Martin Luther King Jr.'s World House 53 Years Later: Seen from Cuba

"Racism is no mere American phenomenon. Its vicious grasp knows no geographical boundaries. In fact, racism and its perennial ally—economic exploitation—provide the key to understanding most of the international complications of this generation."  - Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community? (1967)

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community?  written in 1967 meditated on the World House and the threat that racism posed around the world to civilization.

Fifty three years later his prophetic vision does not only continue to apply to the United States and other Western nations, but also to the regime's of some of the "revolutionary leaders of Africa, Asia, and Latin America" that he mentioned back in 1967.

They grew rich and became a new class while the majority grew poorer living in greater misery.  The inner circle of power in Cuba today is all white, and those who possess the wealth of the nation are the children of this white elite.

Meanwhile, collapsing balcony kills three poor children, while the children of the Castro elite fly around in private jets and go on cruises aboard their private yachts, and those who criticize them go to prison, and if they are black they are punished doubly for not being grateful to their white saviors.

Antonio Castro, Cuban dictatorship's point man for baseball business

"Former generations could not conceive of such luxury, but their children now take this vision and demand that it become a reality. And when they look around and see that the only people who do not share in the abundance of Western technology are colored people, it is an almost inescapable conclusion that their condition and their exploitation are somehow related to their color and the racism of the white Western world," said the civil rights leader in 1967.

Fidel Castro's son Antonio Castro visited Greece in this 160 foot yacht in 2015

The words of Reverend King should land hard among Cubans who consider the situation today in their own country and that the foundation upon which the Revolution is built, in practice, upon white supremacy and privilege to a Spanish familial dynasty named Castro. The regime in Cuba built on a treacherous foundation of white supremacy, in which the poor do not event have the right to complain, cannot endure over the long term.

Silverio Portal lost sight in one eye after May 2020 beating in prison

 Silverio Portal Contreras is an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, a former activist with the Ladies in White, who is serving a 4-year sentence for "contempt" and "public disorder." Amnesty provided the following description of his plight. "According to a court document, Silverio was arrested on June 20, 2016 in Old Havana after shouting “Down Fidel Castro, down Raúl...” The document states that the behavior of the accused is particularly offensive because it took place in a tourist area. The document further describes the accused as having “bad social and moral behavior” and mentions that he fails to participate in pro-government activities. According to Silverio’s wife, before his arrest he had campaigned against the collapse of  dilapidated buildings in Havana."  

Silverio was the victim of a severe beating in mid-May 2020 while in custody that has cost him his sight in one eye, according to a report from his wife.

Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas observed in 1980  that “the difference between the communist and capitalist systems is that, although both give you a kick in the ass, in the communist system you have to applaud, while in the capitalist system you can scream.”

Lorenzo Enrique Copello, Bárbaro Leodán Sevilla and Jorge Luis Martínez

The last public executions recognized by the Castro regime were in 2003 and were Lorenzo Enrique Copello, Bárbaro Leodán Sevilla and Jorge Luis Martínez, three young black men ,who tried to flee Cuba and in the space of nine days were caught, tried, condemned, their sentences appealed, and were executed by firing squad on Fidel Castro's orders. This despite the laws that they had broken not carrying the death penalty.

At least for them it was quick. Black Cubans who sought to change things in Cuba by promoting human rights and non-violence fared much worse. Ten years ago at 3:00pm on February 23, 2010 it was announced that Orlando Zapata Tamayo had died. This humble bricklayer who became a human rights defender, spent nearly seven years being mistreated and tortured by prison officials. He was an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience who was regularly beaten, subjected to racist taunts and assaults on his human dignity.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo: Before and After Cuba's prisons

The New York Times on January 25, 2020 published an opinion piece by French journalist and essayist Jean François Fogel that reports that Cuba under the Castro dictatorship is "a segregated society: 70 percent of black and mixed-race Cubans said they didn’t have access to the internet, compared with 25 percent of white Cubans. The racial wealth gap was also vast: While 50 percent of white Cubans had a banking account, only 11 percent of black Cubans said they had one. Moreover, white Cubans received 78 percent of remittances to Cuba, and they controlled 98 percent of private companies.

Cuba's regime expanded to other corners such as Nicaragua and Venezuela. There must also be an accounting for what has taken place there.

Nicaraguan mothers have been killed by Daniel Ortega's repressive forces, backed by Cuba, for demanding justice for their murdered children. How can people of good will associate and promote such a regime? Two years ago on Mother's Day in Nicaragua, that was celebrated on May 30, 2018, a peaceful protest march was carried out in solidarity and mourning with mothers whose children had been killed in previous weeks by the Sandinistas. The mothers carried photos of their murdered children. During the march Ortega's henchman killed 16 more Nicaraguans and nearly another 200 were injured. 

Parents mourn their murdered children killed by Sandinistas in Nicaragua

Venezuela today, under Nicolas Maduro, has the highest per capita killings by law enforcement officers in the world.  Cuba plays the role of occupier in Venezuela that began under the presidency of Hugo Chavez and whose Ambassador today runs the show in the South American country.

Young Venezuelans murdered by Maduro's security forces.

"This is a treacherous foundation for a world house. Racism can well be that corrosive evil that will bring down the curtain on Western civilization. Arnold Toynbee has said that some twenty-six civilizations have risen upon the face of the earth. Almost all of them have descended into the junk heaps of destruction. The decline and fall of these civilizations, according to Toynbee, was not caused by external invasions but by internal decay. They failed to respond creatively to the challenges impinging upon them. If Western civilization does not now respond constructively to the challenge to banish racism, some future historian will have to say that a great civilization died because it lacked the soul and commitment to make justice a reality for all men."

The same will hold true for these so-called revolutionary outposts, and already has through Central Europe with the liberation of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Romania, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.