“I find it particularly frustrating and deeply disturbing that some in the South Florida community, and some Cuban-American families in particular, continue to support illegal and life threatening migrant smuggling,” said Rear Admiral David W. Kunkel, Commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District.
NBC’s “Field Notes” blog boasts this little tidbit in their entry, “Coast Guard criticizes Cuban-Americans.” It’s the old same old story we’ve already seen. But do read the comments. Did you know that all Cubans are criminals and descended from criminals? Bet you didn’t know that one. Cubans think they own Miami. You might have suspected that. Of course, the easy answer is just to shoot the boats. You lose a few Cubans, no big deal. Oh, and one of these enlightened folks is complaining that the Miami Herald censors its comments. Go figure.
Perhaps this bunch of bigots needs a bit of re-education. If you feel up to it, go here.
10 thoughts on “The Blame Game”
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If you look closely at the comments left on that board and for that matter on all boards where Cuba and Cuban Americans are talked about, you’ll notice that the participants do nothing more than repeat the misconceptions, outright lies and sound bites that Castro and his officials spew out. This vomit is then regurgitated on a verbatim basis by the mainstream media and spoon fed to the American masses. I’m not saying that some of the commentators are not bigots [they most certainly are], what I am saying is that the mainstream media [the New York Times, CNN, PBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, the Miami Herald, Time Magazine, Newsweek, etc…] is giving people like these the ammunition with which to attack us.
For instance, it is now common place to call us “criminals,” even though Cuban Americans have a very low statistical rate of criminality and incarceration. Is there any surprise given that the mainstream media repeats Castro’s contention that we are the “Miami Mafia?” We are now often called “illegals”, is there any surprise given that the mainstream media refuses to call us by our proper appellation which would be “refugees” and “exiles?” Given that the human rights situation in Cuba is hardly ever discussed and when it is, it is glossed over, this is to be expected. Instead, the plight of the Cuban people is blamed entirely on the embargo. Or how about the fact that Castro is called “president” or “Cuban leader” instead of what he is, “dictator” or “tyrant”? Obviously, if you are the citizen of a country with a president as opposed to a dictator, then you don’t live in a dictatorship and probably don’t have political problem.
What I am saying in so many words is that we have a serious PR problem on our hands and if we connect the dots, it starts with the Cuban government that gives the mainstream media its propaganda through PRESS CONFERENCES, PRENSA LATINA, GRANMA, etc… and then the mainstream media spoon feeds the uninformed American masses.
Unfortunately, Cuban Americans do not have an anti-defamation league to see that we are not defamed, so it happens over and over again. If this coast officer had said the same thing against Mexicans, blacks or gays, I’m sure that the National Council of la Raza, the NAACP and the Gay National Task Force would be convening a press conference, asking for an interview with the officer and asking him to retrack his comments, and asking for equal time in a newspaper.
With the exception of the small Cuban American blogging community, we do not have the institutions with which to combat these slanderous remarks, what’s more, Cuban Americans for the most part are too blase, non-chalant and cavalier to really worry much.
I particularly liked this comment:
>So you lose a few cubans….no big deal. They don’t do anything for this country anyway. All the bring is disease, drugs and crime. No loss!< There isn't enough re-education in the world to enlighten these useless idiots. I thought about trying to comment, but I was just too damn angry. I agree with Ray and I have always believed that if, among all of the Cuban exile groups, especially in Florida, someone would just grab the bull by the horns and form an anti-defamation league to defend the honor of CA community, this crap would take place a lot less often. Take the quote I posted here and substitute it with "blacks" or "jews" and publish that on NBC and see what happens to the author. His career would be over faster than you can say Dog the Bounty Hunter. Yet it continues to be acceptable to bash a Cuban for fleeing tyranny. And someone compared them to PUERTO RICANS who leave the island? Um, HELLO?? How can a Puerto Rican, who is a US citizen, flee TO his own country? This alone shows the magnitude of ignorance of the general population. Claudia http://www.claudia4libertad.com
Ray:
Well done.
Another thing that bothers me about the immigration mess in general (e.g. Mexican, Dominican and other migrants) are that drastic remedies a la Hitler are proposed, shooting, expelling en mass, etc. One might think those who offer those solutions were 1917 Turks, 1930s Nazis or genocidal maniacs such as those Rwandans of far more recent memory, or even present day Kenyans …’
Ray,
I hear you, but remember that the vast majority of people who post those type of comments on web sites and blogs are trolls and cranks who just want to get a rise out of people. Their numbers are likely quite small, but find pleasure in posting over and over again.
The best way to deal with this is to take these folks with a HUGE grain of salt. At the same time, media sites ought to do a better job of moderating insulting or denigrating comments.
Starting up ethnic movements and groups a la La Raza and NAACP I don’t think serves the Cuban-American community well, especially in response to yahoos like those who have nothing better to do but to post crap on the internet. The best way is by educating through personal activism similar to what we do here. We’ve made nice strides in the past year through individual and collective efforts in getting the word out about Cuba and the plight of Cubans, without the need for a Cuban-American Defamation League.
I don’t know, perhaps my attitude is a result of being tired of having to contest every single person out there who thinks that Cubans are jerks. There comes a point where we, as a community and as individuals, need to feel secure enough about ourselves and our accomplishments to not get all bent out of shape when a jerk decides he doesn’t like Cubans.
Besides, we’re already viewed as a privileged group, for better and for worse, and the creation of such a group would be bad PR as it would be viewed as us whining and complaining about our successes. That to me is the worst kind of PR.
