An old boyhood playmate who is now a Cornell educated Lawyer in Miami, has just brilliantly come up with a new demographic that is sure to shake the political establishment, re write history, cause the fall of communism again, liberalism, and every ism known to man.
CUBAN AMERICANS WHO SUPPORT OBAMA ARE NO LONGER CUBANS! THEY ARE NOW LATINS. CONVERSELY: CUBAN AMERICAN SUPPORTERS OF ROMNEY AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ARE NOT LATIN!
This is scary Brilliant yes I know!
You see it all I began when I wrote a song and made a video last week. It is a positive sentiment titled ¡PA' LANTE! (FORWARD) You may have seen it....
Now I posted the video in the usual places and many people are seeing it. But the video's main target is the Latino community in swing states and that includes the formerly (yikes!) Latin community of Cuban Americans in Miami. While the song and video have been overwhelmingly well received in all over, I have had this very strange situation where this guy who was a friend during my teenage years has lovingly resurfaced to trash talk my FB pro Obama posts. And while that alone does not merit any further attention or amplification, I think he has provided an important window into the tattered soul of a dark beast. It will be ugly, but let's look in there together.
Take a deep breath and jump over the pastelito...
So I remember this guy from the playground. He was a brainy kid, competitive and kind of smug, but we were all friends. I never thought he would be so brilliant as to create a NEW DEMOGRAPHIC!
As Cuban- Americans we all grew up in a Miami Cuban community that made us fear the words Communism and Socialism. When we went to the toilet we "sent a letter to Fidel" and pissed on the grave of "el Che" When Reagan emerged we all cheered his strength and his full throat denunciation of our greatest villain, Fidel Castro. It was a total indoctrination and brain washing from the earliest moments of childhood, probably not too different from what Cubans on la Isla got in a different way from the other side! In fact, I remember when as a curious up and coming musician, I was frowned upon and criticized for playing the music of Sylvio Rodriguez, Pablo Milanes and Los Van Van in Miami because they where "Comunistas".
Now I should state very clearly now that I do not, have not, and never will support Fidel or Che (so please do not Ban my music, and please do not point your weapons) but when I went to Cuba myself and I saw with my own two eyes the life and situation there, I understood why people stay and support the regime, and why people of my community left, and also why they where so angry and hurt to lose such an amazing piece of life and community.
It is a tragedy to lose your homeland, and I feel the great loss myself with a residue of weird nostalgia. But that is no excuse to lose your brain to anger and blindness and devote yourself to a life of fear, hate, and delusion which is what the extreme right Cuban bloc has done. Rather than deal, they help to keep in place an Embargo which lasts 50 + years and does NOTHING but create distance and make that terrible villain Fidel stronger for having a scapegoat. It is not just an Economic embargo, it is an embargo on dialogue, it is an embargo on reality!
OK, sorry, it is Cuba, and this subject is long and complex. Easy to digress. Let me just get back to my old friend.
So I posted a promo of my video ¡PA' LANTE!
Now we are in 2012. You'd think people have risen above stigmatization and the mentality that creates it. My old buddy posted a pro Romney reply, and I should have left it at that. At one point he spewed out and said that
a vote for Obama is a vote for the same ideology that our parents escaped from in CUBA
I responded by pointing out that was ridiculous especially coming from a Cornell educated professional. "Obama did not ride into power in a tank, Obama did not and will not keep power for 50 years, Obama did not put a government spy on every corner, Obama helped save the capitalist heart of America (Banks/Auto industry) and also passed the most comprehensive Insurance policy in US history which also helps the free market of the insurance industry. I would say that you could see all the posts, but they have MYSTERIOUSLY disappeared on FB!
Finally in another post (that is still up at this time) where I posted my appearance on the STEVE LESER radio show, my old friend ostracized me from the Cuban community
and he extracted the Cuban community out of the demographic of "Latin" in one deft and incredulous statement saying
" let him know that you self-identify as "Latin" and not as "Cuban-American"; as your political views are a betrayal of values of our Cuban diaspora."
Wow! Solamente Wow! There is the ugliness! There is the full extent of hatred and delusion all at once! I simply thanked him for being so clear!
I am a musician. I am not a sociologist. So I can speak from experience and let the world analyze the facts.
*****
FACT - KERRY Won in MIAMI in 04, OBAMA won by a greater margin in 08. Most of MIAMI is still CUBAN AMERICAN.
But the staunch hardcore right in MIAMI, today's RUBIO base, is still strong and wealthy and gathering at Versailles restaurant on Calle 8. They are however not the majority of Cubans anymore!
The fact that people like me, and most of my family, have left the fold and vote predominantly democratic, is evidence that the CUBAN Republican voting bloc is severely fractured. One only has to look to Cristina Saralegui, the Cuban (sorry Latin) Oprah, to see how far we have strayed from those hardcore right days!
Now, We are moving FORWARD! ¡PA' LANTE! MI GENTE!
Download the song and pump it in your car, in your house or in a club...gratis...
¡PA' LANTE MI GENTE! by josecondemusic
The video is by Nicole Betancourt, Emmy award winner and head of the website www.parentearth.com
PA LANTE Written, Produced, Recorded by Jose Conde - PIPIKI RECORDS
Special Guest Vocal Nuriya la Tanita
Roberto Poveda – Special Guest Vocal
Steve Gluzband – Trumpet
Chris Stromquist - Snare Rolls
Lead Vocals and all instruments and drum programming by Jose Conde
©2012
Bonus Video
I made this video 4 years ago in support of our great president Barack Obama,
Respondele a OBAMA. Now it is PA LANTE!