The Colors of the Cuban Diaspora: Portrayal of Racial Dynamics among Cuban-Americans.

The Cuban Diaspora in the United States has been repeatedly charged with political opacity and racial discrimination towards its members. A highly inflexible community as far as racial acceptance and internal economic mobility are concerned, this Diaspora gives rise to controversies in both media and literature, especially since it plays a major role in the socio-political relations between the two countries. Bearing in mind that the issue of racial discrimination in the last century ran different paths in Cuba and in the United States, and relying on a various set of articles and documentaries, this paper examines the processes and causes underlying the racial tensions within the Cuban community. The Revolution which took place in Cuba in the late 1950s and whose aftermath was the establishing of a Communist régime under the rule of president Fidel Castro, led to several waves of exiles and later immigrants, most of them settling in the United States, especially in the region of Florida, where they formed a thriving community in what became to be known as the most significant Cuban-American enclave, Miami. There are four waves that make up the Cuban exile, although the last wave may be classified as migration rather than exile. The first wave left right after the Revolution, between 1959 and 1961 and represented the country's economic elite, among them supporters of the old Batista régime. The second left through the so-called Freedom Flights in the late 60s and early 70s. Both waves were mostly composed of white, high class Cubans. [1] The next exodus took place in 1980 and is known under the name the Mariel boatlift, followed by a massive migration in 1994, during the height of the Special Period, Cuba's decline after the fall of the Soviet Block. The four waves differ among themselves along lines of racial composition, professional and economic status, and consequently patterns of integration not only as a community within the United States, but also within the group as a whole. Racial discrimination was carried by Cuban exiles to the US, where Afro-Cubans are voiceless within the white, elitist Diaspora. [2] The Cuban-American community is not homogenous, but diverse, with "recent nonwhite émigrés (…) being less likely to be received with open arms by the predominantly white Cuban community in Miami" (in Woltman: 71). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]