By Mario Ramirez.
FrontPageMagazine.com | March
9, 2001.
IN THE LAST WEEK, several journalists around the country have criticized
college newspapers for refusing, on ideological grounds, to publish David
Horowitz’s anti-reparations advertisement.. But campus censorship is
nothing new. Leftwing groups wield tremendous influence on campus. They use any
and all means to silence their opponents, including violence and intimidation,
while administrators turn the other way.
I experienced this sort of persecution firsthand at Hunter College in
Manhattan last year. On March 25, 2000, members of the Cuban American community
of the New York / New Jersey metropolitan area, along with friends and
supporters of democracy on the island, responded to a plethora of announcements
calling for a major symposium to be held on the case of Elian Gonzalez at Hunter
College.
A delegation representing the Cuban American community came to the symposium
in hope of asking Bronx Congressman Jose Serrano questions about displaced
families and human rights abuses on the island. Some people even came from as
far as Miami Florida to question Serrano about his role on Cuban issues.
What happened to us at the event was event
was
documented in the Wall Street Journal, as well as in this present
report.
The symposium was aggressively advertised and promoted on progressive and
commercial radio stations, as well as Caribbean and Spanish-speaking media
outlets. Thirty-second sound bites replete with Cuban music and
communist-inspired rhetoric were even produced by the left-leaning public radio
station 99.5 WBAI FM in New York City.
In addition to being exhaustively promoted over the local airwaves, word of
the event was also circulated via a barrage of e-mails and through the Internet
sites belonging to Pastors for Peace and the International Action Center.
Last but not least, I even received a personally addressed post card, as
many probably had, inviting all to come down to the symposium. To be cautious
and gather more information about who would or wouldn't be admitted to this
event, I called the telephone numbers of Pastors for Peace, International Action
Center, and Hunter College SLAM/USG. It was communicated in three instances to
me that the coming symposium was free, open to the entire public, and that no
tickets or reservations would be needed. As a matter of fact, the three
institutions wanted this to be a free and public event because they wished to "educate"
the public on how the United States government and Cuban Americans in general
were using Elian as a "political toy." The representative from Hunter
College even stated to me that seating for the event would be on a first come,
first served basis.
After the Cuban American community gathered downstairs, they proceeded to
ascend to the sixth floor by elevator and escalators until all were nearly
present at the entrance of the event. The organizers had provided airport-style
metal detectors at the entrance, as well as a contingent of City University of
New York uniformed security personnel to keep order. Some members of Pastors for
Peace acted as informal guards, and could be seen wearing armbands or patches
stamped with an "S" for security.They also assumed a military stance
when interacting with anyone they perceived to be a threat.
At this time, the Cuban American community proceeded in a very non-hostile
manner to walk towards the entrance to the symposium when a number of the event
organizers very loudly and demonstratively tried to block their access.
At this instant, event representatives at the entrance venomously shouted to
the Cuban Americans that they would not be welcome inside the event, and that
they should immediately leave the premises. The tone and energy of the Pastors
for Peace and International Action Center personnel was one of anger, violence,
and hatred.
The event organizers enlisted the help of various thug-like individuals who
marched up and down the entrance in military fashion, staring down and
prohibiting any
Cuban Americans from getting inside. This was done while CUNY security
personnel seemed to take orders from the event organizers. These intimidation
techniques were carried out throughout the whole time the Cuban Americans
inhabited the space. Most notable among the thugs who assisted in restricting
access was a short man with a beard and red beret, and a very tough-looking
woman clad in a leather motorcycle jacket. At one point, these two were seen
conferring with the Reverend Lucius Walker, leader of Pastors for Peace, as they
whispered and pointed into the area where the Cuban Americans were located.
Reverend Lucius Walker instead of approaching the Cuban American community
with Christian stewardship, understanding, reconciliation, and love, failed to
live up the New Testament motto his organization supposedly exemplifies, which
is: "Let us not love in word: but in deed and in truth." Instead
Reverend Walker fell into the same paranoid schizophrenia which was so apparent
in the behavior of the "shock troops" monitoring the Cuban Americans.
