We knew that we wouldn't learn all that we needed to. The race relations of any multiracial society are far too complex for full understanding by a visitor, and we would inevitably be viewing black-white relations there through North American conceptions. Still, what quickly became clear to us in Havana and in the interior is that what we read about race relations in Cuba is often incomplete, inexact or untrue.
Take the term "Afro-Cuban", commonly used for black Cubans by US writers. We found that Cubans never use the term for people. They use it only for aspects of their culture that have been influenced by their African heritage.
Take the estimates of the percentage of Cubans who are black. That figure varies from 10% to over 50%. The Cubans we talked with could offer no certain estimate. The question is: who in Cuba should be called black?
In Cuba there is a very broad racial spectrum, with those called negro, mulatto, mestizo, jabao and indio all having some degree of African ancestry. Group them together and you may well have a majority of the population. Indeed, even many Cuban blancos are not "totally white". There's a saying in Cuba: "Whoever doesn't have a little bit of Congo has a little bit of Calabar" — two of the many parts of Africa that Cuba's slaves knew as home centuries ago.
What we heard
Jan Calloway, an African American women from Chicago who has lived and worked in Cuba for eight years, told us of her frustration at being called "mulatto": "I considered myself black. As a teenager during the whole Panther struggle, I really went through a very sharp consciousness-raising about the issue of race."
Placido Sanchez Vegas, a Cuban marine engineer, would matter-of-factly call Jan Calloway black. "It's true", he remarked, "that we have a lot of mixtures. I can say that I am mulatto, that I am mestizo ... but me, I consider myself black and I relate myself as black in my culture." He noted that it's quite common for people of mixed colour to consider themselves of African descent and call themselves black.
His wife, Michelle Frank, is a white North American who became a physician in Cuba. For her, Cuban families "are really rainbow families. It is not impossible to go from very light to very dark skin, with all the differences of hair and eye colour, in one family among brothers and sisters." She added, "There are Cubans of all colours who do not identify themselves in terms of race, and then there are some who do, but among all of these, being Cuban is the primary thing."
But in this land of various degrees of African ancestry, is there white racism? Cubans we spoke with were confident that they enjoyed racial equality and justice. But they frequently acknowledged that prejudice — personal attitudes of racial antipathy held by some whites — remained as a stubborn vestige of Cuba's centuries of slavery and pre-revolutionary segregation and discrimination.
Nelio Contreras Areu, a well-educated black journalist, encountered such prejudice when he married a white woman. "When her parents realised that I was her fiance, they said to her: take your choice, it's either Nelio or us." Only one of her family came to the wedding.
The prejudiced person in Cuba often hides behind excuses and special pleas. Carmen Gonzales, an author who is black, explained that such people "know they would very harshly criticised if they behaved badly, if they discriminated against black people; this doesn't prevent them from thinking whatever they want. They would never say, 'I don't want my daughter to marry that black man'. They would find some individual defect." Nancy Morejon of the national cultural centre, Casa de las Americas, concurred: "We have no discrimination, but prejudice is a feature of our society, because you have it in your mind and it is private property".
Michelle Frank maintained, however, that "Somebody white can think what they like and nobody gives a damn, because there really is no power to back it up. You'll have ideas that derive from prejudice still floating around, and you'll still hear people of both races talk about 'bad hair' when referring to black people."
We asked about Cuban concepts of beauty and style. Dr Frank thought the "bad hair" concept to be a derivation of prejudice. "Yet, you can find a person who is a leader, a top-ranking scientist with an incredibly high standing in society, very much involved in Afro-Cuban culture and very proud to be black, who straightens her hair. It's a contradiction of the society."
White concepts of beauty, she added, are still widespread among people of all colours. Still, she noted, "Young people are taking on fashions that show a certain pride. You see more and more people wearing braids and proudly dressing and being what they are."
Had the Sanchez-Frank couple experienced any problems for being interracial? "No", we were told, "we haven't and we are not uncommon at all. The biggest problem we're confronting as parents is that we want our daughter to become conscious of her Afro-Cuban heritage. We have heard comments: 'Oh, how beautiful she is, she looks so white'. We're preparing ourselves for when she goes to school and confronts things that will shape her identity. We don't want her to lose the tremendous advantage of having a rich African cultural heritage."
Visiting the University of Havana, we asked students about discrimination and prejudice. One young woman reckoned that half the student population were black or mestizo. We chatted with a group of law students, all black or mestizo, and they reaffirmed that "Prejudice has been eliminated ... I've never had any problems, nor have my friends. There is much interracial dating ... No whites have ever been negative toward me ... We were born after the revolution and have never experienced segregation ... My father was mestizo. My grandfather was white and my grandmother was black. My father was a member of the party. He was also Santeria [an Afro-Cuban religion].
