An ancient axiom declares that the “third time is charmed,” and thus it is so as I prepare to travel to Cuba. In 1961, when a delegation under the aegis of the Fair Play for Committee was formed, I was living in Brooklyn and working at the Atlas Brakes Company, my political development still months from maturation.
A second opportunity to venture to the island was aborted before it really began when a plan to slip into Cuba via boat from Jamaica was deemed unrealistic, given the turbulence of trade winds. What could have been a second chance happened in 1990, when a delegation that included Rosemari Mealy, Bill Sales, Assata Shakur, Elombe Brath, Kwame Ture, and Omowale Clay attended the “Malcolm X Speaks in the 90s Symposium” in Havana, May 18-25.
I might have been part of this crew, but I was already in Africa, embedded with one of the group’s fighting a civil war in Angola. Now, on Tuesday, May 26, I will fulfill a dream as I embark with a delegation headed by Dr. Ron Daniels, President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century. This is basically a fact-finding trip amid all the rancor and threats by the Trump administration, including a provocative indictment of Cuba’s former president, Raúl Castro.
Our trip occurs at a time when tensions between the U.S. government and Cuba are very unsettling. Adding to the trepidation is the news that the USS Nimitz, a super aircraft carrier, entered the Caribbean as part of a planned training deployment and a strategic show of force, as diplomatic tensions mount between the U.S. and Cuba. Each phone call I receive brings a certain amount of anxiety, hoping we can complete this venture without being caught in one of Trump’s so-called furies.
If all goes as planned, the next report from me will be as early as May 30, where, Lord willing and the creek doesn’t rise, I will be in attendance at the Assata Shakur Memorial Repast at Riverside Church.
