Unless it is like the one on the left, you are wearing the image of a man whose own racist writing and actions are full of negative, racist remarks about Mexicans and Blacks, and Native Americans.
A killing psychopath whose image has been re-invented over the decades so that now he's viewed by a large, ignorant segment of the population as some sort of positive icon.
By the way, "Comemierda" is an almost unique Cuban insult...
The Negro is indolent and lazy, and spends his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized, and intelligent.Inform yourself!
-- Che Guevara
Mexicans are a band of illiterate Indians.
-- Che Guevara
You want the image of a real Cuban hero for your T-Shirt? How about Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet?
"Che’s life is an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom, we will always honor his memory." — NELSON MANDELA
ReplyDeleteChe made the “black is indolent” remark in his diary as a youth, but months later changed and went on to speak out against segregation in the south US, speak out against Apartheid to the UN in 1964, bash the KKK in 1961, take a black bodyguard and best friend with him everywhere “Pombo”, integreate Cuban schools before they were in the US, and fight white mercenaries in the Congo with an all black army!
“Those who kill their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them, and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their legitimate rights as free men — how can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom?” —- CHE GUEVARA, 1964 at the U.N.
The Mandela quote only shows that even great men, like Nelson Mandela, can be wrong, and in this case spectacularly wrong, unless one is led to believe that Che Guevara was the only Communist in history who was a "lover of freedom."
ReplyDeleteChe's racism carried well into his days of the Cuban Revolution, as documented by Comandante Almeida (the only black in the original rebels), his forays as Commander Tatu in the Congo, and even his last days in Bolivia, when his diaries are full of insensitive and racist remarks about the local indigenous population.
Information, not propaganda, is the key.
Let's stop romanticizing armed "revolutionaries." Most seem to turn into monsters, even if they don't start that way.
ReplyDeleteThree points:
Even the most righteous can be fooled. Nelson Mandela is a great man, but his views are not infallible, nor are they gospel.
Time to get past the idea that having a "Black..best friend" is necessarily evidence of someone being nonracist. All kinds of political power dynamics can come into play in personal relationships.
Political spin goes back a long way. Maybe Che meant those nice-sounding things; maybe he was just working at maintaining a "progressive" image.
Is this Che "lover of freedom" the same Che who said in a published interview:
ReplyDelete"If the missiles had remained we would have used them against the very heart of the United States, including New York. We must never establish peaceful coexistence. We must walk the path of victory even if it costs millions of atomic victims."
-- Che Guevara, Interview in London Daily Worker, 1962
Lenny,
ReplyDeleteAmong your many worthy pursuits, it seems clear you should make a limited run of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet tshirts for the next fair.
my 2 cents.
Che was a psychopath and a murderer and no whitewash of history will erase the names of the thousands of Cubans, Black and White, that he sent to the firing squads during and after the Revolution.
ReplyDeleteI hope that he is rotting in Hell.
Ernesto Lucientes Romero
Enjoy the blog but your anti-communist rants are tiring and bizarrely random...
ReplyDeleteThanks... As far as my anti Communist rants, they are not random at all... I try to have them regularly on a sked. If you knew my background and my family's experience with Communism, then you'd understand better.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Anon would prefer some pro-Communist rants to balance out the scales.
ReplyDeleteJorge
Mmmm... something good that Communism has done... that might be a pretty hard, if not impossible task.
ReplyDeleteHear, Hear! Thanks for sharing this sentiment on your blog! I agree and believe Che was an animal, hurting and killing others was his way of life.
ReplyDeletebravo lenny! keep those anti-commi rants coming!! for another fellow cuban ...
ReplyDelete