African American activists, including Jeremiah Wright and Cornel West, blast Cuba on racism

African American activists, including Jeremiah Wright and Cornel West,
blast Cuba on racism
January 4, 2010 | 7:08 am

There was a time when African American intellectuals had lots of good
things to say about Fidel Castro and Cuba, often noting how the regime
in Havana, for all its faults on human rights, had brought better
education and healthcare to the masses. It wasn't unusual for black
luminaries to visit the island (see photo above).

But as our colleague Richard Fausset reports, 60 black intellectuals
have written a stinging statement, "Acting on Our Conscience,"
condemning the persistent racial inequalities on the island. An excerpt:

We support Cuba's right to enjoy national sovereignty, and
unhesitatingly repudiate any attempt at curtailing such a right.
However, at this historic juncture, we also do believe that we cannot
sit idly by and allow for decent, peaceful and dedicated civil rights
activists in Cuba, and the black population as a whole, to be treated
with callous disregard for their rights as citizens and as the most
marginalized people on the island.

Racism in Cuba, and anywhere else in the world, is unacceptable and
must be confronted!

Among those signing the document were Cornel West, Melvin Van Peebles,
Marva Allen and Jeremiah Wright Jr. As Fausset notes of the statement:

It was a far cry from those heady moments in 1960 and 1995 when
Fidel Castro visited Harlem, receiving on both occasions a kind of
hero's welcome as liberator of the oppressed.

Over the decades, many black intellectuals have spoken favorably
about the regime's ability to bring better healthcare and education to
some of the island's poorest residents. A number of prominent figures,
including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and actor Danny Glover, have visited
the island.

What has changed, some of the statement's signers say, is a
heightened understanding outside Cuba of the plight of the island's
large black population, which remains increasingly marginalized
economically and underrepresented in the highest echelons of government.
But Obama may also be a factor. Suddenly, Cuba's great enemy -- long
denounced as hopelessly racist by the Castros -- has a black president,
one who has toned down the U.S. rhetoric toward Cuba.

And the Cuban government's reaction to the statement? Havana condemned
it. Follow this link for Fausset's full report on the statement.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-cuba-blacks3-2010jan03,0,5391302.story

-- Steve Padilla

African American activists, including Jeremiah Wright and Cornel West,
blast Cuba on racism | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times (4 January
2010)
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/01/african-american-activists-blast-cuba-on-racism.html