Walking the Cuban Tightrope

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Walking the Cuban Tightrope is a love poem to the Cuban people, to their artistic soul and their relentless struggle for freedom and dignity. From early childhood, Director Margaux Ouimet has had ties to Cuban family friends. In this film, four powerful and diverse protagonists take us on an engaging and troubling journey through Cuba’s historical and present-day struggles, guided by the principles set out by national hero, poet and abolitionist, José Martí (1853-1895) – specifically in his essay "Mi raza/My race." History is presented as lively storytelling by historian Dr. Lillian Guerra. Human rights struggles are embodied by Lawyer Laritza Diversent as well as Cuban activist rappers who put their safety on the line. Award-winning exiled Cuban political cartoonist, Ramsés illustrates the high wire tensions of life in Cuba. And legendary protest singer, Pete Seeger and his grandson Tao relate part of the saga of the popular anthem, "Guantanamera," whose lyrics were penned by José Martí.

"Beautifully filmed and powerfully evocative, Walking the Cuban Tightrope illuminates the vibrancy of Cuban society and culture today. At the same time, the film laments the repression of free thought in the 1959 revolution's extant legacy. Viewers will gain insight into the dramatic coupling of racial unity and White anti-Black prejudice that has characterized Cuba and Cuban emigrants to Florida since the end of the 19th century. This film is at once uplifting, wistful, and ominous, and is an excellent introduction to Cuban society and history for high school and undergraduate audiences." Richard Turits, Director of Global Studies, Associate Professor of History, Africana Studies, and Latin American Studies, William and Mary, Co-author, Freedom Roots: Histories from the Caribbean

"Enjoyable and insightful, Walking the Cuban Tightrope uses the life José Martí and the ideas expressed in Versos Sencillos as a point of entry into complex issues surrounding Cuban society. Topics explored include the revolution against Spain, ongoing international tensions with the United States, racism, and limitations on freedom of speech, religion, and artistic expression experienced by the population today." Robin Moore, Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of Texas at Austin, Author, Music and Revolution Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba

"Through a variety of voices, Margaux Quimet's film is a valuable and balanced evaluation of today's Cuba. The film reviews Cuba's history and its relationship to the United States since Colonial times and is framed by quotes of Jose Marti and by beautiful traditional Cuban songs. Quimet's use of time tells Cuba's sad story vividly. By the end, the viewer learns that all of the Cuban voices in this film are now exiled as well. Walking the Cuban Tightrope is an excellent account of Cuba's history up to the present days." Isabel Alvarez Borland, Professor Emerita of Arts and Humanities, College of the Holy Cross, Author, Cuban-American Literature of Exile: From Person to Persona

"Walking the Cuban Tightrope is a thoughtful documentary on the continued influence of the legacy of José Martí in Cuba and outside of Cuba. There is exciting footage of activists like Pete Seeger and political creatives like Ramsés Morales Izquierdo that will delight viewers, alongside critical commentary from community leaders and scholars. This film will leave you wanting more and will prompt viewers to read more Martí to further understand how his visionary writing still resonates today." Grisel Y. Acosta, Professor of English Language and Literature, Bronx Community College-CUNY, Author, Things to Pack on the Way to Everywhere, Editor, Latina Outsiders Remaking Latina Identity

"In a frank and refreshingly candid manner, Walking the Cuban Tightrope examines the lived reality of the Cuban people and the ongoing censorship, repression and violation of human rights on the island. Pointing out the tensions, contradictions and ironies that exist regarding the Cuban people's quest to achieve José Martí's liberatory vision of an egalitarian society on the one hand, and a history - as Lillian Guerra so aptly observes - that has yet to be fulfilled, Ouimet's film puts into relief Cuban theorist Antonio Benítez-Rojo's concept of the paradoxical and deeply complex nature of the Caribbean." Andrea O'Reilly Herrera, Professor of Literature and Women's and Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, Author, ReMembering Cuba: Legacy of a Diaspora and Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora: Setting the Tent Against the House

"Walking the Cuban Tightrope offers no simple answers to Cuba's immense challenges. Instead, it exists within the spaces of precarity that so many Cubans find themselves in today. To tell their stories, the documentary carefully parses through the contested legacy of poet/philosopher/national hero José Martí. Each of the documentary's four protagonists carefully examine his legacy through personal anecdotes that powerfully connect Cuba's current moment with its violent colonial and revolutionary past. Through interviews, candid footage, and music drawn from Martí's poetry, Walking the Cuban Tightrope highlights the urgency of remediating Martí's legacy to save a nation precariously perched between a difficult past and an uncertain future." Mike Levine, Assistant Professor of Musicology, Christopher Newport University

