Good evening,
Kevin C. Williams, Deputy Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Afro-Descendant Culture.
Dr. Rosemari Mealy and Manolo De Los Santos
Co-Conveners, Harlem-Cuba Welcome Committee
Dear All,
For Cubans, it is always an honor and a source of satisfaction to visit Harlem and pay tribute to its people.
We are united by historical ties of solidarity and cultural affinity.
That is why we always make use of our commitments to the United Nations to visit Harlem whenever we are in New York.
Being present here today at the Schomburg Center is a special privilege. It is one of the most relevant institutions that studies and understands the history of the African presence and its influence in the United States and in the Americas.
The information, literature and various materials that are treasured here allow us to understand the strong reality of slavery, racism and segregation that are part of the development of this society. They also help us to appreciate the cultural richness, literary beauty and the most prominent representation of the descendants of Africans who are part of the people of the United States and who influence the fiber of this country.
It is not possible to understand the United States without paying attention to such a rich heritage with its cruelty and kindness, with its suffering and its beauty.
It is also not possible to understand Cuba without valuing the mixture that integrates our people of a fundamentally European and African mixture, interrelated in a single ethnic character that motivates the pride of our national identity.
It is not possible to understand Cuba without studying slavery, the role of Afro-descendants in the struggle for liberation and against colonialism, without appreciating the immense cultural wealth that results from the Latin and African mixture, without paying attention to the fight against discrimination in our society, and without knowing Cuba's revolutionary commitment to end all traces of racism. It is not possible to understand Cuba without paying attention to the extraordinary effort of solidarity that unites our people with the peoples of Africa.
There are direct links between Arturo Schomburg and Cuba. He worked with José Martí, National Hero of Cuba, in the struggle for the independence of Cuba and Puerto Rico; he collaborated with the newspaper PATRIA, founded by Martí, and he visited our country at the beginning of the 20th century where he interacted with important personalities of our country.
We would like to pay tribute to Arturo Schomburg and his legacy.
We would also like to pay tribute to Langston Hughes, who is being honored in this very room.
Finally, we would like to honor all those activists who fight in this country for justice and against all types of discrimination. I am referring, among others, to Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, Elombe Brath, Lucius Walker and many others who have won the sympathy of Cubans.
Thank you.