A recent tweet from ESPN mocking Cuba’s supposed poverty unleashed a Twitter storm last week. The tweet featured a photo of the neighborhood outside of the baseball stadium in Havana, Cuba, and contrasted its humble surroundings with the lavish stadium. The response from the Twitter community was nothing short of brilliant as they posted pictures of the neighborhoods surrounding sporting stadiums in Queens, N.Y., Detroit, and Atlanta.
The photo of Willets Point in Queens was particularly telling, as this area lacks sidewalks and sewers. These photos highlighted the common practice throughout the United States of spending billions on stadiums and sporting events rather than the communities next door that are in far greater need.
More significant is the fact the superiority of the United States, so long considered a given, is being questioned as the working class further descends into poverty in the wake of 30 years of neoliberal capitalism. One savvy Twitter user pointed out Cuba’s superior health care and lower crime rates.
As the United States’ relationship with Cuba thaws, some have worried that foreign investment might threaten Cuba’s sovereignty and socialist economy. However, it may be that the U.S. government will find itself on the defensive as it struggles to explain to its population why its health care, education and much of its housing are so lacking in comparison.
More inequality
Currently, the United States suffers from more severe income inequality than it has since the Great Depression. As corporations strip away the livelihoods and benefits of the working class in a desperate attempt to eke out a profit, the narrative that the United States is the best nation in the world rings hollow.
As billions are spent on stadiums and bank bailouts—not to speak of the military—while teachers are forced to buy their own supplies and students struggle under more than a trillion dollars in debt the U.S. mythology, which touts hard work and opportunity, is becoming more and more disconnected from reality. Many work multiple jobs to make ends meet with little opportunity to enjoy real prosperity. To suggest that all they need to do to succeed is work harder is not only false, it is insulting. It seems that Cuba has more lessons on how to empower its citizens than the United States would care to admit.
