When Big Hair Roamed the Earth

 Inspired by James W. Bailey...

When Big Haired Roamed the Earth
Graphite and Conte on broken Bisque by Campello but inspired by Bailey

The curious case of Nikole Hannah-Jones and her ignorance of Cuba's virulent racism

When I first wrote the below post a few years ago, I then printed it and mailed it to Nikole Hannah-Jones.... hopefully she's better educated now, although dogma is a pretty harsh mistress.

New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, the leader of that paper's controversial 1619 Project recently showed a spectacular lack of background knowledge on the Cuban dictatorship's well-documented racist history and abuses of its black population by her statement that “If you want to see the most equal, multiracial democ … it’s not a democracy — the most equal, multiracial country in our hemisphere, it would be Cuba,” and then proceeding to cite socialism as her reason to make the statement.

Ms. Hannah-Jones' rosy-eyed view of the Marxist dictatorship's oppression of its citizens, especially its Black citizens not only reveals loads about her own political leanings, but also serves as a brilliant example of suspicious lack of research skills about a subject as widely discussed as Cuba's oppressive and racist government.

Had Ms. Hannah-Jones - who visited Cuba in 2008 - bothered to look past her clear admiration for the Marxist government, and bothered to take a quick tour of the facts, she would have discovered that much has been written and documented about racism in Cuba, and it was even one of the earliest subjects addressed by the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson upon his arrival to the DMV a few decades ago from his various Latin American postings.

In his article a couple of decades ago, Cuba Begins to Answer Its Race Question, Robinson, also clearly and openly a very extreme left-wing oriented writer, tried hard to find excuses for the dictatorship, but nonetheless admits that:

Academics say that black Cubans are failing to earn university degrees in proportion to their numbers--a situation to which Castro has alluded publicly. The upper echelons of the government remain disproportionately white, despite the emergence of several rising black stars. And while perceptions are difficult to quantify, much less prove true or false, many black Cubans are convinced that they are much less likely than whites to land good jobs--and much more likely to be hassled by police on the street, like Cano's husband, in a Cuban version of "racial profiling."

But how about some Cubans inside Cuba discussing the subject?

In primary [Cuban] education, skin color is not mentioned," ... If we are still living in a society where white people have the power, and we don't mention color in education, we are in practice educating [Cuban] children to be white.

Cuban history as we teach it is a disgrace, because it is predominantly white history, and explaining the role of black people and mulattoes in building this society and its culture is not given its due importance.

Esteban Morales
University of Havana
Centre for the Study of the Hemisphere and the United States

A lot of hopes have been pinned by many people (who know little about Cuba and the repressive nature of its government) on President Obama's monumental decision to re-establish diplomatic relations with the unfortunate Caribbean island prison of Cuba; but first another Cuban quote:

...to carry on "hiding" the issue [of racism in Cuba] would lead black people to think that "they belong to another country, and that there are two Cuba’s as there were in the 19th century, a black Cuba and a white one."

Roberto Zurbano
Director
Casa de las Américas publishing house
Havana

And thus, it is curious to me that in his attempt to re-establish diplomatic ties, our socially conscious President (and his cadre of advisors) back then also - like Ms. Hannah-Jones - appeared to know little or nothing about the way that Afro-Cuban citizens are treated in their own country.

In reference to the President's visit to Cuba, Odette Casamayor-Cisneros, an associate professor of Latin American and Caribbean literatures and cultures at the University of Connecticut and a scholar at Harvard University, and writing in Ms. Hannah-Jones own newspaper, noted in the New York Times that  

“The images of the meetings, the agreements, they’re all shameful for many black Cubans — I’m including myself in this — because it’s difficult to feel represented.”

Was the projected flow of American tourists expected to help Black Cubans in a pre-COVID Cuba? Roberto Zurbano, a Cuban expert in Afro-Cuban identity, race and literature based out of Havana wrote in his 2013 New York Times article that:

Most remittances from abroad — mainly the Miami area, the nerve center of the mostly white exile community — go to white Cubans. They tend to live in more upscale houses, which can easily be converted into restaurants or bed-and-breakfasts — the most common kind of private business in Cuba. Black Cubans have less property and money, and also have to contend with pervasive racism. Not long ago it was common for hotel managers, for example, to hire only white staff members, so as not to offend the supposed sensibilities of their European clientele.

