{"id":246013,"date":"2021-11-20T08:31:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T13:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=246013"},"modified":"2021-11-20T08:31:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T13:31:47","slug":"who-threw-the-chalk-political-discourse-hip-hop-and-research-in-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/who-threw-the-chalk-political-discourse-hip-hop-and-research-in-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Who threw the chalk? Political discourse, hip hop and research in Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the 6th Congress of the Union of Writers and\u00a0 Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) in 1998, favored by discussions, research and social movements that had been happening, an acute exchange of Cuban artists and writers with Fidel Castro was promoted, whose theme of racism was central. The definitive relocation in the official discourse of this problem in Cuba took place in 2000 in the Church of Riverside, Harlem, New York, in front of a predominantly African-American attendance.<\/span><\/p>\n

In what was a friendly meeting 40 years after his visit to that community, Fidel Castro <\/span>assumed<\/span><\/a> a decolonizing and anti-racist inflection by admitting the existence of racism, racial prejudices and inequalities in Cuba:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt took time for us to discover, I tell you like this, that marginality, and with it racial discrimination, is in fact something that is not abolished with one law or with ten laws, and even in 40 years we have not been able to completely abolish it.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Once again, in the closing session of the Pedagogy Congress of Havana in 2003, the then Cuban president addressed the racial issue and <\/span>stated<\/span><\/a> that: \u201cthe Revolution, beyond the rights and guarantees achieved for all citizens\u2026, has not achieved the same success in the fight to eradicate the differences in the social and economic status of the country\u2019s black population.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, Fidel recognized during the congress that, in the educational field, certain sectors occupy the most demanded places in the best institutions, while other sectors constitute the largest number of those who drop out at the upper secondary level. This educational logic determines \u2014 according to Fidel \u2014 that in the popular sectors (with a greater black and mestizo presence) fewer university places are reached, and in a greater proportion young people are in prison for common crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the beginning of the 2000s, the Cuban hip hop theme <\/span>\u00bfQui\u00e9n tir\u00f3 la tiza?<\/span><\/i><\/a> (Who threw the chalk?) was consistent with the political discourse of the moment. The musical single was a success among the young people of the time, among them the author of this text, and it animated many parties where we repeated the catchy chorus until we were exhausted. The subject related the story of the singer when he was in the National School of Art (ENA), where not a few educational barriers were placed for him. The lyrics, without a doubt, exposed a palpable reality \u2014 although submerged in public debate \u2014 about racism on the island and the inequities derived from it in the social and educational sphere for black people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those stanzas drew my attention several times, but I perceive that in everyday life, <\/span>\u00bfQui\u00e9n tir\u00f3 la tiza? <\/span><\/i>served more for \u201cjokes\u201d and youthful fun than for listening and reflecting. Nor do I remember, at least in my context, an educational and social awareness that led us to discuss the obvious signs of racism that the musical theme denounced. However, it is possible to recognize this musical hit as an important part of Cuban rap and hip hop of those times, and in addition to a broad <\/span>Afro-Cuban movement<\/span><\/a> that, since the early 1990s emerged with power in the national context of the island.<\/span><\/p>\n

Already in the field of research, the complex and multidimensional intersection between race, inequality and social representation in the Cuban context of the late 20th century and the first decade of the 21st is evident in studies such as those of Sandra Morales<\/span>1<\/b><\/sup> and that of Rodrigo Espina and Pablo Rodr\u00edguez.<\/span>2<\/b><\/sup> As part of this last research, it was evidenced that in a Havana community \u201cmore than 50% of the residents in citadels were black and mestizo, and that their proportion decreased in homes with average and better conditions.\u201d In this way, \u201cthere was a glimpse of the persistence of a type of inequality strongly marked by an unsurpassed structural inheritance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inequality and population at risk of poverty in Cuba<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n