I was 16 years old when I first returned to Cuba and met my large extended family. It was exhilarating to see so many people who looked just like me and to see so many beautiful Afro Cubans everywhere.

I swear that Diahann Carroll’s twin is living in my mother’s small town of Alquizar and the unsung diva rides a bicycle to work.

Even at that young age I couldn’t reconcile the dichotomy between the racial makeup of the Cuban population on the island versus the population in the United States.

Why aren’t there more Afro Cubans in America? I asked my mother.  Continue reading →