#cuban american

[abwwia]

Coco Fusco (b.1960) is a Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator. via W #PalianSHOW

[sol-draws-sometimes]

Bilingual people, how do you it!!!

How do you sustain a full conversation in English….

Growing up in a bilingual (English/Spanish) city with bilingual friends really messed me up for interacting with people outside my city.

I have recently made monolingual English speaking friends and I CAN’T DO IT MAN!

Fuck, staying home for college+COVID really did make me reliant on Spanish/Spanglish

I can text/write in English with no problems… but SPEAK… over for me! I didn’t even speak this much Spanglish growing up!!! I’m sure I did speak more than I realized, but fuck, having casual conversations fully in English is rough. I totally have the vocab(honestly my English is better than Spanish), it’s just, I slip into assuming people know Spanish when they don’t. And then my brain’s already in Spanglish mode, which is hard to turn off. I’ve started responding to my teachers in Spanish when asking questions or answering small things, WHICH I CERTAINLY DIDN’T DO BEFORE. So uh yah… speaking hard, props to all my multilingual folks out there.

[nazafrazzle]

guess who found out that it’s hispanic heritage month

[frillability]

I am Cuban American, the first generation of my family to be born in the US. My mother and her side of the family immigrated at great cost. We are so fortunate to be here. My family wasn't wealthy. Many Americans who travel to Cuba are only shown specific areas of Cuba; they are reserved for tourists and only tourists. My mother and I cannot go to Cuba right now because there is a chance she would not be admitted back into the US as her birth certificate is Cuban, (despite being a US citizen,) at the will of the Cuban government.

"Cuba does not recognize the U.S. citizenship of Cuban-born U.S. citizens who maintain residency status in Cuba. The Cuban government requires Cuban dual nationals to enter and depart Cuba using Cuban passports. Cuban-born U.S. citizens who maintain their residency status in Cuba will be treated as Cuban citizens and may be subject to Cuban restrictions and legal obligations. "

So, if the government wasn't feeling particularly honest and decided it could prove she had been maintaining residence in Cuba all this time, even though that is not true, it could be within its power to not recognise my mother's US citizenship.

Same sex marriage was not legalised until 2022. Fidel does not deserve any of the credit. This article from 2008 cites the beginning of the decline of his health. He wrote a letter 18 February 2008 stating his intentions to step down from leadership, his brother, Raúl, to officially take his place.

Lydia Smith of The Independent writes in 2018, "In a country which incarcerated LGBT people for most of Fidel Castro’s rule, the island’s capital now has gay clubs and bars and celebrates Pride every year."

"Cuba has changed drastically. In 1959, Castro came to power after leading a revolution that toppled the corrupt government of Fulgencio Batista.

Soon afterwards, police began to round up gay men. In the 1960s and 1970s, many LGBT people were imprisoned or forced into 're-education camps'.

Homosexuality was viewed as going against the ideal of the hypermasculine revolutionary – and was therefore deemed incompatible with the regime.

Homosexuality was viewed as going against the ideal of the hypermasculine revolutionary – and was therefore deemed incompatible with the regime.

'We would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider him a true revolutionary, a true communist militant,' Fidel Castro told an interviewer in 1965."

Many articles I skimmed through boasted Cuba's free trans surgical healthcare introduced in 2008. Mariela Castro, Raúl's daughter, was the director of The National Center for Sex Education and was the individual who advocated for it. If anyone, she should be credited, if my reading is correct. It only became possible after Raúl took office.

However, there is a very important note in a Wikipedia article that I would like to confirm. (If anyone has more information on it, please DM me, it has no citation, and I couldn't find further research.) In the article on LGBT rights in Cuba, contained the main table, and under the Gender identity heading reads:

"Gender change allowed since 2008; Surgery not required since 2013."

Surgery seems to have been required for gender change in Cuba until 2008. Being gay was a crime until 1979. He seems to blame his imprisonment of gay people on "Keeping one step ahead of the CIA."

Cuba also still deals with a significant amount of racism and classism. You don't hear about it because powers that be don't want you to. They want you to think that the revolution worked. They'll make you believe it when you visit. But unless you are Cuban and you weren't given an early pass out, you don't know our families' nightmares. Want to see the real Cuba? Ask a Cuban who wants to show you.

Imma get called a tankie for this even tho it's not really a tankie opinion but I always find the bizarre vitriol for Castro weird cuz yeah the dude had problems but he's also like the only politician to be like "Hey I fucked up homophobia fucking sucks I'm so sorry for that I'm going to fix that" and proceeded to make such great changes to lgbt rights in Cuba that they have some of the most progressive LGBT laws in the world and possible some of the best trans care in the world. Like, what USA politician has been like "yeah I fucked up that was wrong of me and I'm gonna change that" and tangibly changed shit for the better. You just don't get that here.