Zurbano was subsequently punished by his Marxist government for daring to express that opinion on the pages of Ms. Hannah-Jones employing newspaper. Because that's how Communists roll!

That "not long ago" is still the case, as anyone who has been to Cuba recently can testify to and which Ms. Hannah-Jones could clearly see during her 2008 visit to the island - it is very rare to see a black face in any of Havana's "tourist only" hotels and nearby beaches. Discussing those lucrative jobs, Yusimí Rodríguez López, an Afro-Cuban independent journalist, said in a 2016 New York Times article that there were job listings in Revolico — sometimes called Cuba’s underground Craigslist — “where they say they only want whites.”

In the same NYT article we read:

“They talk a lot here about discrimination against blacks in the United States. What about here?” said Manuel Valier Figueroa, 50, an actor, who was in the park on Monday. “If there’s a dance competition, they’re going to choose the woman who is fair-skinned with light, good hair. If there’s a tourism job, the same.”

He added: “Why are there no blacks managing hotels? You don’t see any blacks working as chefs in hotels, but you see them as janitors and porters. They get the inferior jobs.”

One would hope that Ms. Hannah-Jones' exploration of Cuba, a nation with one of the world's worst human rights records, where Amnesty International has been denied access to (except to that bit of Cuba where the Guantanamo Naval Base is located); a nation where gay people were once given lobotomies to "cure" them; and where HIV+ Cubans were detained and segregated in guarded colonies away from the general public, could at least have educated her on the disturbing status of blacks in their own island nation.

Fact: Twice as many African slaves were brought to Cuba than to the United States... twice!

And what really bugs me, in my own pedantic hell, is how often historically and socially clueless American academics, journalists, activists, etc. make spectacularly ignorant statements - as Ms. Hannah-Jones did - about the government of one of the world's most racist dictatorships (a government which talks a talk of equality while walking a walk of institutionalized racism against its own Black population) without even mentioning the issue of racism... or is Ms. Hannah-Jones' case praising the socialist dictatorship!

Ms. Hannah-Jones should learn about the Cuban version of the 1619 Project, which in Cuba's case would have been called the 1511 Project, as that was when Spanish Conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar set out from Hispaniola to establish the first Spanish settlement in Cuba, and brought the first African slaves to the island.

Since then and to its present day, Cuba has a long and agonizing history of racial issues, starting with its long bloody history of slavery, which didn't end on the island until 1886, and continuing through its freedom from Spain, birth of the Republic, and the triumph of the Castro Revolution in 1959. It continues to this day.

Cuba even had its own race war.

General Antonio Maceo, known as "the Bronze Titan." He was the true warrior leader of the Cuban Wars of Liberation. His father was white of French ancestry; his mother was black, of Dominican ancestry. After the first Cuban Liberation War ended in a truce with Spain, some say that Maceo was so disillusioned with the realities of life in Cuba as a black man, that he left Cuba and lived in Panama, until he was called back to lead the Cuban rebels in a new rebellion in 1895. He returned to Cuba and was killed in battle against the Spanish Army in 1896.

In 1912, Black Cubans in Oriente province had enough of the new Cuban government's racist practices and the degrading treatment of Cuban black veterans, who had been the bulk of the Cuban rebels in the wars of independence against Spain. The Cuban government moved on a path of genocide and eventually the United States had to send in troops to end the war between the white Cuban government and the black rebels in Oriente.

As I recall from the CIA Factbook of 1959, on that year the island was about 70% white, about 20% black and mixed, and the rest Chinese, Jewish and other. The Cuban Diaspora which started a few months after the Castro takeover and continues to this day, with the exception of the Mariel boat lift of the 1980s, saw a mass exodus of mostly white Cubans, and as a result the island's racial balance shifted dramatically and although 65% of Cubans self-identify as white in recent censuses, many experts estimate that today the island is actually about 60% black or biracial.

But Cuba's black population has not seen a proportionate share of the power and a quick review of the governing Politburo/Parliament reveals few black faces in the crowd. 

In fact, "the Cuban cultural journal Temas published studies by the governmental Anthropology Centre in 2006 that showed that on average, the black population has worse housing, receives less money in remittances from abroad and has less access to jobs in emerging economic sectors like tourism, in which blacks represent barely five percent of managers and professionals, than the white population."

