Life & Times - Transcript

About Us \| Contact Us

Life & Times Transcript

08/16/06

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Word of Castro's illness touched off celebrations in Miami, but how do local Cuban immigrants feel?

David Stork>> They are the strongest element of Cuban existence, in my opinion, because they all think of Cuba in a romantic way.

Val Zavala>> And then, they do the testing so you don't have to worry about buying. A new magazine aims to create smarter shoppers.

It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val Zavala>> For the past forty-seven years, Cuban exiles in America have been waiting for a regime change in Cuba. Well, now with Castro's health so frail, it seems that change is imminent and yet southern California's Cuban-American community is not reacting the same as Miami's, as Hena Cuevas found out when she met two families with close ties to Cuba.

Hena Cuevas>> When news that the president of Cuba was rushed to the hospital hit the United States, this was the scene in southern Florida.

[Film Clip]

Hena Cuevas>> The Cuban exile community took to the streets celebrating what they saw as the beginning of the end of the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. After nearly fifty years of rule, Castro passed temporary control to his brother, Raul. Some in Miami saw this as a sign of political change, but Cubans three thousand miles away on the west coast don't share that sentiment.

After the news of Fidel Castro's illness, the reaction of the Cuban community here in Los Angeles was decidedly different than that of the Cuban community in Miami, a city that has a very large Cuban population. Still, according to the latest census, Los Angeles has about twelve thousand Cubans living in the city and their hopes and expectations for their country are very different than their Miami counterparts.

David Stork>> Anybody to celebrate death in any way is wrong to me. Do I understand the reactions? Yes. Do I think that they over-reacted? Yes.

Hena Cuevas>> David Stork was working as a photographer in Havana in the 1990s. That's when he met his wife, Marta. Marta, who was too shy to talk to us on camera, is a product of the Cuban revolution, so when she heard the news of Castro's illness, it brought on intense and conflicting emotions.

David Stork>> Shock (laughter), shock. I looked at it from one way. I think Marta was in such shock that she really didn't know what to think and I remember that whole first night. She really had no fear of things that were happening because she didn't know what was happening.

Hena Cuevas>> David has seen the dramatic changes in Cuba over the decades. His father was a diplomat and his family lived in Cuba in the 1980s. Things were plentiful then because Cuba was being supported by the Soviet Union. But a decade later, when David returned, it was a very different society.

David Stork>> There was no gas. It was zero option time. The food was limited. It was a struggle. Every day was a struggle. You had to wake up every day and you had to try and get through the day to see how you were going to get fed.

Hena Cuevas>> Marta was working as a radio reporter when they met and fell in love. Despite the hardships in Cuba, leaving her homeland to join David in Los Angeles was a difficult decision.

David Stork>> To leave Cuba, to leave your life in Cuba, to leave your family in Cuba -- she left her mother in Cuba -- is something that I think must have been horrendously difficult for her to do.

Hena Cuevas>> Today Marta is one of the estimated one million Cubans who fled the island over the last fifty years. Because Cubans are considered political refugees, they're granted special immigration rights the moment they touch United States soil. One of the largest migrations happened in 1980 during the Mariel boat lift. More than a hundred twenty-five thousand Cubans were allowed to leave the island on boats.

>> "We're taking whatever people, you know, they give us. We got crazy people, we got prisoners, they say political prisoners, we got criminals. Who knows what kind of people we got here?"

Hena Cuevas>> Among those was sixty-three year old Jose Pedroso who left behind a wife and six children. Jose lives in Los Angeles and owns a security company. Even with free education and health care in Cuba, Jose wanted a better life for his children.

Jose Pedroso>> My kids were growing up and what was I going to offer them? Free schooling and health care and a free funeral when they die? You can't live off that. You have to have other aspirations.

Hena Cuevas>> But once here, he couldn't go back. The United States embargo against Cuba prohibits travel.

Jose Pedroso>> I said goodbye to my wife. I remember it was in the morning. I'll never forget because I was in love with her. I told her, "I'll be back in a few months because what's happening here can't last very long. I'm going to try and get on my feet and bring you over." That was twenty-six years ago. I miscalculated. I didn't think it would go on for so many years.

Hena Cuevas>> Fidel Castro has ruled Cuba since 1959 after overthrowing the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. He quickly established a socialist state that has survived for forty-seven years. In his book, "Cuba After Castro", political analyst Edward Gonzalez says Castro's charisma has given Americans a romanticized view of Cuba.