"This unique and timely documentary uses José Martí's life and writings as a frame to explain Cuba's centuries-long struggle for national sovereignty, racial equality, and individual freedom regardless of whether the obstacle to those laudable goals has been American imperialism or Cuban totalitarianism, or both. Using expert commentary, vivid in-country cinematography, and lush local musical traditions, the film is especially good at juxtaposing lofty revolutionary ideals and rhetoric with Cuba's often crude and repressive reality especially as it impacts human rights activists and independent artists. It is both informative and provocative and so is a great tool to generate student engagement and debate about Cuba's past, present, and uncertain future." Ted Henken, Professor of Sociology and Black and Latino Studies, Baruch College, CUNY

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Main credits

Ouimet, Margaux (film director)
Ouimet, Margaux (film producer)

Other credits

Cinematography, Javier Peréz [and 7 others]; editing, Margaux Ouimet; music, Nestor Rodriguez.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

José Martí,Jose Marti,Cuba,Cuban,Cuban history,Communism,Totalitarianism,Latin America,international relations,embargoCaribbean,Latin-American,US History,Human Rights,Literature,Poetry,Guantanamera; "Walking the Cuban Tightrope"; Bullfrog Films

WEBVTT

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Ah!
♪ ♪

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[indistinct chatter and laughter]

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♪ ♪

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[whistle trills]

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[singing in Spanish]

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[traffic noise]
♪ ♪

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[waves lapping]

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♪ ♪
[vocalizing in Spanish]

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[interposing voices]

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[waves lapping]

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♪ ♪

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[indistinct chatter]
♪ ♪

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[traffic noise]
♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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[pupils applaud]

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♪ ♪

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There are statues, busts, figures

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of José Martí all over.

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Can you explain the significance of him,

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for people who don\'t know Cuban history,

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and why there are statues everywhere

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and what people think of that?

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You know, we don\'t really have a figure like Martí

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in the United States.

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He\'s kind of part Abraham Lincoln, part Martín Luther King,

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the authority of Moses.

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Throw in a few dashes of Walt Whitman.

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That\'s José Martí for Cubans.

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♪ ♪

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[birds chirp]

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Tightropes, for me, are a symbol

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of our life since the beginning.

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We were the tip of the spear

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of the Spanish Empire in America,

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and since that moment,

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this island was

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under tremendous pressure.

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It\'s like an artist in a tightrope.

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It\'s constantly in tension, balancing.

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And imagine, for example, when the revolution won in 1959.

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Immediately, in 1961,

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the Russians enter here with a tremendous power,

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[bomb thuds and echoes]
nuclear power.

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Imagine the tightrope was tightened.

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I use many tightropes in my cartoons because of that.

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Everything is sustain in a very precarious balance.

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♪ ♪
[singing in Spanish]

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♪ ♪

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[audience member claps]

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♪ ♪

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History is relevant here

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because it has yet to be fulfilled.

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That destiny that Cuba was searching for

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is dependent on people being able

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to continue this struggle for change,

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which translates into understandings of the past,

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and very specific ones,

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that then translate into a project for the future

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and also translate into a way to explain the paradoxes

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that continue to define the society.

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[car engine whirrs]

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[dog yaps]
[birds chirp]

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[waves lapping]

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♪ ♪

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[interposing voices]

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[street vendor shouts in Spanish]

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[street vendor shouts in Spanish]

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♪ ♪

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[indistinct chatter]

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[motorcycle engine revs]

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When José Martí is arrested

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for writing what is pretty much an adolescent-style letter,

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he\'s thrown into prison.

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But the time that he spends in prison,

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he\'s doing hard labor.

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He\'s shackled.

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He has to work side by side

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with people who were Black and are either free or enslaved

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but are forced to work in a rock quarry,

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which is the worst kind of labor.

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And there he also encounters prostitutes,

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and he has tremendous pity for these women.

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So, he\'s seeing that there\'s a relationship there.

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Their bodies are not theirs,

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his body isn\'t his,

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the slave\'s body isn\'t his,

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and your body should be yours,
and I think

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that\'s the kind of emotional and intellectual nucleus

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that then becomes the center

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of this extraordinarily elaborate,

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panoramic view of the world,

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and how many of the lessons about oppression

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can be transferred to other people, other places.

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José Martí was born in 1853.

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[audience applauding]

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When he was 17 years old,

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he was active in the Cuban Liberation Movement

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and he was exiled by the Spanish governor.

