Cuba’s 1912 ‘little war’ ended in a quasi-genocidal extermination of Black voters and activists.

Evidence

In 1912, the anti-Black movement in part inspired by American influence in Cuba reached a culmination. The suppression of an association of Black voters, the Partido de los Independientes de Color, led to armed revolt and “the ensuing racial war, still insufficiently studied, led to a nationwide extermination of blacks of quasi-genocidal proportions.” Casal, op. cit., p. 14. This was “the little war of 1912.” Casal recalls as a child listening to the stories in her family: “A grand-uncle of mine was assassinated, supposedly by orders of Monteagudo, the rural guard officer who terrorized blacks throughout the island. Chills went down my spine when I heard stories about blacks being hunted day and night; and black men being hung by their genitals from the lamp posts in the central plazas of small Cuban towns.” — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2129

Categorization

• CANDY: The specific image—Black men hung by their genitals from lamp posts in Cuban town plazas—is a visceral, quotable detail for conversation; horrific but memorable.
• SEED: The suppression of the Partido de los Independientes de Color is a nearly forgotten racial massacre, ripe for a piece on how early US influence in Cuba included exporting Jim Crow extermination.