Rather than destroy the legacy of white supremacy and its concomitant racism, the Revolutionary government contributed to the solidification and expansion of it. It did so when it declared the nonexistence of racism, the eradication of racial discrimination, and the advent of a “post-racial” socialist democracy in Cuba. Actually, the leaders of the Revolution that enacted so many beneficial social changes for our country and the people who wholeheartedly supported the revolutionary process both remain bound by the same brutal past birthed by racial slavery. The latter was imposed on the Americas by Europeans, and from its monstrous womb emerged a racist society. As a consequence, Cuba is a country that speaks with two totally different voices—one white, and one black—although at specific moments of our common history, these voices have spoken in unison.

Mr. President:

Socialist Cuba is the only country in the world to have publicly proclaimed that it had eliminated racism and racial discrimination and empowered its black population. As a result, the revolutionary government repressed, persecuted, and forced into exile those blacks, whether intellectuals or working class, who argued the contrary. The latter were forced into labor camps, prisons, mental hospitals, or driven out of the country. They were branded "reverse racists," "black racists," "counter-revolutionaries," or "agents of imperialism," and even accused of being "instruments of the CIA."

Prominent black Cuban thinkers such as Dr. Juan René Betancourt Bencomo and Professor Walterio Carbonell paid a heavy price for having challenged the racial doctrine erected and maintained by the State for five decades. That doctrine consisted of denying the existence of racial oppression and racism in Cuba under the Revolution. Nowadays, many eyes are trained on this supposed "post-racial democracy” as people seek to understand why the revolutionary regime destroyed those who refused to endorse this “Big Lie.”

In Cuba, the Revolution succeeded in demolishing the old privileges of a corrupt oligarchy that was submissive to foreign interests. But, to this day, the black population, now a majority in the country, is unwillingly confined to playing second fiddle. Some black notables do ascend to visibility, but only do so with the blessing of the dominant white elite. This merely confirms the subordinate station of blacks in Cuba after 50 years of Socialist Revolution. Such is the reality, and to deny it is to perpetuate the “Big Lie.”

Racism is the last frontier of hatred among humans, and race is the most profound and lasting divide. Racism dictates who enjoys predetermined entitlements and privileges; it guarantees racially protected access to society’s resources. It equally determines who is to be denied access. In Cuba, as throughout the world, racism is an arrangement whereby resources are racially differentiated and selectively distributed. It is the racial monopoly of political power that allows it to self-perpetuate as a structure of racial entitlements. Therefore, we are addressing a permanent modus operandi, not an anomaly. This structure of total power works wonderfully well to ensure the permanent domination of one race over another and operates to the absolute detriment of the latter.

Power in Cuba is white. Racial discrimination against black Cubans is strengthening day by day and becoming more pervasive. Why is this so? Racism is constantly being reinforced in Cuba, and everywhere else, for the same exact reason: because it works. It works on behalf of those who on account of racism benefit from the privileges and entitlements accrued to their race. Were it not so, racism would have vanished from our landscape thousands of years ago.