The Metaphors of Color

by Esteban Morales


A CubaNews translation by Mary Todd.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

Racism may well be the thorniest, most hidden topic in our present social reality.

Some people don’t want to hear anything about it.  Reactions are unforeseeable and range from denial and cynicism to very worried.

In Cuba, historically, racism has been approached more with the fear of creating social divisions than with a determination to end it.  Blacks, mestizos and many people who have consciences have had to wait too long for a discussion.  This is now causing contradictions and dysfunction in an extraordinarily humanistic society, which has struggled for social justice, equality and egalitarianism.

Opinions differ.  Some people deny that race is a valid topic in Cuba.  Unquestionably, there is a lot of ignorance and a false criterion on how this affects national unity, but there’s also an attempt to keep the topic from being discussed—as seen for a long time in the accusation of “racist,” that has nearly always been applied to those who seek to bring the racial question to the fore.¹

Unfortunately, after many years of silence, when the topic of race was taboo in Cuba, we are now very behind in our treatment of the subject—intellectually, scientifically and politically.  An important number of our intellectuals don’t even mention it in their current approaches to the Cuban nation’s social and cultural reality.  Undoubtedly, this reflects the fact that they have very different concepts concerning what historical moment of development the Cuban nation is in.

We must accept that all of us Cubans occupy the same place in the process of the nation’s formation, so it is absolutely necessary to keep in mind the differences contributed by various historical starting points in order to adopt a more realistic attitude toward racial groups, social inequalities and the racial question in today’s Cuba.

Public discussion is still very discreet, incomplete and often unreported. The efforts that are made to work with the realities that feed existing inequalities continue to be global, even when aimed at the more vulnerable sectors.  However, even in the case of affirmative action, race or skin color still doesn’t appear openly as a matter to be considered in social policy—or, at least, it isn’t mentioned openly as something to be taken into account.²

Clearly, our Cuban society is multiracial—or, rather, multicolored—but this multicolored aspect, which isn’t just a simple matter of shades, because it includes a long and complex historical background, is far from prevailing in all spheres of our social life.  Nor is it a matter of how many whites, blacks and mestizos there are in the various jobs.  Rather, we should take a realistic look at ourselves (WALTER—It said “asumirnos” = “assume ourselves”) and share power (WALTER—It said “compartirlo” = “share it”; I can’t see any antecedent for “it”) on an equal footing.  The distribution of power is very important because not all of the racial groups have equal strength, (WALTER—It said “están en condiciones de imponerse” = “are in a condition to impose themselves”) and an effort must be made to achieve the balances that are so needed in a truly multiracial society.

The great savant Fernando Ortiz, the third “discoverer” of Cuba, described Cuba as a “stew.”  I fully subscribe to this idea but would add that the stew is still bubbling.

Some people don’t feel that they are included in the pot and even want to turn down the flame.  Inside the pot, we have some meat and vegetables—more than we’d have imagined before the economic crisis of the ’90s—that haven’t become an integral part of the mixture yet. (WALTER—(It said “que aún no se han ablandado” = “that haven’t gotten tender yet” or “that haven’t been cooked long enough yet”) Also, as Isaac Barreal put it, the stew should be judged not only by the expected results but also by the cooking process.  This is a reality that not everybody wants to accept, but it is of vital importance for the process of consolidating national unity and for its political alliances with the other colonialized (indigenous and descendants of Africans) peoples of the world—especially the ones in Latin America.³

We Cubans are at this crossroads, even though many fail to understand or don’t accept it.  We must either implement measures in all spheres to help all the ingredients of the “stew” to blend together (WALTER—It said “termine su cocción” = “finish being cooked”) or we will lose our only historic opportunity to finish building the society in which the vast majority of us Cubans want to live.  At the same time, if we don’t do this, it will adversely affect our alliance with the 150 million descendants of Africans and of the indigenous populations in Latin America who view Cuba as a model of political and social emancipation.  We cannot share the idea that a better world is possible with such groups while avoiding internal challenges based on color.⁴