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He spent most of his life in exile,

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including 12 years in New York City,

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and this is one of his last poems.

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[Pete singing in Spanish]
♪ ♪

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[Pete and audience singing in Spanish]

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Before I learned this song,

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I was as ignorant as any other gringo.

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Martí was a name I\'d heard,

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but I didn\'t know whether he was a general or a liberator.

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I never dreamed that he was such a fantastic poet.

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He says, \"I want to get independence for Cuba.

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\"If we do get independence for Cuba,

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\"how do we keep Cuba out of the claws

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\"of The Great Eagle of the North?\"

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♪ ♪

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♪ And so we keep on ♪

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♪ While we live ♪

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♪ Until we have no ♪

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♪ No more to give ♪

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♪ And when these fingers ♪

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♪ Can strum no longer ♪

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♪ Hand the old banjo ♪

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♪ To the young one stronger ♪

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All right, Old Fingers.

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I think this is my favorite verse.

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Grandpa started singing this,

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and I don\'t know when it was, but he...

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I learned it from him.

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And that\'s the ultimate foundation

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of what killed Martí at the end.

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He went back to fight for Cuba because he loved her so much.

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But he wasn\'t a fighter,

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he was a journalist.

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And he probably should never have picked up a gun.

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These are the words of José Martí,

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the great poet from Cuba,
♪ ♪

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[audience hoots and applauds]

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written almost 100 years ago.

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More!

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They ring just as true today as they did then.

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The last verse says,

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\"With the poor people of this world

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\"I want to cast my lot,

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\"For the little stream of the mountain

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\"Pleases me more than the ocean.\"

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[singing in Spanish]

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♪ ♪

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♪ Guantanamera ♪

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♪ ♪

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[Ismaël sings in Spanish]

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♪ Guantanamera ♪

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♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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[Nestor speaking in Spanish]

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♪ ♪

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[Ismaël chants in Spanish]
♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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[indistinct chatter]

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[laughs]

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[Ismaël laughs]

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[hummingbird buzzing]

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♪ ♪

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[car engine revs]

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[horn honks]

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[car engine whirrs]

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[truck engine whirrs]

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[truck brakes hiss]

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[horn honks]

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[horn honks]

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[indistinct shout]

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[truck engine rumbles]

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♪ ♪

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[hooves clop]

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[cart creaks]
♪ ♪

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[car engine whirrs]
♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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[dog barks]

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My favorite essay by José Martí

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is \"Mi Raza,\" or \"My Race,\"

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which is an extremely radical essay

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and brilliantly crafted

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so that it can somehow bring in

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the white racist and, at the same time, the radical Blacks

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who want to see racial equality

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as the key component of the new nation.

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He not only says that, though.

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He says something very paradoxical,

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which is to say

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that to be Cuban is to be more than Black and white.

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Martí expands upon this

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and says something which, for us,

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sounds very problematic.

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He says, \"The Black Cuban is too tired

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\"of the chains of slavery

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\"to enter now voluntarily into the slavery of color.\"

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So he\'s saying,

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somehow, racism based on color doesn\'t exist.

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Everybody knows it exists,

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so his utter denial that race exists

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and then the statement that somehow there isn\'t racism

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is something that, for Black Cubans, is actually appealing

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because what it says to them

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is that we will have a meritocratic system

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based on who we are,

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our commitment to being Cuban,

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and putting that first,

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and white people will have to respect that

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and essentially level the playing field for us.

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♪ ♪

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[hooves galloping]

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Spain posed no threat to the United States,

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but Cuba had very profitable plantations

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coveted by American tycoons.

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♪ ♪

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Sugar was the oil of its time.

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Nations went to war over it.

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Slaves worked it in Cuba until 1886.

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♪ ♪

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[Eva singing in Spanish]

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♪ ♪

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So, if you were a Cuban living in Florida,

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you are experiencing, in the 1890s,

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the horror of something new,

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\'cause it\'s new then.

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00:21:32.910 --> 00:21:36.270
The lynching laws,
the Jim Crow segregation

224
00:21:36.270 --> 00:21:37.710
is a product of 1892.

225
00:21:37.710 --> 00:21:40.426
And there, Martí arrives,

226
00:21:40.426 --> 00:21:42.810
and he violates all of the laws.

227
00:21:42.810 --> 00:21:45.120
He gets to Tampa,

228
00:21:45.120 --> 00:21:46.440
and the first thing he does

229
00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:49.530
is stay with Ruperto and Pauline, a Black couple.