Lol , funny thing is that i read this like 3 days ago and i posted a small note………..I wrote that the comments were basically treating every cuban and latin american as jews…..Needless to say it did not get posted. Guess they did not like the word jew.lol
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Funny !!!!
Robert:
I do see your point but having an anti-defamation league for CA doesn’t have to promote the whiner myth. Just knowing that one exists would make people think twice about making a ridiculous public statement based on ignorance. Not all people, of course, but some. I don’t think we can argue the point that since Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton stepped into the fray that people are more careful with what they say about blacks, knowing that they will be held accountable for their bigoted statements. It couldn’t hurt to know that someone COULD call them on it if a statement like “Cubans are all criminals and have not contributed anything to this country” were published, which could easily be refuted publicly, but isn’t.
Bloggers have made great strides, true, but the average ignorant Americans don’t read our blogs, thus they remain… ignorant… and continue to spew out the garbage from the MSM and websites.
It just seems to me, as a member of an “ethnic” (or nationality) group who has already gone through this, that Cubans are one of the few remaining groups in this country that it is ok to bash and stomp on.
And if people see CA’s as whiners, so be it, they’ll (the non-Cubans) get over it. In the meantime, Cubans will have taken a stand for themselves.
Just my 3 cents. (Inflation)
Claudia
Robert,
I see your point, most of those people posting on those boards are trolls and cranks, but I wouldn’t say that the sentiments they are expressing are limited only to people who post on the Internet. Remember the Elian debacle? There was a solid, vicious resistance against the Cuban community from all parts of the country and from all ethnic groups, non-hispanic whites and blacks, hispanics, etc. We were seen and described as illegal aliens akin to a wetback sneaking across the Rio Grande. We were depicted criminals who were openly disobeying American rule of law. Of course, this was the result of the Cuban government that as I have said, spoon fed the mainstream media which in turn agitated the masses.
That’s why, I’m not sure that taking it like a “hugh grain of salt” is the answer. Remember that “a lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth” and that’s what is happening to us. The lies that we are criminals and illegals is becoming a truth, the lie that Cubans, who suffer from a despotic regime are no different than Mexicans who come from a flawed, but nevertheless working democracy, has become a truth.
As Claudia points out, having an Anti-Defamation League will not make us look like whiners per se, but may instead offer us a little bit of protection. As it is, it’s open season on us and its not going to stop, its only going to get worst.
Yes, we have a hellva lot to be proud of, we have accomplished so much in 40 years with senators, congressmen, brilliant academics, CEO’s of major companies, famous actors, rich businessmen, amazing writers and talented artists, ballet dancers, sports figures, etc.. but if the media keeps on depicting us in those terms, we are going to be seen as what we are depicted–a drain on society– instead of the reality.
What happened to Cuba in the 1950’s is what is happening to us here in the USA. Cuba was a prosperous country with many good things–beautiful cities, strong middle class, talented populace, etc.. and instead of being viewed that way, when you ask people what Cuba was, they will describe a typical backwaters 3rd Latin American country which in their eyes has chickens running down the main street of the capitol and grass huts all over the place. Same is happening to the exile community. Our accomplishments are being buried under a pile of lies and disinformation.
Claudia and Ray,
I respect your opinions as they come from heart and with the best of intentions. Thinking about this, I come back thinking about successful black people like Bill Cosby, for example, and what they probably think about the NAACP and how it’s become an excuse machine for everything that ails the black community. I don’t like how these groups have the tendency to become demagogues and populist and veer away from their original vision.
Cubans have their achievements to stand on, and quite frankly we’ve never been outwardly discriminated against, at least not in a systematic sense. That’s why forming a defamation league group would be seen as another form of whining, similar to what NAACP and La Raza are viewed as these days.
I was in Miami during the Elian fiasco, and believe me it was an extremely difficult time for me and my family to have to deal with the crap that was been said and written by non-Cubans. Looking back, though, many if not most of those people were relatively uneducated and/or frustrated that their perceived paradise was overrun by non-Americans. There were plenty of non-Cubans who came to Cubans’ defense in those days. The simple fact is that there will be those that will always be predisposed to be bigots, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Blacks and Jews still deal with racist comments in this day and age even with the numbers and history they have.
I think we gain more respect from outsiders by sticking to our guns and relying on our achievements. Those that don’t see or respect our accomplishments don’t deserve our attention, and they would have even more fodder to bash Cubans if we were ever to form some kind of anti-discrimination group.
I mentioned the steps we’ve taken to combat this lack of accurate information. This blog and others that focus on Cuban issues, along with the wonderful and successful BUCL campaigns of 2007 are the best examples of how we can counter ignorance. I would also be in favor of a campaign (not an permanent organization) that focuses on Cuban-American achievements. Perhaps this could be a future BUCL campaign?
Look, we all need to face the fact that if Cuban-Americans were Democrats the MSM would love us to death. But we are not! These MSM radicals (please read leftist elitist) despise anyone who disagrees with their “superior” point of view. Soooo… In my humble opinion, the MSM is doing exactly what they do best… Character assassination! It is intentional and agenda driven.
Firefly hit the nail on the head. No Anti-defamation League that protects the reputation of Republicans or conservatives of any ethnicity will be given any validation by the dominant liberal media. At best, it will be described as the Cuban John Birch Society, or at worst (and most likely) the Cuban KKK.
I do fear Democrat and liberal bigotry, however, and I think we need to be vigilant about calling it out when we see it. The few truly bigoted Republicans I’ve ever met are the stereotypical hayseed stooges with an IQ of half their age. Most of the bigoted libs I’ve encountered are college-educated and outnumber the hayseeds by a good margin. Beware.