Mark Sawyer counters right wing memes about Che and Beyonce-JayZ-Cubagate

[flamingdem]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-sawyer/beyonce-and-jay-z-are-rac_b_3078075.html

* his book on race and Latin America is mentioned in the article

--- snip

The broad scholarly consensus is that Cuba through a combination of redistribution of wealth, improved education systems and open access to health care had moved the black population on the island closer to parity with whites than any other society in the world. Black life expectancy hovered in the 70s only a couple years shy of the white life expectancy. Infant mortality rates fell dramatically and Cuba all but eliminated illiteracy. Old attitudes never died and racism still exists on the island. Cuba proves you can almost reach parity in terms of social indicators but still not kill the attitudes that supported the enslavement of people of African descent.

With those attitudes still spoiling the water, the decline of Soviet support, tourism, and the rise of remittances from white relatives in Miami has meant racial inequality has been on the rise in Cuba. In spite of that, Cuba remains the one place where blacks are the most patriotic despite being perceived at the bottom of the pecking order and the more patriotic whites are the less they are likely to express racist beliefs about blacks. That looks like a successful anti-racist project to me. But, on the minus side Cuba eliminated black organizations that might work to lobby for black interests even in the context of a one party state. But the criticism of Cuba goes far beyond what the settled scholarly consensus is on the matter.

The most unbelievable commentary on Fox News, was that of Maria Anastasia O'Grady, argued that Cuba is state "Run by Old White Guys, and many of the people who are in jail are young black people." She then likens Cuba to South Africa of all places. Let's not forget Cuba fought South African supporters in Angola costing Cuban lives. Castro received the largest cheer at Nelson Mandela's inauguration because of the staunch support during the struggle to end apartheid. Let's not include the irony of O'Grady making this claim within the United States where one in 15 African-American men are in prison and one in three black men will expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Black women are also three times more likely to be imprisoned in the U.S. than white women. The "police state" Cuba as described by "O'Grady" does not imprison nearly as many people as a percentage of the population as the U.S. and certainly not similar proportions of blacks given population. But further, there is nothing similar to the U.S. embargo on Cuba and the boycott of South Africa. The South African boycott and divestment was requested by anti-Apartheid activists in South Africa not a distant exile community with few formal ties to the country.

But, the attack of racism goes even deeper. Another portion of it rests upon the claim that Ché Guevara was an unrepentant racist. I was unaware that Guevara had been leading Cuba in the last few decades but it warranted a closer look. I trolled around on blogs and saw right wingers tend to string together a series of quotes from across Che's life. The most racist of them is from when Ché was 24 years old. It reflects a Ché whose views evolved on the issue of race and who eventually saw black liberation as synonymous with ending oppression. The second in 1959 is taken horribly out of context. The quote goes, ""We're going to do for blacks exactly what blacks did for the revolution. By which I mean: nothing." Ché is referring to the concept that he saw blacks as participating in the revolution not as blacks but as patriots. That is, the Revolution would be universal and color blind. Of course Ché also said when speaking at the University of Las Villas, "The University must paint itself black, mulato, worker and peasant." Of course, they also lift another quote out of context as Che struggles with attempts to train Congolese soldiers. The same kinds of concerns he expressed about peasants wherever he went to help foment revolution.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Context is everything.

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[Judi Lynn]

2. Isn't that a hot one to hear coming from el exilio? Good grief!

One only has to become aware of the attitudes of the Batistiano generation Cubans who fled from the revolution, which was an emphatic reaction against their brutal, racist, classist, entitled way of life, to realize just how odd that whole thing is.

This article is a tremendous response to their dishonest attempt to befuddle everyone who hasn't learned the truth about them already.

Glad to know this man is making waves. Those waves are needed.