230
00:21:49.530 --> 00:21:52.980
He doesn\'t just stay in this little tiny shack of theirs,

231
00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:56.610
but he has them pick him up at the train station.

232
00:21:56.610 --> 00:21:58.380
And then he parades around the city,

233
00:21:58.380 --> 00:22:00.090
according to those Cubans who were there

234
00:22:00.090 --> 00:22:02.190
and wrote each other about this.

235
00:22:02.190 --> 00:22:05.550
Open-air coach with two Black people.

236
00:22:05.550 --> 00:22:07.733
That was against the local laws.

237
00:22:07.733 --> 00:22:09.060
You could not do that.

238
00:22:09.060 --> 00:22:11.580
He then sleeps in their house,

239
00:22:11.580 --> 00:22:13.890
and the local white officials who were Americans

240
00:22:13.890 --> 00:22:16.050
have no idea what to do with these Cubans, you know?

241
00:22:16.050 --> 00:22:20.400
And they also live in one area of Tampa called Ybor City

242
00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:24.090
that\'s very, very famous because it\'s a cigar-making area.

243
00:22:24.090 --> 00:22:26.400
But there\'s another area,
called West Tampa,

244
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:29.163
where basically mostly white, wealthier Cubans lived.

245
00:22:30.270 --> 00:22:33.630
He visits both, and he has both groups of Cubans

246
00:22:33.630 --> 00:22:37.380
joining in Ybor City to hear him speak

247
00:22:37.380 --> 00:22:40.020
and joining across these different clubs

248
00:22:40.020 --> 00:22:42.540
to recruit among them the youth of Tampa

249
00:22:42.540 --> 00:22:43.860
to fight in the war.

250
00:22:43.860 --> 00:22:46.500
And you see that they are young white men

251
00:22:46.500 --> 00:22:48.630
who could\'ve chosen something else,

252
00:22:48.630 --> 00:22:51.060
and could certainly have become part

253
00:22:51.060 --> 00:22:54.420
of this segregationist white American society.

254
00:22:54.420 --> 00:22:58.170
And instead, no, no, they\'re gonna go fight for Cuba libre,

255
00:22:58.170 --> 00:22:59.850
and they\'re gonna believe in Martí,

256
00:22:59.850 --> 00:23:02.800
and they\'re gonna be very proud Cubans.

257
00:23:02.800 --> 00:23:06.750
♪ ♪

258
00:23:06.750 --> 00:23:09.570
One key question is, why are there Cubans in Tampa,

259
00:23:09.570 --> 00:23:13.230
and how does Martí expand the population

260
00:23:13.230 --> 00:23:15.600
of those who are in favor of the revolution

261
00:23:15.600 --> 00:23:17.250
to include not just Blacks and whites

262
00:23:17.250 --> 00:23:19.290
but workers, the working class?

263
00:23:19.290 --> 00:23:23.731 line:15%
Now, Ybor is a very pro-Spanish,

264
00:23:23.731 --> 00:23:25.560 line:15%
anti-revolution guy,

265
00:23:25.560 --> 00:23:28.770
and he employs a population of cigar-makers

266
00:23:28.770 --> 00:23:31.650
that are entirely Cuban, have moved to Tampa.

267
00:23:31.650 --> 00:23:35.427
About 46%, 47% of them are Black Cubans,

268
00:23:35.427 --> 00:23:36.600
and the others are whites,

269
00:23:36.600 --> 00:23:39.930
and they worked side by side in this society

270
00:23:39.930 --> 00:23:43.350
dominated by, you know, the white Jim Crow culture.

271
00:23:43.350 --> 00:23:45.720
These workers go on strike.

272
00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:48.337
And right there is when the workers say,

273
00:23:48.337 --> 00:23:51.570
\"Okay, if the PRC is on our side,

274
00:23:51.570 --> 00:23:53.370
\"then they need to help us with this.\"

275
00:23:53.370 --> 00:23:56.280
And Martí responds brilliantly.

276
00:23:56.280 --> 00:23:58.800 line:15%
He sends his best lawyer.

277
00:23:58.800 --> 00:24:00.870 line:15%
So he goes down to Tampa,

278
00:24:00.870 --> 00:24:03.000
and he sues the factory

279
00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:05.880
for a violation of US immigration policy.

280
00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:07.781
And lo and behold, they win,

281
00:24:08.790 --> 00:24:12.150
and the Cuban workers are elated

282
00:24:12.150 --> 00:24:15.150
because the Republic of Cuba has proven

283
00:24:15.150 --> 00:24:17.400
that it will defend their rights.

