Caribbean Matters: Afro-Cuban heroes Antonio Maceo and Mariana Grajales Cuello

Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. Hope you’ll join us here every Saturday. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.

It’s been widely publicized how inadequate teaching of Caribbean and Latino history is in U.S. schools, as well as the right-wing efforts to distort and erase history in states like Florida, especially with Black history. So it should come as no surprise that the name of Lt. General José Antonio de la Caridad Maceo y Grajales, most often referred to simply as “Antonio Maceo” and “The Bronze Titan” is not commonly known here. 

Within the Cuban American community, however, he is hailed as a hero. He has the same status in Cuba, where on Dec. 7, Cubans commemorate a “National Day of Mourning” on the day of his death. There are also national celebrations on his birthday, a date shared with that of revolutionary Che Guevara. 

The irony is that Maceo, a leading anti-slavery, anti-racism advocate and freedom fighter, would harshly reject today’s politics of Cuban Americans who voted for Donald Trump, the anti-Black racism within the Cuban American community, and parallel racism that still exists in Cuba. (I addressed some of these issues here.) It should also come as no surprise that Cuban Americans were the only Latino group with a majority vote for Trump.

So while Cuban Americans in Miami, Florida, relax and enjoy themselves in newly renovated Antonio Maceo Park, one wonders if any of them realize the contradictions of their politics with the park namesake’s history and symbolism.