The Study of Racialism

triguy · Superuser Joined: 27 Apr 2005 {Posts: 878 }

I really like the last article in particular.

Articles on racism in Cuba:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0934934339/102-7999539-6061719?v=glance
http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y01/may01/18e1.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/cuba_anti_racism.htm
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/6813598.htm
http://www.hope.edu/delatorre/articles/jhlt.html

In the last article, MASKING HISPANIC RACISM: A CUBAN CASE STUDY

Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre:

oevega · Posted: Mon 20 Jun 2005 17:40 Post subject: Myth

Just a question.

When was that thing written. And for whom.

Regards,

Omar Vega

triguy · Superuser Joined: 27 Apr 2005 {Posts: 878 }

Here's the Google search link for you to research Dr. De La Torres' work:

http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=MASKING%20HISPANIC%20RACISM%3A%20A%20CUBAN%20CASE%20STUDY

oevega

triguy · Superuser Joined: 27 Apr 2005 {Posts: 878 }

Here's the breakdown of Ethnicity in Cuba according to the CIA World Factbook:

mulatto 51%, white 37%, black 11%, Chinese 1%

Dismissing someone's work as 'afrocentric' because you don't agree with the author's conclusion without learning more about the source and the totality of author's work doesn't seem quite fair. Dr. De La Torre's resume can be found here:
http://www.hope.edu/academic/religion/delatorre/cvitae.html

Why don't you write to Dr. De La Torre and find out his real motivations?
(Looking at the majority of his works, the professor seems more focused on religion than "race" or Afrocentrism.)

As for the numbers, when talking of people being descendants of groups of people, the numbers don't have to add up unless you are talking in terms of "pure" people. In reality, there is the intersection of people. So, it's possible for "whites" to have African and/or Native ancestry as it is for the others to any other combination. Unless, of course, you believe in the ODR, then God knows how those number shift around.

Here's the breakdown of Ethnicity according to the CIA World Factbook:

mulatto 51%, white 37%, black 11%, Chinese 1%

As for the moors, they were, as A.D. Powell has pointed out, mixed-race. Pretending that Subsaharan people did not mix with North Africans runs afoul of the historic Arab slave trade. (BTW, have you taken a look at the Saudi Arabian Royal family? The Crown Prince could could walk the streets of Memphis and fit right into the crowd. So, could the Saudi Ambassador, Prince Bandar.)

In contrast, what of Portugal where the royal house freely wed its African slaves. Through those unions we were given Queen Charlotte, Sophia of Mecklenburg-Streilitz, the biracial wife of Britain's King George III.

Also what do you think is worse: Eurocentrism or Afrocentrism? Given that the former has been the defacto accepted philosophy and theology since 1492, I'm not exactly impressed with its child, white supremacy.

Having travelled in Latin America, I have been saddened by the obsession with rubias, the fair skinned, blonde ideal of womanhood. How does an "india" or "negrita" or "morena" or "parda" or "mullata" woman ever measure up to an impossible and warped sense of beauty.

When walking in Caracas, surrounded by so many brown, mixed-race people, all of the advertisements on billboards for products featured "whites." It is was surreal in comparison to the US where we see whites, "blacks," mixed-race, Latinos, and Asians.

oevega · Posted: Sun 26 Jun 2005 14:27 Post subject: Re: Racial/Ethnic Breakdown

Hi Triguy:

You won't believe it but is a pleasure to discuss with you, in friendly terms, of course. As I say before, you are a "hard bone to bite", because you seem to know a lot more about Latin America than the average American. Most Americans don't know us as well as you do.
However, my Spanish ancestors (that part of the family tree) gave me a "hard head", so let continue.

triguy · Superuser Joined: 27 Apr 2005 {Posts: 878 }

Liana · Guru Joined: 30 Nov 2004 {Posts: 352 }

fwsweet · Posted: Mon 27 Jun 2005 11:08 Post subject:

G-Man · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2990 }

fwsweet · Posted: Mon 27 Jun 2005 14:35 Post subject:

Powell · Guru Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2453 }

I have also heard this story about Batista supposedly being denied entry to "whites only" clubs. This is probably an urban legend invented by North Americans.