"I think silence is worse. The longer nothing is said, the more the racism fermenting underground is rotting the entire nation..."

Gerardo Alfonso
singer/songwriter
Havana

While the Cuban constitution of the 1940s (since then abolished by the Communist government) outlawed segregation and racism on paper, and the current Cuban Constitution guarantees black Cubans the right to stay in any hotel and be served at any public establishment, as it has been documented by many foreign journalists, black Cubans will tell you in private that those rights exist only on paper. They would have told Ms. Hannah-Jones during her visit to Cuba in 2008 - but she probably didn't notice that nearly everywhere that she visited, the presence of the Cuban government was not far, and people fear that presence.

The harsh Cuban reality today, Black Cubans will tell you, is that "black Cubans won't be served" and that Cubans, regardless of race are in general barred from places frequented by tourists.

Unfortunately, these things [disparities in the treatment of blacks and whites] are very common in Cuba.

Ricardo Alarcón Quesada
President of the National Assembly of People's Power
Cuban Parliament

Do these Cuban voices from within Cuba itself sound like the subjects of a government whose murdering tyrants' atrocities should be dealt with in silence? -- especially in view of our nation's own racial history and what Ms. Hannah-Jones so expeditiously attempted to document in her controversial 1619 Project? 

We have practically apartheid in this country sometimes... racism is deeply rooted in Cuba's history and will not disappear overnight.

Rogelio Polanco Fuentes
Director
Cuban Communist Party-owned Juventud Rebelde newspaper.

What would she say if she had discovered the "permanent and shameful police harassment of young Cubans of African descent in our streets..." as noted by Leonardo Calvo Cardenas, the Cuban National Vice-Coordinador of the Citizens' Committee for Racial Integration (Comité Ciudadanos por la Integración Racial (CIR))?

As Omar López Montenegro, the Black Cuban director of Human Rights for the Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana recently stated in the Panama Post:

The situation for Black Cubans worsened after Castro assumed power... even though there were always racial issues, before Castro in Cuba there had been Black governors, a President of the Senate, Martín Morua Delgado, and also many Congressmen such as the labor leader Jesús Menéndez, a member of the Socialist Party. 

When Cuba became a Communist dictatorship, and democracy was lost, the advance of Black Cubans came to a halt. 

And this is what makes it even more maddening to a pedantic Virgo like me -- when even the lackeys of the Cuban dictatorship like Alarcon Quesada and Black voices from within the brutalized island speak out, knowing that there will be consequences - as Zurbano discovered after his New York Times opinion piece - why does Ms. Hannah-Jones live in this rose-colored atmosphere where she perceives the poor jailed island as an example of equality?

Does she know that even though about 60% of Cubans are Black or brown, that 94.2% of the students at the University of Havana are white?  Is she aware - as evidenced by the hundreds of videos one can see at #SOSCuba, that the epicenters of the demonstrations in most Cuban cities during this historic uprising are in the Black neighborhoods? Does she know about Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, a young Black Cuban from La Güinera who was arrested and then murdered by the Cuban police? When notified that her son was dead, his mother committed suicide. Does she know that her own newspaper, The New York Times documented a few years ago how Black Cubans are routinely discriminated in Cuba? Is she aware that while 48% of white Cubans have an annual income of less that $3,000 USD, a whooping 95% of Black Cubans fall below that incredible line?

By the way... In 1959 Cuba had the third-highest per capita income in Latin America, exceeded only by Argentina and Venezuela (around $550 a year back then which is about $5,170 in today's dollars). In 1959 that was also higher than Italy, Japan, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal and every single Eastern European nation in the Soviet bloc.

Nikole Hannah-Jones now has an opportunity to clear the air, clear her mind, clear her perception and gain instant respect from Cubans of all races. All she has to say is that she's learned a lot since the statements that she made in 2019 surfaced during the current Cuban uprising - which as video evidence clearly shows, appears to involve Cubans of all races - and state that she was wrong and is now aware of the sorry and sad state of the Marxist government's deeply rooted racism.

Boom! Case closed.

Paint the Town Labor Day Show 2022

 I'm sooooooooooo excited to jury this show coming up Labor Day weekend!