[weepingwidar]

Julia Garcia (Cuban-American, 1992) - Night Show (2023)

[jareckiworld]

Carlos Estévez — Oneiric Firetruck (oil, watercolor pencil, on canvas, 2024)

[jadeseadragon]

digitally enhanced

“Dancing To Eleggua”, by Reynier Llanes. Oil on canvas

[huariqueje]

Last Light on the Waterlilies - Onelio Marrero , 2024.

Cuban-American , b. 1958 -

Oil on canvas , 28 x 44 in.

[abwwia]

María Martínez-Cañas, Los Fantasmas: Lamento, 1991, gelatin silver print, 60 × 41 in. (152.4 × 104.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Helen Marie and Alan Gordich, 2015.53, © 1991, María Martínez-Cañas

#bornonthisday María Martínez-Cañas (born 1960) is a Cuban-born photographer whose work primarily deals with her Cuban heritage and journeys of discovery. Via Wikipedia

[gael-garcia]

We finally arrived in Cuzco, “the heart of America”. Our first day in the city, we met Don Néstor, an old soul, mom, and our official guide.

Diarios de motocicleta (2004, Walter Salles 🇦🇷🇨🇱🇵🇪)

Walter Salles: The little boy in Cuzco, we found him in the streets, or he found us. He came to us and asked if we wanted to know a little bit more about the city and offered himself as a guide. So we said, “Yes, but can we bring the Super16 camera along?” And he said, “Bring whatever you want.” And there it was. That scene, everything is Take 1. Nothing was repeated. (src)

[isaacsapphire]

Or alternatively, “I’m not a twofer token minority so the art world can’t use my gunpowder on rough hewn board art as some kind of fetish about my identity (despite obviously being right of center by heritage and experience and using conservative coded materials) after I am dead in a politically useful way.”

"ugh, my five-year-old could make that!"

"so why don't you?"

"because in my view this part of the art world is not about talent or the work itself, but about who you know and a large amount of random chance, and i'm not an insider so anything I make will be viewed as worthless."

"oh."

[majestativa]

Of beauty, hierarchic, gothic, classical.

— ANAÏS NIN ⚜️ The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 6: 1955–1966, (1977)

[wouldyourecognizethisperson-poll]

[thunderstruck9]

Emilio Sánchez (Cuban/American, 1921-1999), Untitled (A Shuttered Window in La Mansión in Matanzas). Oil on canvas, 48 x 35 7/8 in.

[pinkcrayon]

from last year - i rewatched voltron with my girlfriend

[tisajest]

I'm bored so imma share my ethnicity headcanons for the batfam. If you want the tldr version just read the bolded text lol

Bruce - WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) American, Irish, and Dutch Jewish

The Wayne family has been in Gotham for centuries and has stayed mostly WASP, the few exceptions before Martha were French, German, or Dutch typically. Martha comes from Gotham's Kane family and it is an Irish Jewish family that was established over a century ago. Her mother was from a wealthy Jewish Dutch family that fled in the early stages of WWII.

Dick - mostly French Sinti (Manouche) and Mexican Calé Romani, but also has Hungarian Boyash and British Romanichal Romani ancestry, English, WASP American, Hungarian, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Indigenous Mexican, West African, and North African. Looks like a lot listed out like that but it really just comes from being from a nomadic culture and from the Americas. He just considers himself Romani, Sinti/Calé if pressed. You won't get the whole "I'm 1/8 Italian" thing from him.

Dick's mother (Mary) was from France and had a lot of French/other Western European ancestry as well as her Sinti ancestry. Her family was culturally and ethnically Sinti Romani and had been in France primarily for centuries. Her mother was a dirty blonde with more Eurocentric features and her father looked more Mediterranean and had more Romani features.

Dick's father (John) was culturally Mexican Calé Romani because of his Mexican mother (Maria Perfecta). Her family has been in Mexico for a long time, having immigrated primarily in the 17th and 18th centuries. As such, she also had some Indigenous Mexican (primarily from Central Mexico, so Otomí, Purepecha, Nahua, Cora (among others but those were the first examples that came to mind)), West African, and Iberian ancestry, as well, primarily. Her family mostly stuck to Central Mexico, some distant lineages went either North or South.

John's father (William Grayson) also had Romani ancestry because his father, William Cobb, was Boyash and Romanichal. Cobb's mother was the daughter of Hungarian Boyash immigrants and his father immigrated from London. Grayson was disconnected from his Romani heritage, however, and was raised collectively by Haly's Circus as a multicultural orphan. Grayson's mother was Amelia Crowne, who came from a wealthy WASP American family. Due to the disconnect from his father's side, most of John's Romani cultural practices come from his mother.

Bonus: just for funsies I had Dick be born in Brazil, he's not Brazilian ethnically nor culturally, but he does speak Brazilian Portuguese and has Brazilian citizenship. Haly's also picked up a Brazilian performer around the time Dick was born. They were the honorary uncle/nephew duo of Dick's early childhood and he made sure Dick grew up speaking Portuguese correctly (John was born in Portugal and spoke conversational European Portuguese). Thus, Dick has Brazilian, American, Mexican, and French citizenship.