oevega · Posted: Mon 27 Jun 2005 16:55 Post subject: Professor's De la Torre

oevega · Posted: Mon 27 Jun 2005 17:55 Post subject: Cathy Freeman

Liana · Guru Joined: 30 Nov 2004 {Posts: 352 }

Liana · Guru Joined: 30 Nov 2004 {Posts: 352 }

Powell · Guru Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2453 }

Here are some sources for the stories of Batista being excluded from whites-only clubs:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/peopleevents/e_precastro.html

Liana · Guru Joined: 30 Nov 2004 {Posts: 352 }

Havana Journal May 23, 2005

Smithsonian Museum of American History opens Celia Cruz exhibit

By Teresa Wiltz | Washington Post Staff Writer

To describe Celia Cruz is to invoke hyperbole: She was La Reina de Salsa , the Queen of Salsa, she was thunder and lightning, she was a force of Mama Nature wrapped in chocolate skin, broad of nose and broader of smile, a woman for whom joy was everything and the only thing. When she growled her trademark " Azúcar! ", you knew that she was talking about much more than sugar, but referring as well to her ancestors, slaves who worked the sugar fields of Cuba, of escaping hard times, of an approach to living: The sweeter, the better.

Life was made that much sweeter by some ghetto-fabulous wigs, over-the-top duds and shoes that would do Imelda proud. So much so that at her wake in Miami, there were pauses in the action so that la Reina could make two final costume changes. She would've wanted it that way.
And now, nearly two years after her death from brain cancer, the National Museum of American History has launched a retrospective, "Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz," spanning the Cuban singer's six-decade career as a much-adored singer. She made more than 80 recordings and collected five Grammys, the Presidential Medal of Arts and three honorary doctorates. Curated by Marvette Perez, the exhibition will travel the country.

It begins with her beginnings: She was born Ursula Hilaria Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso in 1925 in the working-class Havana neighborhood Santos Suarez. Her father, Simon, wanted her to be a teacher. Singing wasn't an honorable profession. She did it anyway. There are pictures of her as a pouty baby, as a serious girl facing her first Communion and as a beaming, pony-tailed young chanteuse in the '40s, singing son and rumba, Cuba's native rhythms. From there, it traces her move to Mexico and her defection to the United States.

There is footage of her performing with Tito Puente, the New York-born godfather of salsa who gave her an orchestra. All of this is lovingly and exhaustively detailed, with archival video footage, nine costumes, scads of wigs, her crazy, heel-less platform shoes, never-before published photos, music videos and a moving, 12-minute documentary of her life, with Gloria Estefan, Quincy Jones, David Byrne and Johnny Pacheco, among others, talking about her fabulousness. (Then, too, there is a heartbreaking interview with her husband of 42 years, Pedro Knight, a man clearly unmoored by the death of his wife, who says that throughout their marriage they were together "25 hours of the day.")

It's such an exhaustive exhibition that it's surprising, and disappointing, that the not-so-happy moments in her life are glossed over. Yes, she left Cuba, six months after Fidel Castro took over. But there's no explanation of why she left, beyond that the revolution brought a lot of changes for musicians. (Well, yeah, and um, everybody else on the island, too.) There is, however, a picture of her leaving the country, standing by an airplane she's about to board. And she looks royally ticked, a departure from her normally sunny demeanor. You look at it, and you want to know: What happened there? Perhaps we can find a hint in her song "Cuando Salí De Cuba," ("When I Left Cuba"): "When I left Cuba / I left my heart / I left my love. . . . " (She never went back. She tried, when her mother died in 1962, but Castro refused to let her into the country, a decision that broke her heart and hardened her resolve to never return.)

The exhibition gives only passing mention to troubles that she encountered in her new homeland: There is a copy of her wedding certificate to trumpeter Knight, the love of her life. They wed in 1962 in Connecticut. His profession is listed as "musician"; hers, "housework." By this time, she was already a household name throughout Latin America and had performed throughout the States, as well.