The three-day Paint the Town Labor Day Show & Sale. This is one of the longest-running and largest art shows in the region, with hundreds of works by 175 local artists, all members of the Montgomery Art Association. The event is free and open to the public.

All works are for sale. In addition, the Artist Marketplace will have small works, prints and notecards available for purchase. A portion of all sales proceeds goes to support MAA's arts mission.

Walk around Kensington on Saturday, and you'll see dozens of artists painting and drawing. Those are participants in our annual Plein Air Competition!

From 7 am-3 pm, adults and children complete paintings with a Kensington theme and submit them for prizes. The competition is open to all adults and children. It's free for kids under 18 and current MAA members; adults pay $10.

Full three-day schedule here.

Participating Artists

Sasa Aakil Laura Aikman Anne Albright K. Lin Allen Nataliya Andreyeva Peijisan Art Ken Bachman Matthew Baker Jennifer Barlow Jennifer Lynn Beaudet Marcia Bhorjee Nancy Blacker Walt Blackwell Elissa Borzilleri Regina Boston Rick Bowers Blandine Broomfield Susan Fitch Brown Virginia Browning Holly Buehler Sandra Cane Sandra Cepaitis Jing-Jy Chen Pat Coates Carol Cober Shannon Cockett Amanda Coelho Meredith Coffey Deborah Cohen Deborah Cole Lou Ann Collins Jean Cooper Mari Craig Susan Crawford Jennifer Crouch Kellie D. Beth Daly Arindam Dasgupta Sarah Clayton Davis Nan Dawkins Amelia De Silva John Dillon Paul DiVito

Grace Dobrow Jamie Downs Jennifer Dreyfus Sandra Edmonson Lynn Faiola Rosemary Fallon Stephanie Fernandez Jean Finkleman Elisabeth Fletcher Nicholson Susan Friend Susan Sinclair Galego Kalpana Goel Susanna Goldman Ann Gordon Madeleine Greenwald S. J. Hadley Jack Hammond Christina Haslinger Samantha Hecox Nadia Hewchuck Christopher Hoppe Carrie Horton Jeffrey Human Beverley Hunter Margaret Ingram Monica Ingudam Jonathan Jaeger Benita Kane Jaro Edward Johanson Bill Johnson Hiral Joshi Anastasiya Kavalenka Elielle Kayomb Rajendra KC Cecile Kirkpatrick Jim Klumpner Edward Knight Joyce Koeneman Alan Kolnik Galina Kolosovskaya Mary Kosterlitz Joanne Lamm Ruth Lampi

Karen Lantner Maria Elena Lazarte Robin Lazarus-Berlin Margo Lehman Elissa Leibowitz Poma Robert LeMar Carol Leo Judith Levine Lynn Lewis Nancy Loomis Marta Lopez Teigeiro John MacArthur Lalleh Mahlouji Rahela Majidi Barbara Mandel Gale Marcus Isabella Martire Mark McAlister Karen Merkin Christine Merry Debbie Miller Audrey Moog Ally Morgan Laura Myers Sara Niles Maedeh Noroozi Barbara Novak Elizabeth Ochoa Melissa Ou Laura-Leigh Palmer Simin Parvaz Dora Patin Robert Pearlman Terry Pellmar Sandra Pérez-Ramos Yik Chek Phan Ann Pielert Deborah Pollack Judith Prevo Maria Quezada Pauline Rakis Nancy Randa Ting Rao Sharon Reinckens

Cindy Renteria Amy Rice Teresa Rizzo Faye Ross My-Linh Rouil Myra Ryan Raya Salman Eve D. Sandmeyer Alden Schofield Michael Schoppman Sandra Schraibman Martina Sestakova Lian Sever Ruja Shemer Diane Shipley Sanford H. Shudnow Patrick Sieg Teresa Sites David Sommers Pritha Srinivasan Carol Starr Julie Steinberg Emily Strulson Jeanne Sullivan Vicky Surles Eleanor Tanno Antonia Tiu Alexandra Treadaway-Hoare Tena Turner Kathleen Tynan Andrea van den Heever Mary Vinograd Twila Waddy Anastasia Walsh Christina Webber John Weber Jenny Wilson Helen Wood Ellen Yahuda Rosemary Yue Lis Zadravec Paula Zeller Vicky Zhou Michelle Zugrav

Summertime in the Swamp…

 An easy way to spend most of a summer rainy afternoon is a visit to the Torpedo Factory, host to many art studios and some key galleries. While you’re there, go check out the current Open Exhibit, juried by artist Jessie Boyland.