*I corrected some spelling errors in this section (Caló (language) to Calé (people), Senti (1 typo) to Sinti) and corrected some details that I missed in my late night writing this post (I added "more" before "Eurocentric features" bc I feel like I was implying that Mary's mom looked like a more typical white woman, which isn't the case. I also added "and had more Romani features" after Mary's father's Mediterranean description bc I feel that I implied he didn't look Romani at all, just Mediterranean, which also isn't the case. Yes both had more mixed features but both were still solidly Romani in appearance)

Jason - Irish, Italian, Greek, WASP American, French Canadian, and Anglo-Australian

Jason's father (Willis) was born to a single teen mother in Gotham. She was the granddaughter of Greek immigrants, descendant of Irish immigrants a little further back, and has general WASP-y American ancestry as well from having been in the Northeastern US for centuries. She likely also has Dutch, German, French, and Indigenous American ancestry as well, but those are generations removed and irrelevant. Willis's father was never in his life, but he had French Canadian grandparents on his mother's side and WASP American on his father's.

Jason's mother (Sheila) was the granddaughter of a WWII vet and an Australian war bride on her mother's side. Her grandfather was the son of Southern Italian immigrants and her grandmother was an Anglo-Australian primarily, with 1 Irish immigrant grandfather. Sheila's father was basically just WASP American with a somewhat recent German immigrant grandmother.

Despite being the whitest mfer, he was a polyglot from an early age because he was always out interacting with his community. So he is very conversational/fluent in Puerto Rican Spanish (has been mistaken as Puerto Rican as a result, too, and this was him when he was told he wasn't actually Puerto Rican lol), knows quite a bit of Yiddish, Cantonese, Tagalog, and other languages. He picks up languages quickly.

Tim - German, WASP American, White Cuban (mostly Spanish, French, and Chinese)

Tim's father (Jack) is mostly WASP American and German, as his mother's parents were German immigrants. The Drake family is a more recent addition to Gotham's elite, but the ancestors had been in the Northeast (New York and north New Jersey specifically) for generations.

Tim's mother (Janet) is the daughter of Cuban immigrants, both parents having left Cuba as children. Janet's mother (Emilia) was mostly of Spanish and French ancestry, her family were Cuban elites that were able to recover their wealth in NYC. Janet's father (Alfonso) was biracial, his father was Spanish and his mother was mostly Chinese. His family was also very wealthy, but lost most of it in the exile. They had to rebuild their business in Miami.

Tim speaks Spanish, but not nearly as fluently as Jason. Janet mostly spoke English to him. Tim grew up mostly monolingual, the languages he speaks later are learned through study primarily. His Spanish, thus, is a mix of Cuban, Mexican (Dick), Textbook, and Puerto Rican slang and profanity (Jason).

Cass - Han Chinese (mainland China (South) and Malaysia), Malay, Irish, and WASP American

Cass's mother (Lady Shiva) was born in Malaysia to a Malaysian Chinese mother and a Chinese immigrant father. They moved to Guangzhou when she was very young. Her Malaysian Chinese mother had some Malay ancestry as well, but she was primarily Chinese.

Cass's father (David Cain) is the son of a Northern Irish immigrant and WASP Americans. That's about all I got, I don't give a shit about him lol

Damian - Arab (specifically Jordanian circa like half a millennium ago; Palestinian and Yemeni), Han Chinese, Miao Chinese, plus Bruce's ethnicities above

Damian's mother (Talia) was half Arab and half Chinese from both parents. Her father (Ra's) was born in what is now Jordan to parents from the region, one of which (his mother) was Han Chinese originally from Western China. His father was ethnically Southern Levant, Palestinian/Jordanian. Talia's mother (Melisande) was the daughter of an American mother with a Palestinian father and a Yemeni mother. Melisande's father was the American son of parents from Yunnan, he was Miao.

See Bruce above.

Duke - African American, Gullah, (maybe Mandika, it depends)

I don't fully understand what's going on with his bio dad (Gnomon), so Imma just ignore him and just do his mother. If he's an immortal metahuman, he's Mandinka from Senegal. If he's a non-human immortal being, then he's that ig.

Duke's mother (Elaine) is Gullah. She was born and raised in Georgia and later moved to Gotham, but she was very connected to her community and culture. She raised Duke in the Gullah culture at home, as well. She also taught Duke the Gullah language, it's his first language. As Duke grew up, the home became more bi-cultural (Doug is a Gotham native, so not Gullah and thus had different traditions and culture to share).

Steph - Scottish, Polish, Lithuanian, and Black

Steph's father (Arthur) is originally from Chicago, his father was the son of Scottish immigrants and his mother was the daughter of Polish immigrants.

Steph's mother (Crystal) is a native Gothamite, her father was unknown to her (he was mostly WASP American, but he did have a black grandmother) and her mother was the daughter of Lithuanian immigrants.

That's about it, I didn't include Alfred bc I just see him as ethnically English, maybe some Celtic ancestry (Welsh/Cymry and/or Cornish) and from the South of England.

Anyway, those are my headcanons! Let me know what you think if you want.