The exhibition also calls for a little more context, particularly along matters of race. Before the revolution -- and some say, after it, as well -- Cuba was a country rived by race. As an Afro-Cubana living in a country where even the mulatto dictator Fulgencio Batista was barred from joining the Yacht Club there, Cruz must have encountered racism. One of her first performing gigs was singing with a group of dancers called "Las Mulattas del Fuego" ("The Fiery Mulattas"). Then, too, there are pictures of dancers in the Tropicana, a famous nightclub, prancing with dolls in blackface.

Context is needed here, because Cruz embraced her blackness with gusto, often performing in afro wigs and dashiki caftans in the height of the '60s and '70s, always acknowledging her African roots in her music, and singing, "I'm so proud of being black / I'm so proud of my black people." (She also had fun with it, too, singing boastfully in her last album, "La Negra Tiene Tumbao," that is, "The Black Lady's Got Funk.") And at the same time, she transcended race, becoming, as her manager Omer Padillo-Sid described her, "the passport to Latin America," with Latinos of all colors adoring her with a fervor on par with fans of the Beatles, Elvis, Madonna and the Rolling Stones.

Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz , a bilingual exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, opens today on the Mall at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Open daily 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., except Christmas Day. Admission is free. Call 202-633-1000 or visit http://americanhistory.si.edu/celiacruz

Cuba's struggle against racism
By Roberto Jorquera
[from Green Left Weekly, March 11 1998]

Since 1959, Cuba's revolutionary government has embarked on the task of eliminating centuries of racial prejudice dating from the arrival of the Spanish in 1492, when the indigenous people of the island were massacred and the black slave trade was introduced.

To gain a full appreciation of the advances that have been achieved in combating racial prejudice in revolutionary Cuba, it is important to have an outline of the history of race relations in Cuba. The major historical periods are the colonial period, the period of the republic 1901-1959 and after the 1959 revolution.

Racism is an ideology that justifies the social practice of racial oppression, of institutionalised inequality based on racial categorisation. The invasion of the Americas following its "discovery" by Christopher Columbus was central to the development of capitalism in Europe. After the invasion it was necessary for the colonial ruling class to develop racist bigotry to justify the oppression of the indigenous people and the development of the slave trade.

Since the victory of the revolution, racist oppression has been systematically combated and defeated. However it would be utopian to suggest that individual racial prejudices do not still exist in sections of the population. The Cuban revolution laid the economic and social foundations for the effective elimination of racism, but, with increasing political and economic attacks by the US, even the gains that have been achieved face pressures.

The history of Cuba is a history of socio-economic discrimination against the overwhelming majority of the population. This discrimination was based not only on race but more importantly on class, leading many scholars to define the pre-revolutionary period as that of a colour/class system. The post-revolutionary government, therefore, correctly realised that to overcome racism it needed to overcome the class system itself.

Colonial period
One of the difficulties in looking at the issue of race politics in Cuba is in finding the most accurate statistics on who is, or defines themselves as, black. According to the 1955 Cuban census, negroes or mulattos comprised the following percentages of the population: in 55.85 per cent in 1827; 32 per cent in 1899; 25.2 per cent in 1943; and 26.9 per cent in 1953. Though these are the official figures it is important to note that they are based on a person's own definition, rather than on any objective definition of who is considered black, mulatto or white. Such figures are useful, however many other studies suggest that the percentage of blacks or mulattos is closer to 35-40% of the population in the post-revolutionary period.

The 1800s were a period of revolutionary battles, many of which began to raise the issue of race. It was also a time of massacres of the black population, such as that in Aponte in 1812 and La Escalera in 1844. The Cuban revolutionary hero Jos Mart was one of the most outspoken and aggressive campaigners for the liberation of blacks. The ten-year war that erupted in 1868 was begun by Carlos de Cespedes' act of freeing his slaves, opening the way for a greater political role for blacks.

The right-wing backlash which promoted a "fear of the black" was answered by Mart in 1868: "There can be no race hatred, because there are no races ... What then is there to fear? ... Shall we fear he who has suffered most in Cuba from the privation of freedom, in the country where the blood he shed for her has made her too dear to be threatened ... The revolution, which has brought together all Cubans, regardless of their colour, whether they come from the continent where the skin burns, or from peoples of a gentler light, will be for all Cubans." It was the battles lead by Mart and others that led to the abolition of slavery in 1886. The late 1880s also led to an increasing involvement of blacks in the struggle for independence, particularly the wars of independence 1895-98.