I believe that culture and education must be the main protagonists in this battle.  It has already been abundantly shown that, even though racism is comfortably installed in capitalism, doing away with that social regime doesn’t automatically end racial discrimination and, above all, the prejudices and stereotypes that nourish it.  To do that, paraphrasing Gramsci, we must do away with “popular culture” (WALTER—I agree with him 100% here—get rid of all those stupid “mammy” dolls with staring eyes, protuberant lips and big butts!  Also, get rid of “teatro bufo” with its stereotyped Spaniard, black [and one other character which I can’t remember].  My view is, things shouldn’t be retained just because they’re a part of our history; slavery was a part of our history, too. . . .) and the innocuous “common sense” (WALTER—This is what it said; I have no idea what he means) of things and fight to create a truly revolutionary culture.  Bourgeois ideology is so strong that it has made many of us believe that all of those residues of racism and discrimination are the most natural things in the world.

An open debate from the cultural and scientific points of view is required if we are to end this hypocrisy, which has nothing to do with the culture of a truly revolutionary society.

Many movies and books, our long historical tradition and our great cultural heritage in general attest to Africans’ participation in the creation and development of our national culture, but some of that laudable work is coming up against our present reality, which still includes negative stereotypes of non-whites, racial prejudices, racial discrimination and racism.

The three most exhaustive research projects of the last 40 years about racism in Cuba weren’t carried out in Cuba or by intellectuals living on the island.  Nationally, very little has been published that tackles the topic as a contemporary problem that must be solved.

We have a written history in which blacks and mestizos still aren’t given enough space as part of the process forming the nation and its culture.  This has a serious adverse effect on our national identity.

We must introduce ethno-racial studies at all levels of learning; they must be a constant, systematic part of our education and of our mass media—especially television.

We must be educated to be Cubans (not whites, as is sometimes the case) and meet the challenges—and reap the benefits—of introducing color.

Our system of education cannot be described as racist, because all Cubans have equal access to it.  However, all of the roots that contributed to our nationality and culture aren’t given the same emphasis in our study plans and programs. (WALTER—It said “Por lo que”; not in my dictionary) We don’t exclude blacks and mestizos from our schools, but, in daily practice, they don’t receive an education in which all are given equal credit as part of a multiracial society that is objectively ethnically united. (WALTER—It said “los asuma por igual, como parte de una sociedad que es objetivamente uniétnica y multirracial” = “considers them equals as part of a society that is objectively uni-ethnic and multiracial”)

Matters related to the formation of a multiracial or multicolored identity must take their place in Cuban education, because this problem adversely affects everyone, harming the identity of the nation seen as a whole.  If this isn’t done, we won’t be educating our children to be Cubans in the fullest sense of the term. (WALTER—It said “educando para ser cubanos de manera integral” = “educating to be Cubans in an integral way”; this could also mean “providing an integral education in being Cubans”)


August 2005

 
¹ In March 1959, when Fidel Castro said that racial discrimination was one of the defects which had to be overcome, some people didn’t support him and even predicted difficult, unpleasant situations.  Now, when this problem is considered to have been solved many years ago, it is hardly surprising that those same attitudes persist.

² All of the measures that were adopted in 2005 to raise pensions and minimum wages and to increase the distribution of subsidized basic products are part of a social policy that has always had a deeply humanistic content and that unquestionably benefits blacks and mestizos—the racial groups with the largest proportions among the poor.

³ Isaac Barreal: Retorno a las raíces (Back to the Roots), La Fuente Viva Collection (Havana: Fernando Ortiz Foundation, 2001), pp. 154-5.

⁴ We cannot oppose racism and discrimination internationally if we don’t fight it openly and thoroughly in our own present social reality, if we don’t hold a public discussion that does away with the cynicism and hypocrisy with which, unfortunately, many Cubans of all racial groups still approach, ignore or deny the existence of the problem.