Edward Gonzalez>> That romantic notion, is that the real Cuba? Cuba has had a totalitarian regime certainly starting in the mid-1960s that has been very controlling of Cuban society.

Hena Cuevas>> Gonzalez says Castro's death will not necessarily mean the end of communism on the island.

Edward Gonzalez>> I think what there's going to be will be a succession, a political succession, and not a political transition to democracy by any means.

Hena Cuevas>> So you think, in a way, the regime is bigger than Fidel Castro himself?

Edward Gonzalez>> I think it's been institutionalized sufficiently that they will be able to succeed Castro.

Hena Cuevas>> But Stork sees Castro legacy in a different way.

David Stork>> I don't think that Cuba is as horrendous as everybody says. I go back to Cuba and I see improvements. I see people still living well. And the comparisons that I give them all the time is you have to go to Central America to see what problems really are.

Hena Cuevas>> After nearly three decades of paperwork and patience, Jose was able to bring his daughter and her family to Los Angeles. They arrived just two months ago. But for his thirty-eight year old daughter, adjusting to life in the United States hasn't been easy.

Jose Pedroso>> There are people who were born with the system and haven't known anything else, but they're convinced there is something better. Otherwise, they wouldn't have decided to come here.

Hena Cuevas>> Since his surgery, photographs of Castro in the hospital have been published. Still, Cubans know that at age eighty Castro won't be around much longer. Jose says change will be inevitable, but he wants it to come from the people.

Jose Pedroso>> I want change. Let the people choose their change. Don't let the Americans post someone. Let them have the right to choose who they want.

Hena Cuevas>> Gonzalez, for his part, fears any unrests in Cuba will prompt more people to come here.

Edward Gonzalez>> If there is turmoil in Cuba, if there is the failure of the economy to rebound, you're going to have hundreds of thousands of people trying to get to the United States.

Hena Cuevas>> So while Cuban exiles in Miami may be ready to celebrate the end of an era, Cuban-Americans here are less certain.

David Stork>> They are the strongest element of Cuban existence, in my opinion, because they all think of Cuba in a romantic way. So you talk about Cubans who left in the fifties, you talk about Cubans who left in 1990 and you talk about Cubans who left now, they all are equally nostalgic about their country in different phases of what it is.

Hena Cuevas>> But one thing is for sure. They all share a longing for a return to prosperity and the opening of doors so families and loved ones can be reunited. I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times.

Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times".

Val Zavala>> Forty-one years ago this month, Watts broke out in violence, but did the 1965 Watts riots change Los Angeles? Did they change Watts? For some answers, we thought we would ask a well-known group of poets called The Watts Prophets. Toni Guinyard tracked them down and found out how they perceive change in their community.

Richard Dedeaux>> "To light up Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia and most major cities of the world, it takes trillions and billions and millions and millions of watts. To light up Los Angeles, it only took one, and I remember Watts."

Toni Guinyard>> Poet Richard Dedeaux found his creative voice in the wake of an event that grabbed the nation's attention: the Watts riots.

Richard Dedeaux>> In 1965, I was a kid on fire. See, with my poetry, I went to the white establishment with my poems. They said you got really nice work, but it's a little vicious. You know, you're talking about white people a little harsh.

Toni Guinyard>> Two years after the riot in the summer of 1965, Dedeaux and fellow poets, Otis O'Solomon and Amde Hamilton, united to form The Watts Prophets. The group was part of the acclaimed Watts Writers Workshop and now, forty years after the collective anger of one community sparked day after day of violence, The Watts Prophets look back.

Otis O'Solomon>> The white presses called it riots and the black presses called it a rebellion, but it was not until it happened that I began to understand.

Toni Guinyard>> Many still find it tough to comprehend, nearly a week of violence leaving thirty-four people dead and more than one thousand injured, four thousand people arrested and six hundred businesses destroyed. But people who lived through the summer of 1965 say the numbers don't tell the full story.

Richard Dedeaux>> The lid on the pressure cooker just exploded.

Otis O'Solomon>> There was a lot of conflict between the community and the police department at that time.

Richard Dedeaux>> The incident that caused it was pushing this kid in the street and his mama got involved and all that, but what the underlying thing was, all this creativity in Watts with no area of expression.