The republic
The 1901 constitution effectively imposed discriminatory practices which hit blacks the hardest. Voting was restricted to males over 21 years of age who could either read and write, or owned real property valued over 250 pesos, or proved that they had fought in the liberation army. In response to such practices, the Association of Black Voters was formed in 1908, soon after changing its name to the Party of Colour. Part of its platform stated: "Freedom is not asked or begged for, it is won; and rights are not handed out anywhere, rights are fought for and belong to all. If we go on asking for our rights, we will die waiting because we will have lost them."

However, in 1910, the government, in a clear attempt to curtail black political participation, introduced a law banning the formation of political parties on race lines. The banning led to the race war of 1912 that saw a genocide of blacks by the military.

By the turn of the century a systematic form of racial oppression was firmly in place in numerous parts of Cuban society. These included the formation of exclusive social clubs, bars, restaurants, beaches, movie theatres and night clubs. Exclusion was also maintained through income levels. Lourdes Casal, in an article entitled "Race Relations in Contemporary Cuba", writes:

"In Havana, upper class social clubs excluded blacks and mulattos systematically. ](Even Batista, during his term as President of the Republic, was banned at the Havana Yacht Club, the most exclusive of the upper class clubs.) These clubs controlled private beaches in Havana which, therefore, excluded blacks. Middle class clubs, especially those organised around professional associations, admitted those blacks who belonged to the respective professional organisations."

"In Cuban small towns and provincial capitals, segregation was rigidly enforced in formal social life and in the patterns of informal association related to courtship, such as in public parks. The private school system was predominantly, although not totally, white. Elite schools practised racial discrimination but it was hardly necessary because few blacks could afford the high tuition costs and other expenses", writes Casal.

Race discrimination was also evident in occupational distribution, with blacks occupying the overwhelming majority of lower-paid and less skilled jobs in the economy. The republic's immigration policy encouraged white workers from Spain and promoted an assimilationalist policy. The government even went to the extent of introducing a process of reclassification of many mulattos as white, effectively trying to erase Cuba's black history.

Revolutionary period
The victory of the revolution provided the opportunity for a fundamental change in the way in which blacks were treated and the way in which black history and culture was viewed within Cuban society. Casal writes: "The egalitarian and redistributive measures (such as land reform) enacted by the revolutionary government have benefited blacks as the most oppressed sector of the society in the pre-revolutionary social system."

As early as March 1959, Fidel Castro spoke of the need to begin the struggle against racial prejudice. In a speech on March 21, 1959, Castro said: "In all fairness, I must say that it is not only the aristocracy who practise discrimination. There are very humble people who also discriminate. There are workers who hold the same prejudices as any wealthy person, and this is what is most absurd and sad ... and should compel people to meditate on the problem. Why do we not tackle this problem radically and with love, not in a spirit of division and hate? Why not educate and destroy the prejudice of centuries, the prejudice handed down to us from such an odious institution as slavery?"

Castro also acknowledged that the "blood of Africa runs deep in our veins. People's mentality is not yet revolutionary enough. People's mentality is still conditioned by many prejudices and beliefs from the past ... One of the battles which we must prioritise more and more every day ... is the battle to end racial discrimination at the work place ... There are two types of racial discrimination: one is the discrimination on the recreation centres or cultural centres; the other, which is the worst and the first one which we must fight, is racial discrimination in the job."

These remarks led to the Proclamation Against Racism: "We shouldn't have to pass a law to establish a right that should belong to every human being and member of society ... Nobody can consider themselves to be of pure race, much less a superior race. Virtue, personal merit, heroism, generosity, should be the measure of men, not skin colour." Castro then denounced racial discrimination and racial prejudice as "anti-nation". "What the eternal enemies of Cuba and the enemies of this revolution want is for us to be divided into a thousand pieces, thereby to be able to destroy us."

