This past weekend, February 4th, the legacy of revolutionary Cuban president Fidel Castro was commemorated at Washington Heights’ Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Center (3940 Broadway). Activists from throughout the metropolitan area reflected on Fidel’s relationship with Harlem and Malcolm X.
On December 5th, 2016, a memorial for Commander Castro at Harlem’s All Soul’s Episcopal Church (88 St. Nicholas Ave.) was hosted by the December 12th Movement. He had joined the ancestors on November 25th, and was memorialized in Cuba four days later, with various world leaders attending.
A Castro documentary movie played prior to speakers advocating audience members “to continue Castro’s work to honor the life and legacy of the anti-western imperialist leader who stood up against capitalist powers despite enduring the U.S.’ crippling economic sanctions.”
Cuban Mission representative, Mrs. Ana Rodriguez, read a statement recalling Castro’s decades-long relationship with Harlem.
“We came here today to celebrate his life because Fidel has not died, he lives in every one of us,” she noted. “He taught us to live with dignity, to right the wrongs against injustice and discrimination, and to never give up, we must continue with courage and solidarity. Although he will never return to Harlem physically, however, I am convinced that his ideas, thoughts and legacy will stay in Harlem.”
Attorney Roger Warham read Robert Mugabe’s statement the Zimbabwean president delivered at Castro’s December memorial in Cuba. “Fidel was not just your leader, he was also our leader, and leader of all revolutionaries!”
Brother Tarik-Black Panther added how, “[Western imperialists] were angry cuz Fidel stopped the 1% from getting a greater portion of the wealth.”
Next up, D-12’s Viola Plummer recalled meeting Castro during his 1995 NYC visit: “I said to him, ‘Comrade, what we are concerned about is Sister Assata Shakur.’ He said, ‘As long as I am alive Assata will be free!'” The audience then erupted in chants of “Long live Fidel! Give the yankees hell!
Activist Prof. James Small followed by saying: “The Cuban revolution set the model for revolutions the worldover. He went up against the most powerful forces in the world and never backed down. Cuba supported other revolutions throughout South America.”
Sister Camille Yarbough indicated how she, “was so upset about his passing because of the media, they only talked about the negativity, and I said, ‘What about all the good he did all over the world?'”
D-12’s Omawale Clay recalled traveling to Cuba in 1990 with activists Kwame Ture and Elombe Braith for a “Malcolm X into the 1990 conference with Father Lucas. Lucas then explained how he “first visited Cuba in 1965, just 6 years after Fidel came to power, and [we] continued providing humanitarian aid there annually, til the present time. I was blessed to have embraced one of the great statesmen of this century, Fidel Castro.”
Harlemite, Sister Nealy Baily, recalled how “the people in Harlem lined the streets when he appeared at the Abyssanian Baptist Church [1995], For blocks and blocks, and that was a testament of the love and the loyalty that Elombe Brath taught all of us, ‘When Africa called, Cuba answered’. We need to organize and educate, and that is what Fidel did for us, and that is his legacy.”
Dr. Leonard Jeffries, with wife Rosalind seated nearby, mentioned meeting Castro in 2000, “when he attended Riverside Church and spoke for 6 hours. El Comandante has a most extraordinary role in world history, not just Cuba’s. The independence of Cuba in 1959 complimented those of numerous countries in Africa. Castro was not alone, he’s with a global African family, we need to see the revolution in a global context!”
-Icepick Slim 17
