1
SanterÃa was traditionally an unacknowledged and underappreciated aspect of what it meant to be Cuban. Yet the syncretism between the Yoruban religion that the slaves brought to the island and the Catholicism of their masters is, in my opinion, the underpinning of Cuban culture. Every artistic realm--music, theater, literature, etc.--owes a huge debt to santerÃa and the slaves who practiced it and passed it on, largely secretively, for generations.Unknown
2
I resent the hell out of the politicians and generals who force events on us that structure our lives, that dictate the memories we'll have when we're old.Unknown
3
The war that killed my grandfather and great-uncles and thousands of other blacks is only a footnote in our history books.Unknown
4
For me, the sea was a great comfort, Pilar. But it made my children restless. It exists now so we can call and wave from opposite shores.Unknown
5
We speak in Spanish when we make love. English seems an impossible language for intimacy.Unknown
6
Papi, I don't know what to do anymore." Lourdes begins to cry. "No matter what I do, Pilar hates me."" Pilar doesn't hate you, hija. She just hasn't learned to love you yet.Unknown
7
There are white people who know how to act politely to blacks, but deep down you know they're uncomfortable. They're worse, more dangerous than those who speak their minds, because they don't know what they're capable of.Unknown
8
For many years in Cuba, nobody spoke of the problem between blacks and whites. It was considered too disagreeable to discuss. But my father spoke to me clearly so that I would understand what happened to his father and his uncles during the Little War of 1912, so that I would know how our men were hunted down day and night like animals, and finally hung by their genitals from the lampposts in Guáimaro. The war that killed my grandfather and great-uncles and thousands of other blacks is only a footnote in our history books. Why, then, should I trust anything I read? I trust only what I see, what I know with my heart, nothing more.Unknown
9
Frustrated, El LÃder went home, rested his pitching arm, and started a revolution in the mountains.Unknown