We also noticed that Cubans who were less than enthusiastic about the government — and these people did not hesitate to express criticisms — were as complimentary about race relations as those most comfortable with Castro, the government and the Communist Party. Latin American visitors we met had basically the same observations, comparing Cuba favourably to countries such as Brazil.
What we saw
We chose to go to Cuba as part of a study seminar on public health. At hospitals, polyclinics, a biomedical research institute, a psychiatric centre, a day care centre and the clinics of the family doctor program, what was invariably evident was that black, mestizo and white Cubans equally shared a level of health care that was far superior to that available to the majority of African Americans. All care was totally cost-free and fully available.
When we contrasted this level of concern and care with that available in a North American ghetto, it became crystal clear where the victims of racism are.
Still, we had nagging questions about equal opportunities. While the proportion of blacks and mestizos who were doctors, nurses and health scientists was high, the officials of the Health Ministry and other medical personnel chosen to speak to our study group were almost always "white-looking". When we met with officials of the city of Sancti Spiritus, all were white.
At the tourist hotels, virtually all the visible staff — from clerks to bellhops — were fair. When we watched television, the newscasters and talk show hosts invariably seemed white. We often had been told that institutional racism had no place in Cuba, but these observations suggested that there were some exceptions. We did not hesitate to ask for comments.
Health officials reminded us that many on their professional staffs were black or mulatto. The city officials said they were not worried about discrimination. "In my municipality and in all the country", said the head of the Sancti Spiritus local assembly, "Cubans occupy positions based on merit, on their responsibilities, and on their school level. We don't choose people based on whether they are black or white."
She offered to show us many black people in positions of leadership, but commented that it's "not easy for some people to overcome the disadvantage they have had for hundreds of years". Another spokesperson added, "It is illegal to have any obstacles based on skin colour or economics".
We brought our concerns back to people in Havana for more analytical responses. They felt no need to paper over real problems. Carmen Gonzales said, "Sancti Spiritus is one of the whitest, most conservative provinces in the country, very reactionary". We inferred that there may be parts of Cuba more tied to the past and its prejudices than Havana.
"Some of the great eminences of Cuban medicine are black or mulatto", Dr Frank declared. But she acknowledged the evident exceptions to "no institutionalised racism" in the tourist hotels and in Cuban television. Whites are obviously favoured in the hotels, a problem she attributed to nepotism: "important people" are reserving these new jobs for their children.
What have the government and party leadership been doing to address existing inequalities? Many referred to the Communist Party's Third Congress (1986), where great emphasis was placed on bringing more blacks and mulattos into leadership posts.
Carmen Gonzales took strong exception to the party's decision: "I think you should not choose people for the colour of their skin, but for the quality of their thinking, the ability of their minds".
Doesn't the party's decision itself suggest that it saw a problem crying out for attention? "No, I'll tell you what happened. Two years before the party conference, some groupings of black ultra-leftists began to get together, in the era of black monographics [a cultural movement that stressed a more positive historical view of blacks]. All the pictures, all the movies that were made focused on blacks. Only African culture was considered important. Blacks were more vocally claiming they were discriminated against, which was absolute imbecility."
Contrarily, Dr Frank saw a need for addressing issues of racism: "I think there has been a great advance in this society to eliminate institutional racism. However, when someone with a prejudiced mind is in a position of power, that can have more than an individual or personal impact."
Did the party have a problem within its own ranks? "Oh, absolutely. That's the context in which the issue was raised" at the Third Congress. So this resulted in a kind of affirmative action program within the party? For years, she noted, many assumed that people of colour would take leadership positions as a matter of course, on the basis of their merit.
"It wasn't taken into account that people with more middle-class backgrounds, with more accent on education, would be more likely to succeed, and these would more likely be white. I think it is taken into account now. There are a lot of people in many leadership positions who are black. The party's central committee is extremely mixed. It's very representative of the population."
Her husband, Sanchez Vegas, added, "I think it would be good if there were more emphasis on education to combat remaining social prejudices. The government should have a stronger policy."
Calloway pointed to Cuba's pro-Africa foreign policy, calling it a "serious effort" to help black Africans. She added that the government's efforts to help the poorest Cubans automatically benefited blacks, historically the least advantaged in society.
Contreras Areu mentioned a number of black Cubans who are now in key posts, including the party head in Santiago de Cuba, the minister of foreign trade and the top leader of the national trade union federation. He thought most members of the party central committee were of mixed origins, though most were on the lighter side. He quickly added that "we don't look at colour, we look at feelings".
We could have learned more; there are questions left unanswered. But we have no doubt that the contrast between the profound levels of racism in our own country and the essential egalitarianism of Cuba cannot be dismissed. Cuba has nothing like the oppression of blacks living in our inner cities — the challenges of joblessness, homelessness, drug addiction and gang wars, violence and police brutality, high rates of morbidity and mortality, a failed school system and so much more. The problem of racial injustice is here. Cuba looks very good by comparison. [Abridged from CrossRoads (US).]