Celebrating Caribbean American
Heritage Month
By Adrianne Jemmott
 June
is Caribbean American Heritage Month. I was involved
and supportive of this effort during the campaign
to acknowledge the contributions of Caribbean Americans
to American society. It is a testament to visionary
leadership and persistence that this objective has
been achieved. This is truly a win-win for both the
United States and the Caribbean Diaspora.
Caribbean Americans
have long made contributions to the United States.
Crispus Attucks was of Caribbean descent. At 17, George
Washington spent some time in the Caribbean, the only
place he ever visited outside of the United States.
WEB Dubois, Shirley Chisolm, Earl Greaves, Harry Belafonte,
Malcolm X, Cicely Tyson, Gwen Ifill, Constance Baker
Motley and Eric Holder all made or continue to make
significant contributions to the United States and
are of Caribbean heritage.
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Cuba:
Why most of us might be ready to visit
By Diego Zerpa Chang
 Although
the U.S. does not explicitly prohibit its citizens from
visiting Cuba and although Cubans have always welcomed
outside currency and spending with arms wide open, a
visit to this colorful archipelago has always been looked
upon with a bizarre eye. This has happened because of
several reasons, such as the obvious political matter
developed after the Bay of Pigs invasion –after
which U.S. citizens can only visit the island legally
as a part of an accepted educational or religious tour–,
or the ongoing effect of the Trading with the Enemy
Act –which forbids U.S. citizens from spending
money on Cuba–, or even the hundreds of stories
of Cubans living under extreme poverty and suffering
human rights violations.
Yet, many citizens with a wholehearted
desire to visit and experience Cuba have looked beyond
those issues, or perhaps have used those same issues
as encouragement for their trips, and they have toured
the legendary sun-drenched destination filled with huge
acreage in national parks after entering illegally,
mostly through Canada, Mexico or another Caribbean country.
This traveling trend might change pretty soon for the
better, as a few U.S. Senators are on a crusade to lift
the 47-year-old embargo that continues to press Cuba’s
communist leaders to liberate dissidents and open up
political freedom and to lift restrictions on travel
by U.S. citizens to the island. If this were to happen,
it would mean that U.S. travel agencies would soon be
able to offer Cuba as a wonderful destination for U.S.
travelers and it would probably indicate that most of
us might finally be ready to visit our close Caribbean
neighbor.
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