It was clear from the start of the revolution that the new government would look at the race issue more from a class perspective than on purely racial grounds. From the start the revolution introduced various affirmative action programs that helped the most disadvantaged sectors of the population, including women and Afro-Cubans.

The revolution has always prioritised socio-economic changes: they abolished the private heath care and education system which economically discriminated against blacks. The government's introduction of free health care and education has particularly benefited the black population of Cuba, who made up the bulk of the working class.

Castro said in March 1959: "There is discrimination at recreation centres. Why? Because blacks and whites are educated apart. At the public grade school, blacks and whites are together. At the public grade school, blacks and whites learn to live together, like brothers. And if they are together at the public school, they are later together at the recreation centres and at all places." The right wing responded with slogans like "neither black nor red".

On the eve of the revolution, roughly 15 per cent of Cuban primary school children and 30 per cent of high school students attended private schools, which were primarily white. The underfunded and poorly-staffed public education sector further enforced the so called "colour-class system". The segregation of the elite also made it difficult for the development of social networks across racial lines. Castro's comments were a very direct attempt to overcome those problems. Che Guevara also raised the issue in a speech to university students in 1960, stating that the "university must be painted black, worker, campesino".

The situation today
On a political and cultural level the revolution has opened many doors for greater Afro-Cuban involvement and recognition. In April 1976, Castro became the first white Cuban head of state to recognise the mulatto character of Cuban culture and nationhood stating in a speech: "We are a Latin-African people."

Casal writes that: "Cuban culture, which has slowly been evolving during several centuries, is undoubtedly Afro-Hispanic. In spite of the efforts of the white-dominant class, in spite of their resistance, black cultural elements are integrated into Cuban music, Cuban popular lore, Cuban art, poetry, in such fashion that, without their component of black heritage , they would not be what they are, they would not be Cuban. And this must not be seen as a result of an assimilationist option, but rather as a consequence of true mestizaje."

Greater recognition was given to the Afro-Cuban culture with the 1991 decision to allow religious believers into the Cuban Communist Party. This change particularly affected Afro-Cubans and further opened the door to political participation through being allowed to be nominated for party membership.

Housing
Prior to 1959, blacks tended to be concentrated in the most dilapidated areas of Havana. However the revolution immediately reduced rents by 50 per cent and eventually ownership was granted to tenants. Thus, more blacks now own their houses in Cuba than any other country in the world.

One indicator of the level of people's consciousness on racial issues is that of inter-racial unions. Thirty-nine years of revolution has produced structural changes that have placed young people in daily contact with others of all races, but housing patterns and family ties continue to shape the kinds of inter-racial relationships they form.

Nadine Fernndez, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of California, spent two years in Cuba in 1992-93, gathering information on the issue, which culminated in an article titled "The Color Of Love: Young Inter-racial Couples in Cuba". Though Fernndez admits that prejudices still exist she makes it clear that since the revolution's victory there has been a steady increase in the numbers of inter-racial unions. There are many reasons for this, primarily the increased social mobility that blacks have enjoyed since 1959.

"Parents and grandparents built their lives and families around the revolution, integrating to a greater or lesser extent the revolution's struggle for racial, class and sexual equality. Often parents and grandparents find themselves holding contradictory views on these issues - caught between a legacy of discrimination and revolutionary ideas of equality", writes Fernndez.

Her study found that there was a level of prejudice among the older generation when it came to inter-racial unions, particularly white women with black men. However the number of inter-racial marriages varies geographically. In the Carraguao section of Havana a survey found that 32 per cent of the marriages were inter-racial, while nationwide the proportion is only 14 per cent according to the 1981 census.

The structural changes that the revolution has undertaken in the social and economic sectors have fundamentally changed the social and economic inequalities that had plagued Cuban society during centuries of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

Since 1959, the revolution has opened the door to an ever increasing level of racial integration in all spheres of social and economic life. However, racial prejudice has not disappeared in Cuban society. It is still around particularly in a section of the older generation, but such views that do not receive much attention. The Cuban revolution clearly provides the example that racism can only be fought and undermined through a fundamental change in the social, economic and political structures of a society along socialist lines.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miami Herald
Sun, Sep. 21, 2003

THE REVOLUTION AND RACISM

Despite claims of equality for all, inequities persist, many Cubans say

BY DAKARAI AARONS
Posted on Sun, Sep. 21, 2003

In a section of Habana Vieja, a 20-something man sits at the base of the Catedral de La Habana dressed in red and black. A black knitted hat with ``Canada emblazoned on it covers his fuzzy cornrows. Alan dresses his best to look the part of a tourist. But it doesn't fool the armed policemen who routinely pass by to make sure he isn't talking to tourists.

