In the black community, the name Fidel Castro is not a curse word. He is not considered a terrorist, nor a dictator. In fact, in many black circles, Castro is revered as a hero for people of color–the only Latin American leader to buck white supremacy and gain sovreignity. When Castro came to Harlem in 1960, blacks flooded the streets, hailing him as one of their own. To this day, his name is cheered loudly in many black communities. Castro is also embraced by great men such as Nelson Mandela (Castro sent Cuban troops to South Africa and Angola to fight the apartheid regimes.). In this article, the Final Call examines Castro and his long struggle with the United States:
“During Fidel Castro’s first goodwill tour and visit to the United States, specifically New York in 1960 as leader of Cuba, Castro stayed at the legendary Theresa Hotel in Harlem and used it as his temporary base of operations from which he conducted meetings with national and international leaders such as Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Malcolm X and Nikita Khrushchev of what was then called the Soviet Union.”
TheStateOf. . .Castro. To me (Justin), Castro is a “dreamer,” and idealist, like Marcus Garvey. Like Garvey, Castro is highly intelligent, organized and charasmatic. Also like Garvey, he is corrupt, dictatorial and self-absorbed. Still, there’s no denying his political allure and his ability to express the evils of white supremacy and American domination. I have problems with the treatment of blacks in Cuba, but I’d still love to visit, especially before Cuba regresses into Miami upon Castro’s death..
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