After some time passed, a litany of excuses were created to keep the Cuban
Americans from gaining access into the symposium.
The first act of diversion was that Pastors for Peace and IAC made CUNY
security personnel segregate all the Cuban Americans into a seating area
opposite the entrance to the symposium. CUNY security gave the Cuban American
community the false impression that they were being held there temporarily and
would eventually be given tickets for the event.
The second act of diversion and intimidation occurred when representatives
from Pastors for Peace, and International Action Center shouted in a very
fascistic manner that those Cuban American individuals possessing cameras or
taking pictures would not be allowed into the event. The Pastors then approached
the CUNY security personnel and made them enforce their anti-democratic
prohibition of cameras for Cuban Americans.
Naively, the Cuban Americans believed that if they agreed not to take
photographs, the Pastors would let them into the event. The Pastors and IAC
representatives also shouted that all cameras would have to be taken out of the
building, and that failure to do so would also hinder any Cuban Americans from
entering the symposium. Thinking that they would be let into the event, the
Cuban Americans gave all cameras to one of their peers and all photographic
equipment was taken out of the building.
In the meaning time the Pastors stepped up their campaign of repression and
refused to practice the no-camera rule for themselves. This was the third act of
diversion and intimidation on the part of the symposium organizers.
Several members of the Pastors/IAC camp were then seen surrounding the Cuban
American holding area as they frantically snapped off a barrage of photos and
flashes into the crowd. This action was clearly done to intimidate and strike
fear into the Cuban American community - who had probably only seen such
underhanded techniques being used by Fidel Castro's infamous state security
apparatus back on the island. I even had my picture sneakily taken by a woman
who quickly vanished into the back with Lucius Walker and the event organizers.
It must be noted that of the people the Pastors selected to be on the line
and eventually enter the space, a great majority of them had cameras.
The fourth act of intimidation and reprisal occurred when the event
organizers got a Hunter College official to state that the symposium was a
closed event only open for the Pastors for Peace, International Action Center
and the Hunter College student body. These statements were truly fabrications on
the part of Pastors because, as previously stated, the event was aggressively
advertised on radio, television, newspaper, Internet, e-mails, and through
flyers and post cards sent in the mail. It also must be noted that none of these
advertisements ever said anything about the event being exclusively for the
Pastors, or Hunter student body.
A member of the West Indian community who spoke to some Cuban Americans even
said he was there because he saw the event advertised in a local Caribbean
newspaper and was curious. Eventually the West Indian gentleman was refused
entrance to the symposium because the organizers spied him speaking to members
of the Cuban Americans being held up in the Pastors makeshift "concentration"
area.
According to the West Indian gentleman, he did get on the line, and when he
asked one of the organizers if he needed a ticket, the organizer said no. The
organizer went on to say that the tickets were only used as an excuse to keep
the Cuban Americans off the line. At that instant, a woman in back of the West
Indian gentleman grabbed the event organizer and told her that the gentleman was
also one of them because he was seen talking to the Cuban Americans. At this
point, the West Indian gentleman was told to leave the line.
The Hunter College official then stated that the event was similar to a
school dance, conference or convocation that was organized by and for the
students but not open to the public. This also was another lie because, by that
time, a great number of people who obviously weren't Hunter College students
were already seen arriving and getting on a line into the event.
At this moment, the Cuban American community experienced the fifth act of
intimidation when the Hunter College officials and event organizers yelled that
only those with tickets would be allowed into the symposium. This took the Cuban
Americans and the author by surprise, because nothing was ever said about
needing tickets to be admitted into the symposium. This was another lie on the
part of Hunter College and the event
organizers, just like the fabrication that the symposium was a "closed"
event. It was very clear that, prior to Saturday, the symposium was advertised
by the New York City media in a very vocal manner. The impression that one got
from the advertisements was that the event organizers were very eager to have
all of New York down at Hunter College that Saturday afternoon.
At this moment, the event organizers were seen frantically running towards
the line, and, with a roll of tickets in hand, giving receipts to those
individuals they deemed acceptable to enter. Meanwhile the Cuban Americans where
still confined to the small holding area, and it was very hard for them to leave
and get tickets. By now, the organizers knew who was in the concentrated holding
area, thus canceling any chances for the Cuban Americans to get any tickets. The
event organizers did not even accept the post card that I received in the mail,
advertising the symposium.
