How Did Karen Bass Begin Her Political Life?
Posted: 26 Jul 2021, 22:46
Early life and education
Bass was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Wilhelmina (née Duckett) and DeWitt Talmadge Bass.[13] Her father was a postal letter carrier and her mother was a homemaker.[5] She was raised in the Venice and Fairfax neighborhoods of Los Angeles and graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in 1971.[14]
Witnessing the civil rights movement on television with her father as a child sparked her interest in community activism. While in middle school, Bass began volunteering for Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign.[15] In the mid-1970's she was an organizer for the Venceremos Brigade, a pro-Cuban group that organized trips by Americans to Cuba.[16] She visited Cuba eight times in the 1970s.[16][17]
What is the Venceremos Brigade?
History
In 1969, SDS was composed of competing factions with individual priorities and visions.[3] SDS delegates travelled to Havana, and were inspired by Fidel Castro's New Year's Day speech, in which he called on Cubans to help with the sugar harvest.[4] Although the Americans originally offered to help by taking industrial jobs displaced by the massive sugar harvest, Fidel reportedly responded that if North Americans were to help, they would cut cane.[5] Hoping to unite SDS members behind a new project, the leaders began planning a trip, bringing American activists to Cuba to cut sugar cane.[4] Carl Oglesby originally presented the idea to members of SDS, but was ousted from SDS before it came to fruition. Bernardine Dohrn appointed Julie Nichamin and Brian Murphy to organize the trip.[6] Allen Young was also partly responsible for the organization and negotiations with Carlos Rafael Rodríguez and other members of the Cuban government. While in the USA, the group met occasionally by regions to supervise, recruit, and fundraise for the trips.[5] The trip cohort, the Venceremos ("we shall triumph" in Spanish language)[7] Brigade, was promoted as an inspiring and educational experience.[5]
In November 1969,[7] the first brigade of 216 Americans travelled to Cuba from Mexico City to skirt the U.S. government's restrictions on travel to the island.[7] The participants were to contribute to Cuba's monumental ten million ton zafra (harvest) of 1970, as well as to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. The second Brigade arrived in February 1970, to cut cane and learn about Cuban life. Although the zafra did not reach ten million tons, the Brigades continued.[5]
The Antonio Maceo Brigade was formed as a Cuban solidarity group of Cuban American radicals that first traveled to Cuba in 1977. Many Cubans who joined the brigade were motivated to prove that they weren't counterrevolutionary "gusanos". At the time the Venceremos Brigade refused to allow Cuban exiles to be members believing them all to be middle class and counterrevolutionary "gusanos".[8]
Organization
Ideology
In Venceremos Brigade, Sandra Levinson and Carol Brightman describe the participants, brigadistas, as "American radicals."[9] They were attracted to Cuba by the socialist revolution taking place, the anti-imperialist movement, as well as Cuban culture.[5] The Venceremos Brigade included a diverse group participants from the beginning. White, Black, Chicano, Native American, and Puerto Rican Americans, as well as activists and feminists participated. In part, the Venceremos Brigade went to Cuba to study revolutionary culture, Che Guevara, and Che's new socialist man.[5] New Left philosophy permeated the movement. The brigadistas also invoked Cuba's history of antiracist and anticolonial movements, and referred to the Black Power and feminist movements in the USA, with the goal of creating a revolutionary political culture within the group.[4]
However, despite the leftist nature of the Brigades and the Cuban government, conflict emerged between Brigade organizers and [deleted] members of the Brigade and their allies. To Cuban officials, the [deleted] liberation movement represented American imperialism, and was a challenge to Fidel Castro and Cuba.[4] The organizers of the Venceremos Brigades settled on a Don't ask, don't tell policy, requiring [deleted] brigadistas to refrain from discussing or performing their sexuality.[4] [deleted] brigadistas were subject to [deleted] slurs and questions, and [deleted] was the overall policy. There were also race and gender-based tensions in the early brigades.[4]
Wikipedia
Bass was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Wilhelmina (née Duckett) and DeWitt Talmadge Bass.[13] Her father was a postal letter carrier and her mother was a homemaker.[5] She was raised in the Venice and Fairfax neighborhoods of Los Angeles and graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in 1971.[14]
Witnessing the civil rights movement on television with her father as a child sparked her interest in community activism. While in middle school, Bass began volunteering for Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign.[15] In the mid-1970's she was an organizer for the Venceremos Brigade, a pro-Cuban group that organized trips by Americans to Cuba.[16] She visited Cuba eight times in the 1970s.[16][17]
What is the Venceremos Brigade?
