Beauty radiates from hanging, vibrant paintings while personable smiles greet us as we walk in. Welcome to La Isla, an art stop in Little Havana, Miami, where local artist Eliott Prada curates a fantastic display of art. Immediately upon entry, patrons feel less like consumers and more like family as Prada’s stellar personality pulls each guest out of their comfort zone and calls them into a world of colorful Cuban culture.
While searching for unique local art while in Miami, my father stumbled upon La Isla and initiated a conversation with shop owner, Prada. After a few minutes of small-talk with Prada, I opened up about my interest in his art. Despite my lack of technical knowledge, the visual and emotional appeal derived from the art was fantastic, thus I pressed him further.
Prada, an easygoing man with a friendly attitude, invited me to an open conversation about his life and beginnings making a name for himself as a Cuban artist living in America. From his mother, Prada learned his enduring work ethic. To Cubans, he says, working hard and giving one’s best is essential to achieving success.
He details working endless odd jobs for minimum wage in order to make ends meet until eventually he built a new and improved life for himself. Now, working as a professor at the Miami International University of Art & Design, Prada describes a life filled with endless learning and happiness. His passion, he says is what drives him.
Throughout my conversation with Prada, a recurring tone of gratitude persisted in his voice. Despite the innumerable hardships he faced as an immigrant living in a foreign country, he remained steadfast and insistent that the United States of America is unparalleled when it comes to freedom and opportunity.
Nowhere else in the world do citizens have such endless opportunity. America is filled with dreamers, innovators, and humanists; each are granted the same liberties under under America’s constitutional monarchy. Accompanying this pool of diverse individuals are a variety of thoughts, beliefs and values.
Contrastingly, in Cuba, suppression of the freedom of expression is a major disabling factor for citizens. According to a World Bank report, Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean to have a high quality education system. Despite this statistic, lack of social opportunities that allow individuals to pursue their passions and think freely continue to limit growth.
For Prada, implications of growing up in Cuba include the promotion of the Russian language over American-preferred English and a complete lack of political diversity. Despite learning basic reading, writing and mathematics skills, the government maintains control over the population by limiting access to unbiased media, controlling where people work, and dictating acceptable social ideologies.
Education is not about teaching facts and statistics; it is about providing citizens with the tools and resources to think for themselves in order to ensure the creation of productive and self-aware members of society.
A Cuban might possess sufficient knowledge to work as a doctor or lawyer in a free, Western nation, but in Cuba, that same individual might lead a life of forced labor for a specific company or government entity. This lack of choice creates extreme turmoil for individuals in search of social, political and personal freedom.
In Cuba, individuals must fight for their voice, the same voice Americans often abuse or take for granted.
The “American Dream” is to gain sufficient knowledge and qualifications in order to one day pursue your goals and passions and support oneself in this nation. In a place like Cuba, such opportunities are extraordinarily scarce, if even originally existent.
In America, educational courses such as “American Government” or “American History” teach youth the basics of democracy in order to educate upcoming generations of the importance of civic duty. It’s not always fun driving to the polling booth in rainy, cold weather, or arguing with your crazy Uncle Joe about politics, but then again, democracy never promised to be fun. This political awareness and activism can be inconvenient, but when America’s system is compared to a system like Cuba’s it is evident that such civic participation is the cornerstone of a fruitful democracy.
During the 2016 presidential election, tempers flared and mud was slung as both parties made endless attempts to provoke and dismantle each other’s candidates. Nearly forgotten was the desired end goal, to elect the best possible candidate to execute the responsibilities of Commander-in-Chief.
Hateful and passionate opinions distorted political activism and generated a feeling of malice and distrust that persisted past election season. Instead of focusing on gratitude for access to a free and just election, citizens spent time bashing candidates and being generally distasteful political participants.
The good, the bad, and the ugly shone through during the 2016 presidential campaign. At many points during the election, the effectivity of the electoral system was challenged. The American electoral system is undeniably flawed; however, it aims to ensure each citizen the opportunity to cast an equal and fair vote.
According to CNN, voter turnout in the 2016 election dipped to nearly its lowest point in two decades with only about 55 percent of voting age citizens casting ballots. With almost half of registered voters evading polling booths, it is possible that entire populations were under represented in the election.
According to Prada, a man familiar with fighting for his voice, the political jargon amuck this election season in America was uncalled for. Americans can freely cast their vote in subsequent elections for new candidates if they are unhappy with the result, a privilege many citizens in marginalized nations are void of. For Prada, this is the gift of democracy itself.
Alaina DiLaura is a 20-year-old international studies and mass communications sophomore from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.