In the warm January sun, Alan, who asked that his last name not be used, laughs with his friends, who, like him, sit outside the cathedral every day after work, looking for tourists with whom they can practice their English.

When the conversation turns to race, however, the black electrical technician stops laughing.

``We are not free, he says. ``Listen to me when I tell you that.

When President Fidel Castro's revolutionary regime took over in 1959, the government changed laws to curb Jim Crow-style practices that had kept Cuban black and mixed populations on the fringes of society. Several Cuban officials and citizens say that, as a result, racism in Cuba is an issue of a distant past.

``We don't have problems with racism, said Pedro Alvarez, chairman and CEO of Alimport, Cuba's importing arm.

But others tell a different story. To them, racism is alive and well in Cuba. They say being black in Cuban society means being singled out for mistreatment because they are perceived to cause many of the country's problems.

''We have practically apartheid in this country sometimes,'' said Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, director of the Communist Party-owned Juventud Rebelde newspaper.

Nevertheless, Cuba has what many consider one of the most integrated societies in the world. Interracial marriages are common and not the contentious issue they often are in the United States. Indeed, mixed couples mingle freely everywhere in Cuba, on the streets, on the beaches and in parks.

Still, many Cuban citizens are reluctant to discuss the matter. And some government officials also don't want to address it, or they become uncomfortable when pressed.

Said Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, Cuba's parliament: ``Unfortunately, these things [disparities in the treatment of blacks and whites] are very common in Cuba.

It is a situation exacerbated, he said, by the introduction of capitalism into Cuba's socialist society by the country's burgeoning tourism industry.

Polanco Fuentes, Juventud Rebelde's director, said racism is deeply rooted in Cuba's history and will not disappear overnight.

``It is not something you can solve by decree, he said.

While the constitution guarantees Cubans the right to stay in any hotel and be served at any public establishment, several black Cubans said that right exists only on paper. The reality, they say, is that black Cubans won't be served. (Cubans in general say they are barred from places frequented by tourists, regardless of race.)

``As a policy, we blacks never go to hotels, said Juan, a tourism employee who asked that his real name not be used.

Alan said even dollars don't guarantee service.

``[Hotel security doesn't] let you take your break in the hotel, he said. ``If you don't have foreign friends, you can't sit down and be waited on.

The discrimination goes beyond the hotels into the streets, where black Cubans say they are constantly asked to show their national identification cards and are generally harassed hy police.

Cops do stop white Cubans as well, Alan said, but less frequently than they stop black Cubans.

Cuban officials say such racial profiling is not the norm.

``Black people are not being detained on the streets of Havana or any other city just for being black, said Roberto de Armas, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ``If there is someone being detained by police, it is for a reason. It's not because of a policy.

Meanwhile, Alan would love to get a job in the tourism industry, but for now is relegated to his low-paying job as an electrical technician. The problem he said, is not his qualifications -- he is university educated -- but his skin color.

``The best jobs are all in tourist areas: hotels, restaurants, anywhere that uses dollar, he said.

``All the good jobs in Cuba go to white people.''

According to Alarcón, the U.S. government's embargo on Cuba has serious implications for socioeconomic equity among races.

``For example, Cuban blacks are not in Miami -- that means that those who send remittances to Cubans are white Cuban Americans.

Remittances are received by 30 percent to 40 percent of whites, compared with 5 percent to 10 percent of blacks, according to an article by Cuban independent journalist Claudia Márquez Linares.

The same article states that, according to Cuba's Center for Anthropology, 80 percent of those in the tourism industry are white and 5 percent are black.

Those statistics are indicative of the racial division that exists, said Omar Lopez Montenegro of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation.