According to the Art League’s press release, Boyland “is a painter and has a BFA from VCU School of the Art, Painting and Printmaking. Jessie plans and curates all the exhibits at Art Works. She arranges for the Thriving Artist Exchange workshops engaging talented and knowledgeable speakers and demos.”

For the show awards, the juror gave the Art League Award for Best in Show to Wendy Donahoe for “Traveler”, and Honorable Mentions to Mary Elizabeth Gosselink “Twister”, Cindy Grisdela “Color Grid”, Hyesuk Kong “In City”, Craig Nedrow “At the Classic Car Show”, Susan O’Neill “Transposition”, and Beverly Ryan “Starlet.”

Read the whole article here. 

"Paint the Town" Labor Day show in Kensington

 I will be the judge for this year’s "Paint the Town" Labor Day Show sponsored by the Montgomery Art Association

The Paint the Town Labor Day Show is one of the region’s largest and longest-running art shows composed of all local artists. The show will be open to the public Saturday-Monday, September 3-5, and I will do both the closed-door judging and then and on Saturday, September 3, I will also judge the plein air competition and then present the awards. 

About the Plein Air Competition: As you walk around Kensington on the Saturday of the show weekend, you'll see dozens of artists painting and drawing all over town. Those are participants of the annual Plein Air Competition. From 7 am-3 pm, adults and children complete paintings with a Kensington theme and submit them for prizes awarded by me. The competition is open to all adults and children. Free for children under 18 and current MAA members; adults pay $10 per person. Registration opens July 15.

Details here.

Schedule 

FRIDAY, JULY 15: Call for entries opens (members only)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3: Exhibit floor open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and Plein air art competition, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. -- Awards ceremony, 6-8 p.m.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4: Exhibit floor open, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. 

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5: Exhibit floor open, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Pick up purchased artwork, 5:00-8:00 p.m.

Dear artists: Go to an art fair!

Many times via this blog - the 11th highest ranked blog on the planet - I’ve discussed how the the founders and organizers of a European art fair called Art Basel (which of course, takes place in Basel, Switzerland), decided to try an American version of their successful European model and started an art fair in the Miami Beach Convention Center a couple of decades ago, and they called it Art Basel Miami Beach or ABMB for short.

And I’ve also told you how that one mega art fair spawned a few satellite art fairs in Miami at the same time and how by now there are over two dozen art fairs going on around the Greater Miami area each December, and art collectors, artists, gallerists, dealers, curators and all the symbionts of the art world descent on America’s coolest hot city in December and art rules the area.

I’ve also pointed out that if you are a visual artist in 2022 and are not aware of these events, and are not trying to get there (get your artwork there is what I mean), then something really big is missing from your artistic arsenal (unless you’re happy just painting or drawing or photographing or sculpting, etc. and could care less who sees and possibly acquires your work – if that’s the case, then skip the rest of this column and more power to you!).

But, if like some of us, the commodification of your artwork doesn’t bother you, and the fact that when you or your gallery sell one of your pieces, you feel honored and pleased that someone laid out their hard earned cash to simply add one of your creations to their home or collection, then Miami in December should be in your radar.

But how to get there? The fairs are mostly gallery-based – that means that galleries are invited or juried to exhibit; not usually individual artists --- more on that later – but there are some other ways to begin to crack the Miami art fair presence, and today I want to share some of my ideas.

Let’s start with gallery-based artists.

If you are already represented by a gallery, why not discuss Miami with them? The enormous expenses associated with the art fair scene are the main reason that most art galleries do not consider them. And this is a darn good reason, as most galleries are run by the skin of their teeth and the expense associated with doing an art fair are enormous and could wreck an entire financial plan in less than a week.

But, what does it hurt to bring it up to your gallerist? Who knows where that may lead?

I am still shocked at how many art dealers are not even aware of the potential financial and exposure rewards of doing an art fair.

