CUBANET ... CUBANEWS

April 24, 2001



Exiles can help us all to heal

Max J. Castro. Published Tuesday, April 24, 2001 in the Miami Herald.

It has been 12 months since the frenzy and debate over Elián González culminated in a lightning raid and an orgy of anguish and anger. What has happened to our divided community since that fateful April 22, 2000?

Media coverage of the anniversary has described the enduring pain and sorrow of those in the Cuban community who believed Elián should have stayed in Miami. But what about that other legacy of the Elián saga, the antagonism that many black and white Americans expressed against Cubans? To be sure, prejudice was one factor in the negative reaction against Cubans, and there were some disgusting racist manifestations of just that fact. But you have to be in denial to blame prejudice for the breadth and depth of the disapproval felt by most non-Cubans as well as some Cubans for the means and the ends involved in the battle over Elián.

There is racism in America at the dawn of the 21st Century but nothing this massive, especially against Cubans, among the palest and most middle-class of immigrants, a group traditionally welcomed in this country. So what is it? Powerful Cuban-American organizations, politicians and exile leaders -- even religious personalities -- encouraged and induced the community to rally madly behind a cause that only they in the whole world thought right and that could only result in a debacle. In pursuit of this cause, some individuals used or threatened to use offensive or obnoxious tactics. Those Cuban Americans who disagreed mostly stood by silently. The first casualty of all this was the good image of Cuban Americans in this city and this nation.

In order to change that, it would be useful if those who led the community into so much hurt and damage acknowledged their responsibility. It would be good to hear a recantation from those who fed the hysteria by predicting that Elián would be killed upon his return to Cuba, paraded on Castro's shoulders or reprogrammed.

Exiles' image was the first Elián casualty.

It would be ideal if they recognized that Castro and the Cuban press have paid Elián only a modest amount of attention (vastly less than American politicians and the media circus during the child's Miami sojourn) considering that for months the case was the focus of the world. It would be great if someone would say that the nightmare scenarios over which this city was turned upside down failed to materialize, and Elián seems to be living as normal a life as possible.

But it's hard for an individual or an organization to accept responsibility for mistakes that lead to defeat and disaster. Yet is it not a tacit concession for Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), to change the group's tune and become an advocate for the Latin Grammys despite the possible presence of Cuban performers? In the Elián affair and beyond, the hardest knock against Cuban-exile activists has been that they oppose free cultural expression and care more about their ideological agenda than the welfare of the entire community. By endorsing the Grammys, at once an economic bonanza for Miami and a cultural event, Mas Santos made the kind of move that could reverse negative views of Cuban Americans.

But bold actions have to be sustained. What more can be done? Here is a short, partial, list:

There should be a groundswell of Cuban-American protest whenever an ideological veto is exercised, as the city of Miami recently threatened against a soccer tournament that might include a Cuban team.

The embargo -- cruel against the Cuban people, ineffective versus their government, damaging to U.S. interests, unpopular with the American people -- should be abolished through the initiative of Cuban Americans.

Why not start a campaign to fund a monument to the U.S. Coast Guard, which has rescued so many Cubans from a certain death?

maxcastro@miami.edu

Copyright 2001 Miami Herald

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