284
00:24:17.400 --> 00:24:21.720
And so suddenly, you have workers beyond those of Florida

285
00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:23.580
who are making cigars in New York

286
00:24:23.580 --> 00:24:26.100
or just, like, working as factory workers

287
00:24:26.100 --> 00:24:28.860
in New York, in Philadelphia, in the Northeast,

288
00:24:28.860 --> 00:24:30.600
and who are suddenly drawn to this cause

289
00:24:30.600 --> 00:24:33.360
because the Cuban revolutionary government of Martí

290
00:24:33.360 --> 00:24:36.142
has proven that it is in favor of labor rights.

291
00:24:36.142 --> 00:24:40.463
♪ ♪
[truck engine whirrs]

292
00:24:40.463 --> 00:24:45.463
[singing in Spanish]
[traffic and street noises]

293
00:24:45.546 --> 00:24:48.046
[hooves clop]

294
00:24:49.478 --> 00:24:52.978
[singers sing in Spanish]

295
00:25:00.563 --> 00:25:02.528
[truck engine whirrs]

296
00:25:04.037 --> 00:25:07.528
♪ ♪

297
00:25:55.916 --> 00:25:57.040
[abrupt screeches]

298
00:25:57.040 --> 00:25:59.389
[engine revs]
[signal beeps]

299
00:25:59.389 --> 00:26:02.264
♪ ♪
[ceiling fan rattles]

300
00:26:21.846 --> 00:26:26.846 line:15%
[hip-hop music]
[singing in Spanish]

301
00:26:27.685 --> 00:26:31.888 line:15%
[rapping in Spanish]

302
00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:36.570
You have to be Cuban

303
00:26:36.570 --> 00:26:40.113
to understand the phenomenon call José Martí.

304
00:26:41.520 --> 00:26:44.913
He was a man with a big heart,

305
00:26:46.350 --> 00:26:49.770
and his death was like a symbol

306
00:26:49.770 --> 00:26:54.770
because he received only one shot, in his heart.

307
00:26:56.070 --> 00:26:59.283
When he dies, he\'s like an anchor.

308
00:27:00.120 --> 00:27:03.690
It\'s when Cuba says, \"Okay, this is...

309
00:27:03.690 --> 00:27:05.580
\"We are Cubans.\"

310
00:27:05.580 --> 00:27:07.120
That independence war

311
00:27:09.704 --> 00:27:12.480
was our first trial

312
00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:15.630
to define our condition as Cubans,

313
00:27:15.630 --> 00:27:17.043
and in that moment

314
00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:20.250
United States knew

315
00:27:20.250 --> 00:27:24.033
that we are gaining in our consciousness,

316
00:27:25.410 --> 00:27:27.867
and they enter in the war.

317
00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:30.813
Well, the rest is history.

318
00:27:32.097 --> 00:27:34.005
[ominous rumbling]

319
00:27:35.130 --> 00:27:36.900
A mysterious explosion

320
00:27:36.900 --> 00:27:39.330
in the USS Maine in Havana Harbor

321
00:27:39.330 --> 00:27:44.330
was the perfect pretext for the US to invade Cuba in 1898.

322
00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:51.960
Though Cubans played a major role

323
00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:53.700
in the fight for liberation,

324
00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:55.560
the United States prevented them

325
00:27:55.560 --> 00:27:58.920
from participating in the Paris peace talks.

326
00:27:58.920 --> 00:28:02.790
Not a single Cuban signature appeared on the treaty,

327
00:28:02.790 --> 00:28:06.543
which set no time limit for American occupation.

328
00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:11.230
♪ ♪

329
00:28:21.090 --> 00:28:25.680
By 1905, 20% of Cuba\'s total land area

330
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:27.570
belonged to US citizens

331
00:28:27.570 --> 00:28:31.110
who controlled 40% of sugar production.

332
00:28:31.110 --> 00:28:32.760
Cuba\'s economy boomed,

333
00:28:32.760 --> 00:28:37.290
but economic inequality led to political unrest.

334
00:28:37.290 --> 00:28:41.460
Frequent American military interventions in Latin America

335
00:28:41.460 --> 00:28:44.880
were costly and unpopular in the US,

336
00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:47.880
so American corporations in Latin America

337
00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:52.880
formed private armies using violence to maintain control.

338
00:28:53.400 --> 00:28:55.950
This lasted until 1959,

339
00:28:55.950 --> 00:28:58.410
when a revolt led by Fidel Castro

340
00:28:58.410 --> 00:29:02.133
overthrew the political order and seized plantations.

