IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 21

the program did not analyze the possible
actions to penalize racism in private
restaurants because of the same violation of the Cuban laws. The center of
debate are the subjective and cultural
issues on racial discrimination, inherited
from the Spanish colonization, and the
prejudices that linger in the minds of the
population. In the second program, the
head of the Commission Aponte,
Heriberto Feraudy, explained that he
had met with the Fist Vice President,
Miguel Diaz-Canel, and asked him to
create a National Observatory on racial
discrimination. He said Diaz-Canel did
not agree and proposed instead a monthly meeting with the commission in order
to know its ongoing programs. Feraudy
said that programs to combat racial
discrimination are aimed to three sectors: education, family, and media.
Later he added that the issue should be
officially taken because the debate
could not be left in subversive hands.
He referred that other associations are
devoted to the problem, but they were
discussing it "lepe-lepe". This term was
emphasized with a gesture and it was
not well understood by the host, who
translated it as "cathartic discussion."
Feraudy repeated: "Cathartic discussion". The impact of the second program can be analyzed through the eyes
of an Afro-Cuban journalist who addressed4 four cardinal points:
1. The experts called
"[The] 'intellectuals' Heriberto Feraudy
and Jesus Guanche (President and
member of the Commission Aponte,
respectively), Rodrigo Espino (Head of
the Research Institute Juan Marinello),
and José Luis Estrada (Editor of the
newspaper Juventud Rebelde), staged
for 60 minutes a performance that they
insisted in calling it debate, but was
actually a juggling act to decide how to
refer to blacks without using the inherited colonial racist language, as the five
conspirators consented." The journalist
writes 'intellectuals' because he believes

they are officials who support the governmental policy on the issues in their
respective institutions. Thus, they are
not free and because of that not true
intellectuals. In order to point out the
exclusions at the TV program, he added: "There was not a single invitation
for those who, during the last 15 years,
set a starting point, have been more than
activists, thinkers, and promoters of
spaces, controversial criteria and abundant literature on race and gender. To
mention just three examples, the TV
program did not call intellectuals like
Tomas Fernandez Robaina, Victor
Fowler, or Roberto Zurbano."
2. Lack of Afro-Cuban representation
in the Central Committee of the Communist Party (PCC)
"The formula is simple. If we the blacks
carry the burden of the worst cumulative social disadvantages, according to
the shared opinion of those sitting
around the table at the TV studio, it is
not difficult to conclude that blacks will
find it hard to have any access to political power for transforming their socioeconomic realities, id est: the same
chapter continues."
3. The exclusion of all other associations and activists
"It was the climax of a kidnapping
operation to sell the Commission Aponte as a paradigm for activating academic
chairs and pedagogical action plans in
order to ventilate the issue of racism...
Since Diaz-Canel would be personally
responsible [according to Feraudy] to
monitor the Commission Aponte’s
action plans every month, including an
educational program within the content
frame of the Ministry of Higher Education, it is crystal clear that autonomous
critical thinking will be excluded." It
draws attention that the Commission
Aponte has the privilege of appearing as
the only valid organization in the country to address the issue, meanwhile
other organizations like the Brotherhood
of Negritude and the Citizens Commit-

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