Riptide has the only-in-Miami story on what happened to Cuban-American Melissa Dazquez when she recently decided to post an Obama sign across from the Versailles.
Here’s her recount of what went down with the customers:
“They got nasty. I’m a little overweight, so they told me: ‘You’re fat. With Obama as president, there will be no food.’ They called me a terrorist, a communist, a disgrace. A lady told me that, with Obama, America will cry blood. An old man grabbed his genitals and called me a lesbian. He said, ‘You have black babies.’” (Wait. Lesbians can make babies now?! That’s what we should be blogging about.)
What the haters didn’t know: Dazquez is Cuban, too, damn it. So, all was not a total failure. One good exchange came from the mess. An elderly woman crossed the street, marched over to her, and confessed that she once supported Fidel Castro. “When I was young, I did the same thing, hoping for change. But look what happened,” she said.
All class.
The video is supposedly on its way.
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7 comments:
Being Cuban myself, I'm not sure what bothers me more about this sentiment (it's not the first Obama/Fidel comparison I've heard)...
1) That "my peeps" are so uneducated in the policies and procedures of U.S. government that they believe said government can be so easily "overthrown" and turned into a Communist dictatorship,
OR
2) That they are so blatantly racist and completely ignorant.
Normally, I am proud of being Cuban. But the reactions and attitudes of others around me during this election season make me want hide in shame and embarrassment. Hey - I'm fairly pale! Maybe I could brush up on my Irish brogue??
Id say its mostly #2, Balou, with a heavy side of #1. Ive always been surprised at how racist Cubans can be towards blacks. Even the older Cuban women I work with have gone on "N-bomb" tirades laced with the word "hate". Then there is the ridiculous assumption that the hardliner community shares with a lot of hardcore Republicans that somehow a President can overthrow a government and turn us into a "communist" or "socialist" nation. I cant believe people actually think that can happen, like the American people would allow it to happen.
C'mon....ain't no big deal.
#2: There's a misguided idea among many Cubans, especially the older and the traditionalist, that theirs is a benign racism, a racism of jokes and "innocent" segregation ("I don't mind black people, but I don't want my daughter to date a black guy"). It's very ingrained. It also clashes spectacularly with American society.
#1: they are kept that way by all the media they consume and the constant pandering of politicians and other influencers. It's easier to mine votes by scaring people.
That been said, Versailles is ground zero. I'm sure if I go with a McCain sign to Liberty city, I'd get a similar reception.
Alex...you might find a lot of disapproval with McCain....but a racism? I don't think so. I've heard not a racist thing about McCain coming from the black community. It's all about policies and programs and how they might help or hurt that community.
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I'm sure I'll get a lot of choice words thrown my way or maybe worse. (Maybe not racism. Maybe yes. I'm Hispanic and well aware of the ethnic tensions in this city of ours). My point is that this doesn't surprise me.
When I had my anti-war bumper stickers on my car, about 6 years ago, the only people that harassed me were OLD CUBAN MEN. Interesting, because I was about 23 and tiny and they were big, fat old Cuban guys waving me down with insults and the middle finger. Once I got a hate letter on my car, and I've had them swerve into me while driving.
I'm going to say something that will make all the Cubans in the world hate me. I respect Cuban culture so much that I wrote my Master's thesis on it. However, there is no immigrant group that I can think of that thinks they know more about what's good for America than the Cubans do. I understand that it is often said that this is a country of immigrants, but most new immigrants understand that they are not from here, that this is still a country on which they are not experts.
To all the Cubans out there, about Fidel: GET OVER IT. He's basically dead and you know what, Cuba's still considered a Communist nation. There is no one in American politics since the 1700s that even remotely resembles Fidel - where's the Obama connection? Fidel was a revolutionary who led changes in a very racist country. Cuba didn't emancipate all of their slaves until 1900!
Obama is black. This escapes no one. I think that those mean people at Versailles believe, just like in old Cuba, that Obama should be shining their shoes. I can't wait till he gets elected, even if it's just to spite those cruel hecklers.
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