One current Hunter College student who also happens to be Cuban American did
manage to get a ticket after she spoke to her friends, but when she was
discovered to be associating with the Cuban American community, she was promptly
taken off the line and denied access.
Among the Cuban Americans where also three persons who counted as Hunter
College alumni. When the three alumni demanded to be let in, the event
organizers also barred them from entering only because they happened to be Cuban
Americans.
The same thing happened to a student from New York University who was
covering the event for her school newspaper. When the organizers saw her
interviewing some Cuban Americans, she too was barred from entering the event.
Even journalists from the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets with
serious credentials and valid press passes were not allowed to enter because
they were previously seen speaking to Cuban Americans.
The only "journalist" who did get into the space was Mellisa
Everito of the leftist WBAI 99.5 FM (New York City) of the Pacifica Radio
Network. Ms. Everito's report, which aired on WBAI's "Cuba in Focus"
radio show, only gave a one-sided view which sounded more like a piece from the
Cuban daily propaganda organ, Granma International. In Ms. Everito's report, it
was fabricated that the majority of Cuban Americans want to send the child Elian
back, and that the symposium was held to understand "suffering and damages
on the Cuban people by the United States government".
By this time, the line of ticket holders got larger and the Cuban Americans
became more certain that they would never be let in. To protest the massive
amounts of intimidation set on them, the Cuban Americans began to hold up
posters of people back in Cuba who the dictatorship of Fidel Castro had jailed,
abused, or not let out of the country. At this sign of protest, the Castro
sympathizers on the line began to hurl the most violent and derogatory epithets
at the protesting Cuban Americans.
Cries of "CIA", "GUSANOS", "MAFIA", "NAZIS",
"DRUG DEALERS", "BATISTA", and "VIVA FIDEL" could
be heard coming from the line. An intense atmosphere of hatred and violence
emanated from the red-faced ticket holders as they insulted the protesting Cuban
Americans.
The Cuban American community was concentrated in the holding area for about
an hour. The Pastors then slyly concocted a plan whereby they would allow only
two members of the Cuban American community to come in and question Congressman
Jose Serrano, with the provision that the rest of the Cuban Americans vacate the
entire building. Fearing they would not be able to speak to Serrano at all, the
Cuban Americans had no choice but to succumb to the unfair commands of the
Pastors for Peace organizers.
As the two Cuban American representatives were rudely escorted into the
lecture hall, the remaining members of the pro-democracy community were told to
leave by both CUNY security personnel, and event organizers. Once inside the
event, the two lone Cuban Americans were continously abused and also ignored
when Q&A time came. One of the Cuban Americans (a woman) recieved several
death threats from the Pastors’ supporters. When the Cubans Americans
descended via the escalator, shouted insults and "VIVA FIDEL" could be
heard from the people waiting on line to the symposium.
Immediately after the Cuban American community left the sixth floor, CUNY
security personnel quickly closed all access to the sixth floor, thus preventing
anyone from coming back upstairs.
In closing, and due to the events of that day, it can be said that Pastors
for Peace, International Action Center, Hunter College SLAM/USG, as well as CUNY
security personnel, didn't uphold the sacred democratic principles of free
speech which we all hold so dear. Instead, the symposium's organizers reverted
to the very same practices that have made Fidel Castro's Cuba the last, longest
running, and most autocratic of dictatorships in our hemisphere.
The Princeton Review "The Best 331 Colleges" Year 2000 edition
says this of Hunter College:
"A solid reputation...Hunter's student body is among the nation's most
diverse... 'People are very friendly,' (one student says)...'Students are also
acutely aware of social, political, and cultural situations in general,' another
student adds."
We are not so sure.
Mario Ramirez is the son of Cuban emigrés. He lives and works in
New York City as an interior designer, and uses the Internet to fight for human
rights, Cuban democracy and western culture. Among other websites, he created
the Castro Fan Club. E-mail him at mao66@worldnet.att.net. | 