Let me be clear: I don't want to hype this issue as a surefire path to moving artwork. But, this much I know… for roughly the same amount of money that a gallery spends on a full page ad in a national art magazine, you can get a small booth in some of the satellite fairs and the return on their investment has a lot more avenues than taking a chance with an ad.

Gathering information is the key thing… bring the subject up to your dealer, and if they want more info, have them email me… the best thing for art is more art.

How about if you are a cooperative gallery? Why not consider applying to one of the art fairs and spreading the cost of the booth amongst the exhibiting artists? A word of warning: the better fairs are juried and that means that someone gets always rejected. But the same key that allows cooperatives to survive for decades (spread the expenses) should and must be the key to give them a presence at the art fairs!

And many, many co-ops are routinely showing now at art fairs in Miami, NYC, LA, London, Madrid, etc. The fact that they are returning to the fairs means that they’re having a positive experience there.

The look and feel of the fairs is different as well. Many of them are booth fairs – that means that a white cube booth of plain white walls, ready to be drilled and hung with art, is the main model.

Fairs such as the original Art Basel Miami Beach, Volta, Scope, Art Miami, Untitled, etc. are on this model. There are also hotel fairs. These are fairs that essentially take place in a local hotel, where the room is often emptied out and turned into a temporary gallery by the out of town galleries. The best hotel art fair in the world, according to many, is the Aqua Art Fair, held at the Aqua Hotel in Miami Beach, and having participated in it many times in the past, add my name to the list of people who thinks that this is the best hotel art fair on the planet. And at Aqua I’ve seen cooperative galleries, and universities, and artists’ leagues, etc.

A little Googlin’ of Miami art fairs (or just art fairs in general) will reveal just how many fairs there are and where.

The key thought to leave you with: think art fairs and think Miami, New York, LA, Chicago... and think of a way to get there.

Continuum: Artists Teaching Artists

McLean Project for the Arts to Open Continuum: Artists Teaching Artists September 16, 2022

Opening Exhibition Reception set for September 22, 2022 at 7pm 

McLean Project for the Arts will open its fall 2022 exhibition, Continuum: Artists Teaching Artists, on September 16, 2022. An invitational exhibition highlighting work by artists who give significant time to teaching, mentoring, and community-building, while continuing to sustain and develop strong and innovative personal bodies of work, Continuum will run September 22 through November 10, 2022, with an Opening Exhibition Reception on September 22, 2022 from 7-9pm. RSVP here (https://tinyurl.com/continuumreception). 

"We are delighted to bring this group together as we celebrate sixty years of exhibitions at MPA,” said MPA Curator and Artistic Director Nancy Sausser. “Each individual featured is both an amazingly accomplished artist and a beloved educator. Continuum honors their important and continuing contributions to our vibrant arts community." 

Continuum includes the work of artists and educators from most of the area colleges and universities, including George Mason University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Northern Virginia Community College, the University of Maryland, and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Also represented are some non-profit teaching institutes such as the Washington Glass School. All of the participants are as dedicated to their on-going artistic practice as they are to their students, and vice versa. 

Continuum featured artists include: David Carlson, Patrick Craig, Robert Devers, Kate Fitzpatrick, Helen Frederick, Janis Goodman, Rene Gower, Michael Janis, Maria Karametou, Steven Prince, John Ruppert, Foon Sham, Judy Southerland, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Stephanie Williams, Sue Wrbican, and Peter Winant.  

In addition to the September 22 Opening Exhibition Reception, an Artist Talk is planned for Thursday, October 13, 2022. Additional details to follow. 

The Atrium Gallery portion of Continuum will be available for viewing during McLean Community Center operating hours. The Emerson Gallery portion of the exhibit will be open for visitors Tuesdays through Fridays from 1-4pm and Saturdays from 10am – 3pm. Online exhibitions will also be available for viewing at a future date. 

The curious case of John Leguizamo, Fidel Castro, and Latino Horror Vacui in Hollywood

John Leguizamo, the talented Colombian-born actor who once erred about his own ancestry by claiming that he was Puerto Rican on his father's side (I wonder how his Colombian dad feels about that) and once even carried the charade as the Puerto Rican Day Parade Global Ambassador of the Arts, has an issue with the casting of the upcoming Indie film “Alina of Cuba.”