341
00:29:03.270 --> 00:29:06.900
Wearing the mantle of visionary thinker José Martí,

342
00:29:06.900 --> 00:29:10.350
Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

343
00:29:10.350 --> 00:29:13.380
Literacy campaigns and universal healthcare

344
00:29:13.380 --> 00:29:16.170
improved the living conditions of all Cubans,

345
00:29:16.170 --> 00:29:18.720
Black, mulatto, and white.

346
00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:21.540
But I knew Cuba before Fidel Castro.

347
00:29:21.540 --> 00:29:22.800
I went there.

348
00:29:22.800 --> 00:29:25.260 line:15%
It was the playground of the mafia.

349
00:29:25.260 --> 00:29:27.060 line:15%
We had all the big jazz nightclubs

350
00:29:27.060 --> 00:29:29.151 line:15%
that Nat King Cole and myself

351
00:29:29.151 --> 00:29:31.434
were petitioned to perform in.

352
00:29:32.310 --> 00:29:35.070
I saw blatant racism and oppression.

353
00:29:35.070 --> 00:29:38.433
Not been for the Cuban presence in Africa,

354
00:29:39.270 --> 00:29:43.920
one of the greatest friends that Cuba has is Nelson Mandela

355
00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:44.820
and his appreciation

356
00:29:44.820 --> 00:29:48.033
for what the Cuban people did, and Fidel Castro.

357
00:29:50.580 --> 00:29:53.940
But I think, if you don\'t understand that history,

358
00:29:53.940 --> 00:29:55.680
then you\'ll never really understand

359
00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:57.930
the enormous success and the importance

360
00:29:57.930 --> 00:29:59.133
of the Cuban Revolution.

361
00:30:00.270 --> 00:30:03.420
This revolution energized a whole generation

362
00:30:03.420 --> 00:30:06.993
of young people in Latin America and around the world.

363
00:30:08.010 --> 00:30:12.123
Freedom from all forms of colonialism was the new promise.

364
00:30:13.320 --> 00:30:15.000
I think that what happened with communism,

365
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:16.470
what happened with the leaders--

366
00:30:16.470 --> 00:30:19.020 line:15%
Power corrupted them,
and corrupted them

367
00:30:19.020 --> 00:30:21.390 line:15%
to the point where they became totalitarian.

368
00:30:21.390 --> 00:30:22.770 line:15%
They became so oppressive

369
00:30:22.770 --> 00:30:24.970 line:15%
that they had to eventually implode,

370
00:30:24.970 --> 00:30:26.386
which was what happened.

371
00:30:26.386 --> 00:30:28.105
♪ ♪

372
00:30:28.105 --> 00:30:30.688
[waves lapping]

373
00:30:32.002 --> 00:30:37.002 line:15%
♪ ♪
[singing in Spanish]

374
00:31:28.483 --> 00:31:33.483
♪ ♪

375
00:31:34.741 --> 00:31:36.583
[indistinct chatter]

376
00:32:46.371 --> 00:32:48.954 line:15%
[crowd cheering]

377
00:32:50.690 --> 00:32:52.387 line:15%
As Martí said,

378
00:32:52.387 --> 00:32:55.443 line:15%
\"Liberty is the right of every man to be honest,

379
00:32:56.490 --> 00:32:59.046
\"to think, and to speak without hypocrisy.\"

380
00:32:59.046 --> 00:33:00.960
[audience applauds]

381
00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:03.450
Cuba, like the United States, was built, in part,

382
00:33:03.450 --> 00:33:05.493
by slaves brought here from Africa.

383
00:33:08.040 --> 00:33:09.480
Like the United States,

384
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:11.400
the Cuban people can trace their heritage

385
00:33:11.400 --> 00:33:13.653
to both slaves and slave owners.

386
00:33:13.653 --> 00:33:16.736
♪ ♪

387
00:34:40.447 --> 00:34:43.399
[helicopter rotors buzz]

388
00:34:46.316 --> 00:34:49.733 line:15%
♪ ♪

389
00:34:53.641 --> 00:34:55.224
[car tires screech]

390
00:35:06.876 --> 00:35:09.709 line:15%
[audience cheering]

391
00:35:12.067 --> 00:35:15.359 line:15%
♪ ♪

392
00:35:33.450 --> 00:35:35.580
I really enjoyed to make this flip-book,

393
00:35:35.580 --> 00:35:39.573
because combining José Martí with salsa

394
00:35:39.573 --> 00:35:43.698
is like making him more free.

