The ongoing mass protests in Cuba are a clarifying thing – and not just about the brutal nature of that country’s communist regime. They have equally shown the true colors of Black Lives Matter in the United States.
As the past few days have demonstrated, the supposed social justice group cares far more about advancing the red banner of Marxism than protecting Black and Brown people.
The truth became clear on Thursday morning, when Black Lives Matter (BLM) released its official statement about the Cuban protests. It’s telling that it took so long for the group to issue any statement at all – the protests started Sunday, and the regime crackdown not long after. What’s more telling is what the statement said. It was full of blame for the United States, and full of praise for Cuban communism.
BLM minced no words: "The people of Cuba are being punished by the U.S. government." Apparently, through a decades-long embargo, the U.S. has "instigated suffering for the country’s 11 million people – of which 4 million are Black and Brown." The group simultaneously claimed that "Cuba has historically demonstrated solidarity with oppressed peoples of African descent."
Both claims are false – obviously so.
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To start, the United States is not oppressing the Cuban people. That distinction belongs to the communist regime founded by Fidel Castro – and the U.S. embargo is a response to Cuba’s tyranny.
For more than 60 years, the country’s leaders have denied all basic freedoms, imprisoned people for their political views, and systematically pillaged the country’s wealth. And while the BLM statement claimed the U.S. is "undermining Cubans’ right to choose their own government," it is in fact the Cuban authorities that protect the communist regime at any cost – even violence toward the country’s citizens.
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That’s what’s happening right now, and it directly disproves BLM’s second claim. The Cubans marching in the streets want nothing more than libertad, yet the regime’s response has been to shoot at protesters, raid homes, and kill at least one person, though my sources in Cuba tell me the true number of deaths is much higher.
And who, pray tell, are authorities punishing in this crackdown? Among others, Black and Brown Cubans. These are the very people for whom BLM claims to advocate. Yet the arbiters of racial justice can’t muster a word of criticism against the communist regime.
The question is why BLM tolerates such obvious injustice. The answer is the same ideology that animates the Cuban regime – Marxism.
Two of Black Lives Matter’s founders are trained Marxist agitators, according to one of them, and the organization itself reflects it. Its operational agenda is essentially to overthrow American society, which it deems irredeemably unjust, and build a new one in its place.
If Black Lives Matter truly cared about Black and Brown people, it would condemn the Cuban regime with same fervor it currently reserves for the United States.
It has made perfectly clear what it wants in this brave new world: A state with the power to punish anyone it pleases, and penitents forced to publicly repent their privilege.
What is that vision, if not a Marxist state with struggle sessions? Such countries already exist, like China. Another example is the country BLM refuses to denounce: Cuba.
There’s a reason the group’s recent statement condemns the U.S. for trying to "crush [Cuba’s] Revolution." It’s the same reason one of BLM’s founders has stood side-by-side with Nicolas Maduro, the dictator who has brought Cuban-style socialism and oppression to Venezuela.
If Black Lives Matter truly cared about Black and Brown people, it would condemn the Cuban regime with same fervor it currently reserves for the United States. That it refuses to do so points to its real goal – the same goal that Marxists have sought since the Russian Revolution and in every Marxist movement since. They want nothing less than power, and they’re willing to obtain it by any means.
The proof is playing out on the streets of Havana, Santiago, Camaguey and countless other Cuban cities. In the fight to tear down the U.S., what does it matter if Black and Brown Cubans must be killed in the streets?
Josef Stalin may not have actually said "you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs," but that sentiment animates the leadership of BLM. For them, the suffering of minorities on that communist island nation is not in vain, because it provides an opportunity to further undermine the locus of liberty in the world.
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By backing Cuba and bashing the U.S., Black Lives Matter is standing in the way of Cuba’s liberation. So are BLM’s allies, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who make similar arguments. Their defense of the indefensible and criticism of their own free country have dangerous effects. It intimidates Americans from supporting the Cuban people and may even block the Biden administration from punishing the Cuban regime for its oppression.
Whether Black, Brown or any other color, the Cuban people deserve the libertad for which they’re chanting in the streets. The same is true for the American people, who also deserve better than dangerous hypocrisy of Black Lives Matter.