Essay On Racism In Cuba

The term racism was coined in the 1930’s as a response to the “cleanse of Jews” done by the German Nazis (Rattansi 2007: 4). Racism is a very large problem in our world and there is much work to be done to ensure equality among people of all cultures, skin colors and ethnicities. This essay argues that out of all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba has best dealt with the problem of racism in comparison to countries like Brazil. Cuba has a very rich history that fluctuates between total segregation and racial equality throughout the years. In 1959, it was declared that racism was illegal and in 1962 it was stated that racism had been eradicated from the country (Gates 2011: 208). Henry Louis Gates, Jr., adventured through the streets of Cuba seeking whether or not Cubans were racially equal or not. On his endeavours, he found two common consensuses; no, there was still a lack of equality between white and black, and yes, people were all equal in Cuba. Although Cuba and all other Latin American …show more content…
In Cuba, as stated earlier, Castro brought racial equality through education and health (Gates 2011 207). Giving all citizens equal access to education allows for more job opportunities for the poor, therefor, creating a cycle that inevitably ends with more money in the people’s pockets. With equal access to health people are able to live longer and healthier lives, as well as recover for illnesses that may be stopping them from working. In Brazil, the only action taken to increase equal education was at a university level. Affirmative action programs set aside a percentage of admissions into University’s for solely black students (Gates 2011: 54). These program, however, do not have much effect if children are unable to access primary and secondary levels of education because then they have no chances of reaching a university or college