metropolitan Autonomous University (Mexico)

F

acing demands for both the
recognition and the overcoming
of historic silences and exclusions concerning the problem of racial
discrimination, the Cuban government's
strategy seems to be subordinating the
interests and claims of the African
descendants to "national unity" and
postponing an open national debate
because it would implie many risks that
could fracture such unit. By homogenizing the population in their ethnic constitution (Cuban / Cuban-mestizo) and
turning the inequalities invisible, the
strategy also shows the unwillingness to
deal with the necessary public policies
in order to solve the social, economic
and political inequalities of the African
descendants. The Cuban government
discursively recognizes diversity and
differences2, but they are not recognized
de facto. Additionally, it remains reluctant to implement affirmative actions to
provide solutions. On May 25, 2014,
and March 20, 2015, the TV program
“Round Table” gave two illustrative
examples3 of how only a single approach on racial discrimination is privileged. Both broadcasts were exceptional
in the national television, since such an
issue has neither more dissemination
spaces nor substantive advances in its
formulations. In the first program, the
host Arleen Rodriguez reiterated a
question to a panel of experts panel:
how to refer to blacks and whites without discrimination. One panelist said
that "they come from Africa", but nobody dared to define the proper way to
name a black person. Even more interesting was that, in the following program, the same host repeated the ques

tion about how would be the politically
correct term for blacks, and a panelist
answered: "Call them person." The
reluctance to refer to Afro-Cubans on
the basis of their cultural and geographical origin is an official line for controlling the lexicon and making the differences invisible. The term Afro-Cuban
and Afro-American is still perceived by
the pro-government intellectuals and
government officials as foreignercentered and divisive. Both the panelists
in the studio and those consulted by
phone belonged to state research centers
and were subordinated to the official
line, represented by the Commission
“José Antonio Aponte”, linked to the
Union of Writers