Confronting Anti-Blackness in “Colorblind” Cuba

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From the Archives: In the 1960s, Fidel Castro’s government claimed to have eradicated racism in Cuba. An anthropologist explores how racial hierarchies persist despite these official narratives, significantly limiting opportunities for Afro-Cubans.

I sat waiting for Yudell* to finish his shift at the paladar, or small-scale private restaurant, in the central Vedado neighborhood in Havana. I’d already interviewed a few of the workers there.

Yudell’s self-identification, in other words, served as a form of protest in a society that perpetuates anti-Blackness while claiming to be “colorblind.” Part of the answer lies in nationalist notions of mestizaje, or racial mixture, that make racial inequality difficult to discuss throughout Latin America generally. In Cuba, the narrative goes, everyone can trace their roots to a mixture of African and Spanish blood. To be Cuban is to be Mestizo .

This façade of racial harmony would soon come undone after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, when Cuba entered an economic crisis known as “El período especial en tiempos de paz” . In response to the economic crisis, Cuba welcomed mass tourism and introduced a small private sector largely funded through remittances sent by family members abroad.

But it’s at home where most Cubans first learn of racial discourses and hierarchies—and their place within them. As we spoke, however, I couldn’t help but notice the eye rolls and scoffs from those who were within earshot. Later they informed me that Alina, too, would be considered a Jabá .

 

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