He said things were better for Cuban blacks under the leadership of President Fulgencio Batista because they had the opportunity to move up in society.

But according to Cuba historian Christopher Baker, there were places even Batista was not allowed, simply because he was mulatto.

The Havana Yacht Club, for example, turned out the lights when Batista approached -- to let the Cuban president know he was not welcome, Baker said. However, Lopez said, there is a difference between Batista not being able to enter an exclusive club and Cuban blacks today not being able to go to hotels.

``Even all the people who were white weren't allowed in, he said.

``It has gone from blacks being unable to go to exclusive clubs to not being able to enter any hotel in Cuba. Things are worse.

Liana · Guru Joined: 30 Nov 2004 {Posts: 352 }

Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies

 2001 All Rights Reserved, University of Miami

SOCIAL CLUBS (centros). Social clubs were cooperatively organized for mutual aid and social purposes in Cuba throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The earliest were mainly quintas: associations of persons from provinces and regions of Spain, particularly Galicia, Asturias and Andalucia, formed originally by wealthy Spaniards to help their compatriots when first arriving. Members, who paid regular dues, ranged in numbers from 10,000 and 90,000. The largest clubs also maintained chools, houses for the aged, mausolea, as well as excellent hospitals and clínicas. Most members were chiefly interested in their entitlement to free ealth care and providing this came eventually to be the clubs' chief urpose. Following independence, several purely Cuban social clubs were founded, such as the very exclusive Havana Yacht Club, Miramar Yacht lub and Vedado Tennis Club. After the Revolution of 1959 all these clubs were taken over by government; membership is now determined by ffiliation to particular trade unions or branches of the armed forces.

Liana · Guru Joined: 30 Nov 2004 {Posts: 352 }

This is a resposne from a very highly educated Cuban friend - a somewhat older lady - not really old but older than I am.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi ...very busy these days...as I am SERIOUSLY considering transfering/moving to South Florida.

Now..about your question.

The private clubs in Cuba were indeed a part of the times..wrong or wrong :-0)
Many people of European Spanish extractions were also not "invited" to join...because they were not part of the "right" society..business..and yes, even the "right" decendency from certain parts of Spain.

Because of the times, indeed..it cannot be denied..that Cubans of African extraction were not invited to join the membership..BUT...it is most interesting...if a Cuban of African extraction had attained a certain political/economic status..indeed they were "allowed" to be "guests" of the members.

This is what happened with Fulgencio Batista..he was not offered a membership to the most exclusive clubs (about 3 in La Habana)..but he was always welcomed as a guest because of his position...as the President..and a most important man behind the scenes after 1944.
This does not EXCUSE for one moment the selective membership in private clubs..but it ended up being more about political position of some..than even class..class being THE most significant qualifier..as in most part of the Caribbean & the rest of Latin America.

I am from the Oriente..and up to the 1950s..there was this "separate but equal" clubs..yet, it was not written in stone...there was a more liberal exchange between the two than most people would tend to believe. My own family (of European extraction) felt confortable in going back and forth. It is not so easy to explain..it is a society circumstace/uniqueness yet to be fully to be understood.

I am still trying to understand it myself.

What I know is that my family had no problem with having teachers of color teach me & my brothers..they had no problems with the fact that some of our friends were of color..no problem with the fact that one of our pediatric doctors was of color...

It was a most unique complex inter-relationship..

But there was an existing Constitution that protected minorities in the public service arena..even if some parts of society adhered to draconian concepts. There was in the books the LAW that protected the minority...
I grew up with Cubans of every shade..both in my neighborhood..and school.

The segregation de facto occured in the highest echelons of the society..the rest of us..part of the middle class..and lower classes...lived and worked hand in hand with Cubans of every shade..It was the norm to all of us...until we came to this country in the early 1960s & for the first time confronted legalized segregation..it was a shock to someone like my mother..and an epiphany to me..throwing me into the civil rights movement.

One thing is to accept/understand the inherent prejudices of any given people..any people..and another is to confront the systematic descrimination defined/justified/set up by the law of the land.

Sorry..kind of typed fast. Let me know if I failed to answer your original question adequately.