16 Articles To Help You Wrap Your Head Around Fidel Castro's Complex Legacy

I was still awake that Friday night when the news of Fidel Castro’s death broke.

There wasn’t much on TV about the matter yet so of course, I scrolled through Twitter and Facebook to see updates into the wee hours of the morning, as well as hit up the Cuban folks I know (who were also still awake) to get a better sense of their feelings on Castro’s death. Because regardless of these social media echo chambers, the Cuban people’s (various) perspectives should be the ones that lead us through this conversation, right?

It’s not so cut and dry; certainly not black and white—especially with how polarized my timelines were among Afro-Cubans, African Americans and Africans.

I also realized that I needed to read up and understand how Castro’s complex history with the world truly is.

Here are my finds below for you to start to do the same:

1. Fidel Castro's Legacy on Race Relations in Cuba and Abroad

2. Africa Is Not Conflicted About Fidel Castro’s Legacy

3. VIVA FIDEL!

4. One-on-One With Afro-Cubans: What It Means to Be Black in Cuba

5. Why Black Americans Love Fidel Castro

6. Here’s Why People Are Celebrating Fidel Castro’s Death, Even Though it Seems Gross To Do So

7. Fidel Castro's Anti-Colonialist Legacy

8. Fidel Castro, African Hero

9. A Briefing Sheet on Cuba's Racial Demographics

10. African-Americans Should Stop Lionizing Castro as Champion of Black Liberation

11. For Blacks in Cuba, the Revolution Hasn’t Begun

12. Afro-Cubans, and Some Black Americans, Mourn the Death of Fidel Castro

13. Reporter's Notebook | Living under Fidel: A Very Personal Account

14. Fidel Castro Left Mark on Somalia, Horn of Africa

15. Fidel Castro Remains a Divisive Figure Among Somalis

16. Fidel Castro Leaves Complicated Legacy in Africa