History
In 1969, SDS was composed of competing factions with individual priorities and visions.[3] SDS delegates travelled to Havana, and were inspired by Fidel Castro's New Year's Day speech, in which he called on Cubans to help with the sugar harvest.[4] Although the Americans originally offered to help by taking industrial jobs displaced by the massive sugar harvest, Fidel reportedly responded that if North Americans were to help, they would cut cane.[5] Hoping to unite SDS members behind a new project, the leaders began planning a trip, bringing American activists to Cuba to cut sugar cane.[4] Carl Oglesby originally presented the idea to members of SDS, but was ousted from SDS before it came to fruition. Bernardine Dohrn appointed Julie Nichamin and Brian Murphy to organize the trip.[6] Allen Young was also partly responsible for the organization and negotiations with Carlos Rafael Rodríguez and other members of the Cuban government. While in the USA, the group met occasionally by regions to supervise, recruit, and fundraise for the trips.[5] The trip cohort, the Venceremos ("we shall triumph" in Spanish language)[7] Brigade, was promoted as an inspiring and educational experience.[5]
In November 1969,[7] the first brigade of 216 Americans travelled to Cuba from Mexico City to skirt the U.S. government's restrictions on travel to the island.[7] The participants were to contribute to Cuba's monumental ten million ton zafra (harvest) of 1970, as well as to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. The second Brigade arrived in February 1970, to cut cane and learn about Cuban life. Although the zafra did not reach ten million tons, the Brigades continued.[5]
The Antonio Maceo Brigade was formed as a Cuban solidarity group of Cuban American radicals that first traveled to Cuba in 1977. Many Cubans who joined the brigade were motivated to prove that they weren't counterrevolutionary "gusanos". At the time the Venceremos Brigade refused to allow Cuban exiles to be members believing them all to be middle class and counterrevolutionary "gusanos".[8]
Organization
Ideology
In Venceremos Brigade, Sandra Levinson and Carol Brightman describe the participants, brigadistas, as "American radicals."[9] They were attracted to Cuba by the socialist revolution taking place, the anti-imperialist movement, as well as Cuban culture.[5] The Venceremos Brigade included a diverse group participants from the beginning. White, Black, Chicano, Native American, and Puerto Rican Americans, as well as activists and feminists participated. In part, the Venceremos Brigade went to Cuba to study revolutionary culture, Che Guevara, and Che's new socialist man.[5] New Left philosophy permeated the movement. The brigadistas also invoked Cuba's history of antiracist and anticolonial movements, and referred to the Black Power and feminist movements in the USA, with the goal of creating a revolutionary political culture within the group.[4]
However, despite the leftist nature of the Brigades and the Cuban government, conflict emerged between Brigade organizers and [deleted] members of the Brigade and their allies. To Cuban officials, the [deleted] liberation movement represented American imperialism, and was a challenge to Fidel Castro and Cuba.[4] The organizers of the Venceremos Brigades settled on a Don't ask, don't tell policy, requiring [deleted] brigadistas to refrain from discussing or performing their sexuality.[4] [deleted] brigadistas were subject to [deleted] slurs and questions, and [deleted] was the overall policy. There were also race and gender-based tensions in the early brigades.[4]
Wikipedia