NEW YORK.
-Malcolm X and Fidel would be happy of a moment like the one this Monday at the "Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center", where Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez paid tribute to the man who put an X in his identity because his ancestors were lost in time, they were not recognizable because of slavery, that episode that has been the most shameful of "civilization".
They would be happy. And not just anyone says so: this Monday afternoon, Afro-American writer Rosemarie Mealy, who has a book of her own about the meeting between the Cuban leader and the fighter for civil rights 63 years ago and for what the Afrodescendant community deserved and deserves to have in terms of respect and freedom, told us.
The book by the journalist and lawyer about that unique and historic exchange at the Theresa Hotel in Harlem was published in Cuba, but is unknown in the United States due to the imperial blockade.
History repeats itself. The empire and its labyrinths try to isolate every symbol or visible face of what Cuba means and does for emancipation. When the Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz, came to this city 63 years ago to speak at the United Nations, they tried to neutralize him -an absurd and ineffective affront-; and they would like to do the same to Díaz-Canel. But that wickedness only knows how to plow in the sea.
When Fidel and Malcolm X met on September 19, 1960, the latter told the Cuban leader: "As long as Uncle Sam is against you, you know you are a good man". And at some point in that dialogue full of philosophical and political confluences, the Commander in Chief told Malcolm X: "We fight for all oppressed people".
History, like a loop, brings back episodes. That is why we dare to say that if Malcolm X had spoken today with the current President of the Greater Antilles, he would have made a similar reasoning, of intact validity, about Uncle Sam on one side, and kindness as a counterpart.
Decades ago, when Fidel heard about Uncle Sam, he pointed a finger at "the magazines and newspapers". The Change of Epoch due to the New Information and Communication Technologies had not yet taken place; but in essence the attack was the same as today: to change truths for lies, to shoot at an image, to shatter the symbols that do not fit into the fold of the subjugated.
And since everything is connected, it was not by chance that on a cool Monday night, in the Harlem neighborhood, President Díaz-Canel Bermúdez paid tribute to a rebellious man of uncomfortable ideas: Malcolm X.
On the grounds of the Memorial and Educational Center, special hosts - heirs to the legacy of Malcolm X - warmly welcomed Díaz-Canel and his partner Lis Cuesta Pereza, as well as the official delegation that arrived from the Caribbean Island to take part in the debates of the United Nations General Assembly.
"You are always going to be welcome home", was heard in a large white-hued room. Later, Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, told the Cuban leader that the Memorial was honored and privileged to welcome friends from the Caribbean country.
The daughter of the exceptional fighter recalled the hours in which Fidel was received in solidarity in Harlem, and the moment in which he talked with Malcolm X. She said that the historic Theresa Hotel still exists, and that this September 19 marks the 63rd anniversary of that dialogue between two great men.
My father, she said, honored what Fidel Castro symbolized. Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz told President Díaz-Canel: "Your visit pays tribute to the alliance forged between Cuba and Malcolm X." Fidel and my father, she said, dared to fight for a better world.
Then shared her impressions African-American writer Rosemarie Mealy, who spoke of the Memorial as a sacred space. "We have reaffirmed the bonds, she stressed, that unite our nations"; and to that idea she added the word "legacy" as something valuable, derived from the meeting 63 years ago.
They, Rosemarie Mealy emphasized, bequeathed to us the certainty that the destiny of humanity need not be tied to a perennial state of oppression.
A word from a brother
"Friends. Or rather: sisters and brothers", were the first words pronounced by the Cuban dignitary in the special enclosure. And that was the beginning of a speech marked by emotion and evocations.
Today we are commemorating a new anniversary, he said, of a meeting that cemented relations between two nations. The relationship between Fidel and Malcolm X, the president defined, was based on solidarity. That is why he further stated that the common struggle, in addition to breaking the unjust blockade, is to give continuity to that spirit of solidarity.
To educate in the ideas of Malcolm X - emphasized Díaz-Canel - is the best way to pay homage to him. And then he shared personal experiences, the interest of young Cubans, those of his generation when they were students, to read the book with the biography of Malcolm X, to find the text in all possible places. Reading those pages, said Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, consolidated values such as the defense of social justice and solidarity with the peoples of Africa.
The Head of State recalled that he belonged to a generation of Cubans who grew up reading and hearing about Malcolm X. He noted that he was one of the first Cubans to read the book. He stressed that he was one of the true heroes that the Revolution "taught us to respect and love", when in other parts of the world the American hero was Clark Kent, alias Superman, and the fighters for civil rights suffered harassment, persecution, defamation and silencing.
The dignitary said that during a recent tour of African nations, he experienced the history of "our common ancestors" who came to America on the ships of slave traders who not only tore those human beings from their lands, from their communities, from their roots. They not only took away their freedom, which is like taking away their oxygen. They forced them, he recalled, to bear the names of those who appropriated their lives to exploit their labor force. They thus cut off, in the most brutal and humiliating way, one of the most sensitive legacies of any human being: the family.
"Who first made us think about that dimension of the crime of slavery was Malcolm, with that X that claimed the unknown branch of his ancestry," said the Head of State.
Díaz-Canel emphasized that Malcolm X, in his short and intense life -he lived, he said, 39 years, like Che Guevara- broke all the molds imposed by the racist and segregationist narrative, by becoming a keen observer of the social reality of his time and a radical activist of his environment.
For Fidel and for Cuba -the Head of State said- he also defied the imperial powers: "The Revolution will never forget his role in inviting the rebel leader and his delegation to stay at the Theresa Hotel, in the heart of the black neighborhood of Harlem, when the intention was to boycott the Cuban presence at the United Nations, in 1960".
"That generous and fraternal gesture culminated in the historic meeting between Malcolm X and Fidel in September 1960 and extended to the more discreet meeting between Che Guevara in 1964".
The violent death of the Afro-American leader who aroused so much sympathy among the revolutionaries of an era of hopeful revolutionary effervescence, was a hard blow for his family, especially for his wife Betty Shabazz and his daughters, reflected Díaz-Canel Bermúdez: "It was also a blow for those who were inspired by his leadership, his eloquent speech and his growing commitment to justice. And it was a blow to his brothers in the struggle for the ideals of justice throughout the world".
For these and many other reasons that go without saying, we have come to honor Malcolm X and, with him, to pay tribute to our African-American brothers and sisters, to the people of the United States, to those who fight for justice, against exploitation and segregation. To all those who believe, like Malcolm and Fidel, that a better world is possible, the dignitary stressed.
In another moment of his speech, the President of the Greater Antilles made reference to how the American fighter mentioned the Cuban Revolution in several speeches, as an important and true reference of the struggle for justice of the peoples, in their battle for freedom and independence.
"To this place, where those who feared that vision so clear and committed to the destiny of the peoples violently cut short their lives, the Cuban delegation that is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly has come to pay tribute," the President said.
And towards the end of his remarks he stressed: "The meeting between Malcolm X and Fidel Castro, that historic dialogue between them, which other generations of Cubans and Americans have held for more than six decades with respect, admiration and mutual affection, is and will be the most beautiful proof of how much we have in common, the children of both peoples who believe in justice and fight for it".