Specifically with the casting of actor James Franco to play the murderous Cuban dictator Fidel Castro Ruz. The not Puerto Rican actor writes in Instagram:

“How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well?” “No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! This F’d up! Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement which would b wrong!” “I don’t got a prob with Franco but he ain’t Latino!” 

The "boycott" was quickly joined in by such luminaries as Nicaraguan-American political strategist and commentator Ana Navarro, and the casting made fun of by Carolina A. Miranda, a really good and influential Wyoming-born Los Angeles Times art critic.

Have not heard of anyone of Cuban ancestry complaining... cough... cough...

Background:

Fidel Castro Ruz, known to many Cubans as "La Bestia de Biran", was born in 1926 out of wedlock in Biran, Cuba. He was the son of Ángel Castro y Argiz, an immigrant to Cuba from Galicia, the former ancient Celtic kingdom in the north of Spain, and Lina Ruz González, his Cuban-born maid who was the daughter of immigrants from Spain. 

That's Castro's father to the right and his mother to the left below.

Fun fact: A lot of Galicians left their rugged mountain villages in northern Spain and settled in Cuba in the early 1900s (including both my paternal grandparents). 

So many in fact, that Cubans routinely refer to all Spaniards, regardless of which region of Spain they come from (Andalucia, Castille, Catalonia, etc.) as "gallegos", which I suspect pisses off most non-Galician Spaniards.  

In my experience, Galicians are a very clannish people, have their own language, customs, etc. and in Cuba even their own community centers, separate from others. In Guantanamo, for example, there used to be a Centro Español and a separate Centro Gallego.

Fidel Castro as a child with his two of his four siblings

Back to the tempest of Franco being cast to play Castro in the film and not being of Latino ancestry, however widely and confusing that classification is.

Part of me understands that Leguizamo means well, but as often happens when one is too passionate about a debatable issue, he mixes apples mangoes and oranges when making this argument.  Passion is an unforgivable mistress - witness my own conversion when I complained about a Spaniard (Javier Bardem) being cast to play a Santiaguero (Desi Arnaz) - for all the non-Cubans who have jumped into this Franco boycott: A Santiaguero is someone from Santiago de Cuba, which is where Arnaz's family was from.

But distilled to the simplest fact:

• Latinos don't get enough roles in Hollywood films
• THEREFORE
• ALL, repeat, ALL roles where the subject is Latino, must be cast to a Latino/a actor
• HOWEVER
• Latino/a actors must also be eligible to be cast to play any and other roles regardless of the racial or ethnic background of the role

A great example of the last rule is the recent (and great) casting of Cuban-born actress Ana de Armas to play American icon Marilyn Monroe - as far as I know, neither Leguizamo, or Miranda, or Navarro bitched about that.

Are Leguizamo, Navarro, and Miranda hypocrites? Maybe, but I don't think so.  What I think they are, is a combination of passionate dogma plus misguided (maybe misfired) good intentions... the alleged Leguizamo trying to pass for a boricua episode bothers me -- sort of like when H.G. Carrillo spent years passing as a Cuban.

Here are better Campello rules to achieve the same goal:

• Latinos don't get enough roles in Hollywood films
• THEREFORE
• Hollywood casting must be sensitive that Latino/a actors come from every racial and ethnic background and must be eligible to be cast to play any and all roles regardless of the racial or ethnic background of the role AND should make an effort to increase Latino/a casting.
• HOWEVER
• The casting should go to the best actor for the role.

In this particular case, some points which destroy the Leguizamo effect:

• Alina Fernandez Revuelta, Castro's illegitimate daughter and the subject of the film endorses and likes the casting of Franco to play her father - technically that should be the end of the fucking argument!
• She is also proud that “the project is almost entirely Latino, both in front and behind the camera.” The clueless boycotters should be applauding this film!
• I am shocked as to how much Franco looks like Castro! The only other man who looks more like Castro on this planet is Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau! Cough... cough...

Almost done... now for my own complaining: 

I am having a hard time swallowing an Argentinean actress (Mia Maestro) playing a Cuban woman (she plays Naty Revuelta Clews - Alina's mom - that's Naty to the left).

And Ana Villafañe (she plays Alina): I'm keeping my eye on you! You're only half Cuban! Cough... cough...

Campello out.