395
00:35:44.753 --> 00:35:48.278
♪ ♪

396
00:36:01.454 --> 00:36:03.567
♪ ♪

397
00:36:03.567 --> 00:36:05.025
[performers speak indistinctly]

398
00:36:05.025 --> 00:36:06.924
♪ ♪

399
00:36:06.924 --> 00:36:09.207
Ahhhhhh!

400
00:36:09.207 --> 00:36:14.187
♪ ♪

401
00:36:38.386 --> 00:36:41.469
♪ ♪

402
00:36:45.516 --> 00:36:47.302
[drumstick clacks]
[Ismaël singing in Spanish]

403
00:36:47.302 --> 00:36:49.719
[wings flap]

404
00:36:52.157 --> 00:36:54.490
[dog barks]

405
00:37:56.768 --> 00:37:59.170
♪ ♪

406
00:37:59.170 --> 00:38:03.587 line:15%
[group singing and vocalizing]

407
00:38:47.477 --> 00:38:51.560 line:15%
[Pope Francis speaking in Spanish]

408
00:39:08.164 --> 00:39:09.909 line:15%
[camera shutters snap]

409
00:39:11.626 --> 00:39:14.761
[flags rustle]

410
00:39:14.761 --> 00:39:18.761 line:15%
♪ ♪

411
00:39:24.711 --> 00:39:27.221 line:15%
[indistinct chatter]

412
00:39:32.404 --> 00:39:36.349 line:15%
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]

413
00:39:36.349 --> 00:39:39.849
♪ ♪
[singing in Spanish]

414
00:40:05.202 --> 00:40:09.285
♪ ♪
[singing in Spanish]

415
00:40:15.651 --> 00:40:19.234
♪ ♪

416
00:40:24.233 --> 00:40:26.816
[waves lapping]

417
00:40:28.232 --> 00:40:31.732
♪ ♪
[singing in Spanish]

418
00:40:38.607 --> 00:40:41.274
[cart wheels rattle]

419
00:40:43.387 --> 00:40:47.554
[street vendors shout in Spanish]

420
00:40:55.730 --> 00:40:59.005
[street vendor shouts in Spanish]

421
00:41:08.082 --> 00:41:10.648 line:15%
[indistinct chatter]

422
00:41:16.350 --> 00:41:20.820
Very few students have read \"Mi Raza,\" \"My Race.\"

423
00:41:20.820 --> 00:41:24.990 line:15%
I teach it, and we have a wonderful debate about this idea,

424
00:41:24.990 --> 00:41:26.520 line:15%
you know, \"What does it mean in the moment

425
00:41:26.520 --> 00:41:28.260 line:15%
\"when Martí is saying these things?

426
00:41:28.260 --> 00:41:30.360
\"And what does it mean today?\"

427
00:41:30.360 --> 00:41:33.217
And today, you know, Black Cubans would say,

428
00:41:33.217 --> 00:41:35.610
\"Hey, hey, hey, hang on a second.

429
00:41:35.610 --> 00:41:40.368
\"This idea that, y\'know, we\'re gonna enter freely

430
00:41:40.368 --> 00:41:42.902
\"or voluntarily into a slavery of color

431
00:41:42.902 --> 00:41:44.340
\"when we\'ve just recently been released

432
00:41:44.340 --> 00:41:46.740
\"from, you know, real slavery,

433
00:41:46.740 --> 00:41:47.820
\"that\'s ridiculous.

434
00:41:47.820 --> 00:41:50.040
\"When did racism not exist?\"

435
00:41:50.040 --> 00:41:51.576
So why is it not taught?

436
00:41:52.410 --> 00:41:53.917
Only the phrase, you know,

437
00:41:53.917 --> 00:41:56.483
\"Cubans are more than Black and white,\" that\'s taught.

438
00:41:57.330 --> 00:42:00.360
The idea of a nation for all, that\'s taught.

439
00:42:00.360 --> 00:42:02.760
But we don\'t teach these other things in Cuba,

440
00:42:02.760 --> 00:42:06.135
because they create and generate debate.

