Jay-Z continues to catch flack from his trip to Cuba with wife Beyonce. Days after releasing the scathing Republican diss, “Open Letter,” Florida Sen. Marc Rubio responded with his own counter attack.
During an interview on “This Week,” Sen. Rubio said that Jay-Z was misinformed on the facts of Cuba. He mentioned that one of Jay-Z heroes, Che Guevara, was a racist. In 2001, Jay-Z wore a Che Guevara shirt during a taping of MTV’s “Unplugged.” The shirt instantly became a chic way for those in hip-hop to attach themselves to a revolutionary.
“I think Jay-Z needs to get informed,” Rubio said. “One of his heroes is Che Guevara. Che Guevara was a racist. Che Guevara was a racist that wrote extensively about the superiority of white Europeans over people of African descent, so he should inform himself on the guy that he’s propping up,”
Sen. Rubio also believes that Jay-Z wasn’t visiting Cuba to understand the history, it was merely for vacation. “I think if Jay-Z was truly interested in the true state of affairs in Cuba, he would have met people that are being oppressed, including a hip-hop artist in Cuba who is right now being oppressed and persecuted and is undergoing a hunger strike because of his political lyrics. And I think he missed an opportunity. But that’s Jay-Z’s issue.”
Sen. Rubio is right and wrong about Guevara’s racist claim.
When Guevara was around 24 years-old he wrote, “The black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspirations.”
But later in life, Guevara spoke out for blacks who were abused in America. “Those who kill their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them, and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their legitimate rights as free men — how can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom?” Guevara said.
Share your thoughts. Do you believe Jay-Z is misinformed on the facts of Cuba or has the issue gone too far?
