Heated exchange on race

A group composed of African-American scholars, actors, writers and others—many of whom have typically sympathized with Cuban leadership—released a statement this week calling upon the Cuban state to grant black Cubans the same rights as it does other citizens. The statement, signed by individuals such as Princeton Professor Cornel West, actress Ruby Dee Davis, film director Melvin Van Peebles, former South Florida congresswoman Carrie Meek, Chicago’s Dr. Jeremiah Wright (former pastor of President Obama) and Susan Taylor, former editor in chief of Essence magazine, declares that Havana displays “callous disregard” for black Cubans, a population that they say makes up at least 62% of the 11.4 million people on the island, yet is only thinly represented in the top leadership, scientific, academic and other ranks.

Havana retorted today. Island writers, artists and journalists released their own statement, declaring that the U.S. leaders involved were part of a campaign attempting to suffocate Cuban national identity and sovereignty. They defended Cuba’s record in providing social and personal opportunities for black and mixed-race peoples on the island and abroad, citing assistance to Africa and proffered relief aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and saying that “blacks have opportunities like never before” in Cuba today.

(Cuban government statistics, by the way, show the black and mixed-race population on the island as 35%, nowhere near 62%—why the discrepancy?)

Read more about race relations and “the race problem in Cuba” in Pedro Campos’ recent Havana Times piece here.