Cuba - Biography of a Runaway Slave

 Book 40: Biography of a Runaway Slave - Miguel Barnet

"...a written history of the life of Esteban Montejo, who lived as a slave, as a fugitive in the wilderness, and as a soldier fighting against Spain in the Cuban War of Independence."

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Estaban Montejo was 103 years old when Barnet interviewed him in the late 1960s. All 3 stages of Esteban's life offer amazing insight into the Afro-Hispanic Cuban experience. There's a lot to pull out of the story - a young man's experience on a sugar plantation, living for years as a fugitive, rejoining society, war...the man's life is full of lessons. But there was one section I found particularly striking. After all of his experiences, many of which were far from pleasant, some of the most negative feelings he had were for the American soldiers (and the white Cubans who supported them) during the Cuban War of Independence. 

"When the war ended, the talk started about whether the blacks had fought or not. I know that 95% of the blacks fought in the war. Then the Americans began to say that it was only 75%. Well, no one criticized those statements. The blacks ended up out on the street as a result. Brave men thrown like savages onto the streets. That was wrong, but that's what happened. 

Not even 1% of the police force were blacks because, the Americans claimed, when a black gets power, when he's educated, it hurts the white race. So then they separated the blacks completely. White Cubans kept quiet, they didn't do a thing, and that's how it was until nowadays. 

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Later everyone said the Americans were the most rotten of all. And I agree, they were the rottenest. But you have to remember that the white Cubans were just as much to blame as the Americans, because they let themselves be ordered around in their own country. All of them, from the colonels to the janitors. Why didn't the people rebel after the Maine incident? Don't believe any cock-and-bull stories, either. Even the littlest kid knew the Americans blew the Maine up themselves to get into the war. If the people had gotten riled up then, everything would have been different. A lot of things wouldn't have happened. But when the hour of truth came, no one said one word or did a single thing. Máximo Gómez, who I thought knew something, clammed up and died with the secret. I believe this with all my heart, and may I drop dead if I'm lying."

One of the reasons I wanted to do this challenge is to see the world from other perspectives - to see myself and my country from other perspectives. This book certainly offered that. Wow, did we ever fuck up. But then again, is it fucking up when the racism is a feature, not a bug?