441
00:42:06.135 --> 00:42:09.935
♪ ♪

442
00:42:22.288 --> 00:42:25.371
♪ ♪

443
00:43:22.592 --> 00:43:25.675
♪ ♪

444
00:43:32.922 --> 00:43:36.589
[interposing voices]

445
00:43:53.756 --> 00:43:56.277 line:15%
♪ ♪

446
00:44:54.090 --> 00:44:57.792
♪ ♪

447
00:44:57.792 --> 00:45:02.315 line:15%
[dog barking]
[gate clacks]

448
00:45:10.668 --> 00:45:13.668
♪ ♪

449
00:45:20.935 --> 00:45:24.018
♪ ♪

450
00:45:34.405 --> 00:45:37.947 line:15%
♪ ♪

451
00:45:54.724 --> 00:45:57.557
♪ ♪

452
00:46:00.931 --> 00:46:03.154
[pen taps]

453
00:46:03.154 --> 00:46:05.821
[pen scrapes]

454
00:46:09.060 --> 00:46:12.150
I draw a cartoon about Cuba

455
00:46:12.150 --> 00:46:16.743
that was publish in the independence Cuban press.

456
00:46:20.220 --> 00:46:21.053
Oh?

457
00:46:28.080 --> 00:46:30.690
They gave me the first prize

458
00:46:30.690 --> 00:46:33.600
in the category of Editorial Cartoon,

459
00:46:33.600 --> 00:46:38.370
World Press Cartoon, oh, 2019,

460
00:46:38.370 --> 00:46:41.837
and we celebrated in Portugal.

461
00:46:43.320 --> 00:46:45.183
You know, it was a big honor.

462
00:46:46.456 --> 00:46:49.873
[stamp thuds and echoes]

463
00:46:53.786 --> 00:46:56.467 line:15%
[hip-hop music]
[singing in Spanish]

464
00:46:56.467 --> 00:46:59.291 line:15%
[rapping in Spanish]

465
00:46:59.291 --> 00:47:02.791 line:15%
[chanting in Spanish]

466
00:47:06.683 --> 00:47:10.183 line:15%
[singing in Spanish]

467
00:47:14.686 --> 00:47:17.700 line:15%
When you show that video, you\'re showing the fact

468
00:47:17.700 --> 00:47:20.790 line:15%
that you have two people who participated in making it

469
00:47:20.790 --> 00:47:23.550 line:15%
who won the Latin Grammy for Song of the Year,

470
00:47:23.550 --> 00:47:25.560
and they\'re both political prisoners right now

471
00:47:25.560 --> 00:47:28.560
because they made the song and because they\'re Black.

472
00:47:28.560 --> 00:47:31.500
Black activism has always been terrifying

473
00:47:31.500 --> 00:47:33.720
for the white political establishment of Cuba.

474
00:47:33.720 --> 00:47:36.360
Many Cubans are now seeing the struggle

475
00:47:36.360 --> 00:47:38.130
of Black people in Cuba

476
00:47:38.130 --> 00:47:39.810
as the source for the resurgence

477
00:47:39.810 --> 00:47:42.840
of the kind of democracy and true freedom

478
00:47:42.840 --> 00:47:45.690
that José Martí and the Black leadership of his time

479
00:47:45.690 --> 00:47:46.523
had started to build.

480
00:47:46.523 --> 00:47:48.182
[person speaking in Spanish]

481
00:47:48.182 --> 00:47:52.249 line:15%
[singing in Spanish]
[hip hop music]

482
00:47:52.249 --> 00:47:54.224 line:15%
[chanting in Spanish]

483
00:47:54.224 --> 00:47:58.153 line:15%
[singing in Spanish]

484
00:47:58.153 --> 00:47:59.409 line:15%
[chanting in Spanish]

485
00:47:59.409 --> 00:48:02.909 line:15%
[singing in Spanish]

486
00:48:03.809 --> 00:48:06.352
[chanting in Spanish]

487
00:48:06.352 --> 00:48:09.352
♪ ♪
[singing in Spanish]

488
00:48:11.109 --> 00:48:16.109 line:15%
[singing in Spanish]
♪ ♪

489
00:48:29.116 --> 00:48:34.116 line:15%
[singing in Spanish]

490
00:48:40.408 --> 00:48:43.908
[singing in Spanish]

491
00:48:46.018 --> 00:48:49.050
[singing in Spanish]

492
00:48:50.458 --> 00:48:52.628
[protester shouts in Spanish]

493
00:48:52.628 --> 00:48:56.461 line:15%
[protesters chanting in Spanish]

494
00:49:01.659 --> 00:49:05.909
♪ ♪

495
00:49:27.963 --> 00:49:31.696
[kite-flyer speaking in Spanish]

496
00:49:53.134 --> 00:49:57.367 line:15%
♪ ♪

497
00:51:35.994 --> 00:51:39.077 line:15%
♪ ♪
[singing in Spanish]