1619 Project founder believes Cuba has 'the least inequality' and has brought about the 'end of codified racism'

1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones praised communism for solving racism in Cuba. The New York Times writer and newly minted Howard University professor said that Cuba's communist revolution brought about "the end of codified racism."

In a podcast with Ezra Klein, of Vox and The New York Times, Hannah-Jones was asked: "Are there candidates right now—or even just places—that you think have a viable and sufficiently ambitious integration agenda, and if so, what is it?"

Hannah-Jones laughed, and Klein noted "that laugh says a lot right there."

"I mean why don't we just—I'm definitely not an expert on race relations internationally," Hannah-Jones told Klein in the 2019 podcast found by The National Pulse's Natalie Winters.  "And it's also hard to look at countries that didn't have large institutions of slavery and compare them to the United States."

"The answer is probably going to be surprising that I'm going to give," said Hannah-Jones, "which is if you want to see the most equal multi-racial demo—it's not a democracy," she said, correcting herself and laughing.

"The most equal multi-racial country in our hemisphere, it would be Cuba. Cuba has the least inequality between black and white people anyplace really in the hemisphere. I mean, the Caribbean, most of the Caribbean it's hard to count because the white population in a lot of those countries is very, very small. A lot of those countries are run by black folks. But in places that are truly at least biracial countries, Cuba actually has the least inequality. And that's largely due to socialism—which I'm sure no one wants to hear," Hannah-Jones continued.

"Yes," Klein agreed.

Hannah-Jones praised Cuban communism for its equity practices in 2008 in an op-ed in The Oregonian. In the article, called "The Cuba we don't know," she praises the "scrappy" island's dictatorship, educational infrastructure, low HIV rates, and spirit, saying that the US should not have such tight sanctions on the country.

"Black Cubans especially," she wrote, "are wary of outsiders wishing to overthrow the Castro regime. They admit the revolution has been imperfect, but it also led to the end of codified racism and brought universal education and access to jobs to black Cubans. Without the revolution, they wonder, where would they be?"

Fidel Castro, who led the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s, claimed that his political philosophy was "representative democracy and social justice."

"There is not communism or Maoism in our ideas," Castro said during his time leading the communist nation. "Our political philosophy is representative democracy and social justice in a well-planned economy."

Black Lives Matter, founded in Marxism, pitched its support behind the Cuban communist regime this week after the island's citizens began protesting and demanding their freedom from dictatorial rule.

They issued a statement condemning the US federal government, not Cuba's communist regime, over its "inhumane treatment" of the Cuban people. Pro-freedom demonstrations have been ongoing on the island nation since Sunday. They also again expressed gratitude for Cuba giving asylum to convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur, who was a member of the Black Liberation Army.

The founder of BLM, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi have each espoused and advocated for Marxist ideas. They've met with communist leaders, such as Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, they've praised Cuba, and Cullors trained in activism with members of the Weather Underground.

Proponents of critical race theory, which posits that every even both current and historical must first be viewed through the lens of race and racism, have said that it, too, is founded in Marxism.