Fidel’s Tokenism

In recent years the Cuban government has made a concerted effort to convince white and especially black activists in the United States that Cuba under Fidel Castro represents a model of racial equality. This campaign has centered on encouragement and support for Stokely Carmichael, Rap Brown, the Black Panthers; it has reportedly given haven to Eldridge Cleaver; it has included such acts as the extremely warm reception given Stokely Carmichael at the 1967 conference of the Latin American Solidarity Organization in Havana, and by the dedication of Cuban Olympic victories to both the black power athletes who were expelled from the Olympic Games and to the black people of the United States in general. This undertaking has proved very successful among black militants and other U.S. left-wing activists.

The validity of this assertion can be examined on two levels. First, do nonwhites in Cuba hold positions of leadership in numbers even roughly corresponding to their percentage of the total population? Second, is the average nonwhite treated any differently from the average white by his government in his day-to-day life? The first of these two questions will be emphasized here since true equality for non-whites in Cuba (and in the United States) will not come ultimately from “equal” but paternalistic treatment at the hands of the whites, but only through significant and responsible participation by non-whites in the decision-making and governing process.

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Lewis Stearns

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In recent years the Cuban government has made a concerted effort to convince white and especially black activists in the United States that Cuba under Fidel Castro represents a model of racial equality. This campaign has centered on encouragement and support for Stokely Carmichael, Rap Brown, the Black Panthers; it has reportedly given haven to Eldridge Cleaver; it has included such acts as the extremely warm reception given Stokely Carmichael at the 1967 conference of the Latin American Solidarity Organization in Havana, and by the dedication of Cuban Olympic victories to both the black power athletes who were expelled from the Olympic Games and to the black people of the United States in general. This undertaking has proved very successful among black militants and other U.S. left-wing activists.

The validity of this assertion can be examined on two levels. First, do nonwhites in Cuba hold positions of leadership in numbers even roughly corresponding to their percentage of the total population? Second, is the average nonwhite treated any differently from the average white by his government in his day-to-day life? The first of these two questions will be emphasized here since true equality for non-whites in Cuba (and in the United States) will not come ultimately from “equal” but paternalistic treatment at the hands of the whites, but only through significant and responsible participation by non-whites in the decision-making and governing process.