In Cuba: It's a crime to be black or a woman
HAVANA -- Being black in Cuba is like having a
sign on your forehead that reads ``Dangerous criminal.''
``They don't let you live, bro', they don't let you live,'' Nemesio said the other evening and went on to explain.
``In a one-block stretch, even if you're dressed better than a store mannequin, the police will ask for your identification papers three times, and at the end, even if you haven't shooed a fly from your shoulder, they'll put you in a truck or a patrol car and ship you off to the police station.
There, with a bit of luck, you'll spend three or four hours waiting for them to verify that you're not involved in anything shady.
``Then they'll release you without a single apology, and the story will repeat itself because as soon as you get back on the street they'll ask you for your papers again, they'll cart you away again, they'll keep you another three or four hours in the station, and they'll release you again. In just one day you could land in jail a couple of times, simply because you're black.''
Still, the Constitution, the newspapers, and the leaders say that there is no racism in Cuba. Accept what I've just written as proof of the opposite. And it goes not only for black men.
If you're a woman, don't dare look attractive and dress well (which is like saying ``out of uniform'' because all the clothes sold here look the same). The police will take you for a streetwalker and for sure they'll disrespect you every other block.
You'll be accosted by a policewoman with envious eyes or a policeman with libidinous eyes who'll look you up and down, ask you for your papers, and, if you don't answer properly, will take you to the station.
If you're clean and they don't put you away (as they phrase it), don't expect any apologies. None at all. They'll pour on the disrespect even as they explain that, ``It's just that you look like a streetwalker, honey.''
In Cuba people aren't allowed to say that there's racism or discrimination against women.
What's happening is that, although the majority population is composed of women and blacks or mestizos, the economy is upside down and prostitution and crime have risen dramatically. The state is desperate and taking desperate measures.
The police take to the streets similarly desperate and clap the cuffs on the first black man or good-looking woman that they see.
They're not to blame; the fault lies elsewhere. The police are merely an instrument that, poorly used, creates more problems than already exist.
Walk the straight and narrow for now, 'cause, as they say, ``the
tropical sun will put a tan on anybody.''
Copyright © 1998 The Miami Herald