My friend Carlos Eire, author, university professor and one of the 14,000 unaccompanied children who came to the US under "Pedro Pan" in the 1960s, alerted us to the latest display of Jesse Jackson irresponsibility.
Incredibly, Jesse Jackson, the same man who could not speak enough about Nelson Mandela and apartheid in the 1980s, went to Cuba and did not demand to see the many blacks in Castro's political prisons.
Why didn't he join "Las damas en blanco" (Ladies in White) and march on Sunday? These ladies are keeping "hope alive" every week and face oppression when they march. The leaders of this group are black Cuban women who are harassed constantly.
Why didn't he sit down with Dr Oscar Elias Biscet, a celebrated prisoner. Is it because Dr Biscet has criticized the pro-abortion policies of the Castro regime or because he opposes lifting the embargo?
My friend Carlos posted some questions for Rev Jackson:
"During a speech last week, Reverend Jesse Jackson made the following important observation:
We in the US don't fully appreciate that there are more Africans in South, Central and Latin America, than in the USA. The slave trade started through this region; the US was the caboose."
He's absolutely right.
So here are some questions for Rev. Jackson regarding his trip to Cuba this weekend:
Why did you only meet with the leaders of Cuba's overwhelmingly white dictatorship?
Why didn't you meet with the Afro-Cuban leaders of the island's courageous democracy movement?
Why didn't you meet with the leader of The Ladies in White, Berta Soler, or with Angel Moya, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, Manuel Cuesta Morua, Ivan Garcia, Guillermo Farinas, Damaris Moya Portieles or Ivan Hernandez Carrillo?
Why didn't you advocate for the release of Afro-Cuban political prisoners, such as Sonia Garro, Ramon Munoz and Ivan Fernandez Depestre?
Or is Castro's Cuba the exception to your civil rights rhetoric?"
It appears that Rev Jackson does have a double standard. He won't publicly call out the Cuban government for discrimination or human rights violations.
By the way, Rev Jackson did not get to see Mr Gross either. He went to Cuba to get some publicity but the Cuban government did not play along with him.
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