I am writing this in regard to the Parting Shot published in the Monday sports page. I am not the type to be easily offended but I found this so called joke to be in extremely poor taste. The Cuban refugee crisis is a serious and heartbreaking issue. Comedian Argus Hamilton’s line about holding freestyle swimming in shark pools to make up for losing baseball was callous and uninformed at best, racist and cold at worst. It facilitates apathy towards the issue and furthers a stereotype.
In the last 18 months, 55 people are missing and presumed dead while trying to flee Cuba to find a better life here. Where is the joke? Factor in our government’s own hand in this and the context of the “joke” takes a very macabre turn. Yes, Cuba’s socialist government needs to be removed but the single biggest factor determining the current state of that country (and the reason so many attempt to flee) is our trade embargo. The trade embargo is a Cold War relic that is motivated by outdated politics and nothing more. Regardless of the politics, the real victims are the innocent people of Cuba who live in conditions which the averge citizen of the USA would consider squalor.
The idea of Americans sitting in their comfortable homes (which of course are well stocked with food, water and plenty of electricity) laughing about Cubans swimming with sharks frankly makes my stomach turn. In the future I would like to see The Herald use more discretion, even if it means foresaking being “funny.”
Tyler Ingram
Marysville
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