What’s Next for the US? What are the Implications!

FOR THOSE OF you who were reluctant to call the US president Racist, or who were convinced that he was not, isn’t the evidence clear now! Imagine in ‘Black History’ Month the President of the US dares through a social media post, to depict the 44th President Barrack Obama and his wife Michelle as Apes.

After some backlash he removed it and the White House declared that it was posted by some lower level worker whose name was never disclosed but apparently continues to work, if he/she in fact ever existed.

It was good to see Timothy Scott, Black Republican Senator for South Carolina calling it for what it is. He called it “The most racist thing I’ve seen out of the White House.” Scott we should remember, during the last presidential election, was kowtowing to Donald Trump, hoping it appeared, to get a ‘Cabinet’ position. It is of interest that Scott was one of the persons he called after the negative reaction to what was put on social media.

Was he trying to convince Scott he was not racist, or perhaps he was not responsible for the posting? When the US President first stated that Obama was not an American citizen, we have to ask what was behind it.

What emerged recently was the failure to invite Governor Wes Moore, Black Democratic Governor and Vice Chair of the National Governors’ Association to the annual White House dinner. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “It is a dinner at the White House. It is the ‘Peoples’s House’. It is also the President’s home, and he can invite whomever he wants to dinners at events here at the White House.”

Then coming near to us is the effort being made to strangle Cuba by blocking the importation of oil supplies which they had been getting from Venezuela. Efforts at strangulation of Cuba and its economy have been in place since the Cuban boycott of 1962. This is only the latest. Cuba is under enormous pressure with failure to get oil supplies. We have to think about the problems facing our students in Cuba and our ability to send more students under these conditions. There is also the pressure being put on Caribbean countries to discontinue our arrangements with Cuba in accommodating our medical and educational needs. There is also assistance given with Disaster management. Apart from problems we face, we have always to recognise that this is a continued threat to Cuba’s sovereignty. Every year the UN’s General Assembly has overwhelmingly been critical of the blockade and been asking for its removal. These have had no effect on the US position.

Then there is the continuing declaration of Cuba as a sponsor of Terrorism.

On what is that based we know not. But this is totally absurd, given the suffering of Cuban citizens over the years. We need to continue to stand with Cuba. On December 8 the Caribbean celebrated the 53rd anniversary of Diplomatic relations that started with the four independent Caribbean countries- Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

So, we have to stand with Cuba in this latest attempt to crush it. The hand of the US Secretary of State is clearly visible in these latest ventures.

The efforts by Cultural artists to expose the direction being taken by the US must be complimented. I wrote recently about Bruce Springsteen and his efforts to defend the people of Minneapolis from the viciousness of ICE. This was followed by ‘Bad Bunny’ (Benito Antonia Martinez Ocasio) Puerto Rican Grammy Winner and Superstar, Rapper and Singer, at the Super Bowl half-time show in Santa Clara, California. Without ever calling the US President’s name, the half-time show, the 4th most watched in history (128 million viewers) was in effect a critique of the direction in which the US was moving. It was an expression of Latino Culture.

His song was in Spanish except when he said, “God Bless America’. The point he seemed to be making was that America was more than the US so there were persons with the flags of American States- South America, Central America, the Caribbean and North America. Our Vincy flag was even there. In fact, I saw a photo of Becket’s son-in -law holding the Vincy flag. Singing in Spanish was central to the point he seemed to be making.

We have to stop finding excuses for the US President. The direction in which he is taking the US and its global impact is being criticised outside the US but its impact inside the US is what will eventually matter, so one has to highlight and commend the performances of Bruce Springsteen and ‘Bad Bunny’, as Cultural Artists. We have to try and stay firm and follow what is happening elsewhere.

_ Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian