Max J. Castro. Published Thursday, June 8, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Race is the nasty little Cuban secret. I don't mean racism directed at Cubans; I mean our very own race problem.
Yes, there is no doubt that Cubans have faced and continue to face prejudice for the mere fact of being Cuban and all that entails. I know it from personal ex- perience.
Because to some people I ``don't look Cuban,'' I have en- dured num- erous occasions when strangers unwittingly say the most offensively absurdly prejudiced things about Cubans. But that kind of racism is no secret; it's a form of aggression, expressed sometimes with special virulence, and many
have endured it.
To some extent, it is a common experience of all Latino groups in a society dominated by a cultural and linguistic tradition that sociologist Milton Gordon aptly named Anglo-conformity. A group such as the Cubans, who seem to reap success while defying the rules of Anglo-conformity and sometimes
take pride across the line into arrogance, come in for a particular brand of resentment. And it comes from a wider variety of quarters, than other groups.
If prejudice directed at Cubans is a fact, it's also important to acknowledge that we Cuban Americans benefited and continue to benefit from unique opportunities and privileges, such as the Cuban Adjustment Act. Moreover, we never faced anything remotely like the kind of extreme, enduring,
systematic discrimination suffered by African Americans, Native Americans and, to some extent, other Latino groups. Most important, if we are going to have any moral standing when we denounce prejudice directed at us, we must stop denying racism in our own ranks and start confronting our sharp
racial divide.
That last point, the existence of a racial chasm within the Cuban community, was brought home this week by a lengthy article on race relations in Miami by New York Times reporter Mirta Ojito (Best of Friends, Worlds Apart). It detailed how two best friends, one black, one white, both of whom
reached the United States from Cuba by raft in 1994, have drifted apart as a result of the racial climate into which they have been thrust in Miami. While the personal friendship of Achmed Valdés and Joel Ruiz so far has endured the strains, they see each other rarely and have widely
different views on race and politics. One wonders whether the friendship will survive as they continue to live separate, disconnected lives.
A LIFE OF LIMITS
For, while Cuba has never been and is not now a paradise of racial equality, when Valdés and Ruiz lived there, people more or less got along together, and the pair experienced a close friendship and connected lives. Here, Valdés, the white Cuban, feels at home and happy living in
what for him is a kind of new, improved Cuba. Ruiz, the black Cuban, believes he has been the object of racial prejudice by white Cubans and the police. He lives a life of limits, even avoiding Cuban restaurants. ``In Cuba, I walked as if I owned the streets,'' he told The New York Times. ``Here I
have to figure out where, what, when, everything.''
What happened in Miami? Put simply, Valdés became another (white) Miami Cuban, a relatively privileged identity here. Ruiz became another young black man, and he faces the slings and arrows characteristic of that condition in this country and this city. Having met less than a warm embrace
from white Cubans, Ruiz has gravitated toward African Americans, but there, he sometimes faces rejection because he is Cuban.
There are lessons in this sad story for every racial and ethnic group in this city:
The fight against bigotry should begin at home. If there is a heightened sensitivity to issues of prejudice in light of recent events, let's use it to face the issue squarely, beginning by putting our own house in order.
Let's drop the denial and confront not only the chasm separating Cubans from African Americans, but that between Cubans of different races.
Let's stop licking our wounds and look to heal those we might have inflicted on our own brothers and sisters.
maxcastro@miami.edu
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