Toni Guinyard>> 116th Street and Avalon Boulevard. This is where the kid, a young black man suspected of drunk driving, struggled with a white police officer during a traffic stop. The incident sparked nearly a week of violence, but it also marked what was supposed to be a community's cultural and artistic rebirth.

Amde Hamilton>> It's the perception of what Watts was in 1965. In 1965, Watts was a beautiful, creative, vibrant village that had problems just like black communities all across America has.

Toni Guinyard>> Long-time residents say it's the part of Watts that gets lost when you look back and talk about what happened and what failed to happen.

Amde Hamilton>> After the riots, no one consulted the Watts leadership here.

Otis O'Solomon>> But over the years, you began to become almost depressed when you start to look around and see a lot of these things that was talked about that never really materialized.

Toni Guinyard>> A lot was expected. In 1965 when many people wanted to stay as far away from Watts as possible, this is where Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Bud Schulberg, felt he had to go.

Richard Dedeaux>> And he saw a completely different Watts than what was being broadcast on television. He met people who he considered very talented.

Toni Guinyard>> He formed the Watts Writers Workshop providing an outlet for the community's artistic talent.

Otis O'Solomon>> When I first came to the Watts Writers Workshop, it was like you spend like eighteen hours a day and, once you left with it on your mind, you couldn't wait to get back.

Richard Dedeaux>> We came out of a lot of chaos. We came out of the Watts rebellion in 1965, the "I'm black and I'm proud" movement. There was a lot of bitterness, a lot of poison, inside. I'm speaking for myself. A lot of poison inside of me. Hate this, kill that, whitey this, you know.

Otis O'Solomon>> He had a poem that was very -- it was called "Kill, Kill, Kill" and we went a lot of places. It cost us a lot of jobs because when we go up and do that poem, the people would look at us and they would like, okay, we shocked the audience. We left them in shock. When we got through, the guy that owned the club come up and said "You guys are going to make a lot of money, but not in this club (laughter)."

Amde Hamilton>> I remember that poem. He's talking about hot-rod policemen zipping through the ghetto streets, trampling babies, killing people. You know, I already said it. I don't have to say it over and over and over again. It's been said many, many years ago and not much has changed in this community except all the wonderful and good people have been run off.

Toni Guinyard>> Ask Hamilton anything about Watts and there's a good chance he'll have an answer, but he no longer lives here.

Amde Hamilton>> This is all I loved. I never wanted to leave. All my people. This is my rhythm. I never wanted to leave it, but I can't stand it anymore.

Toni Guinyard>> What can't you stand?

Amde Hamilton>> I can't stand the leadership that's still here that were part of the destruction of this community. I can't stand the people to continue to exalt them. I can't continue to see their success over this in a game that they continue to play in this community.

Toni Guinyard>> But you have such a passion for this community. Conventional wisdom would say you would stay, that you would make a mark, that you can effect change.

Amde Hamilton>> I haven't been able to so far.

Toni Guinyard>> But he hasn't stopped trying.

[Film Clip]

Toni Guinyard>> The Watts Prophets still take to the stage a little older and wiser perhaps and they still attract an audience. We met O'Solomon at the Watts Coffee House where the group's album adorns the walls and The Writers Workshop once met. Here poetry takes center stage.

Amde Hamilton>> Yes, that's all I've ever had. That's the tool I've ever had and that's what's kept me surviving is the truth. Like he always says -- Otis -- truth don't spoil. It's always fresh.

Toni Guinyard>> Customers listened as the poets shared their views on everything from people to politics.

Amde Hamilton>> "If you eliminate those who stand in his way and automatic, systematic, dirty, professional way that ends up a low blow as he claims he honestly didn't know. I hope and pray that PR leaders see that, no matter how blind he thinks black people and poor people be, they have eyes and they see."

Otis O'Solomon>> You know, you're speaking from what you believe in and especially when you're speaking from where you come from, what you've experienced. No, you don't regret it. You got to say it.

[Film Clip]

Richard Dedeaux>> "And I remember Watts. With her eyes saddened with hunger and her empty pots, a place where winos and have-nots took their treasured possessions to pawn shops on 103rd and other spots, and I remember her old men sitting around on boxes in front of pool halls and in alleys and in vacant lots drinking wine and playing checkers and telling each other how this young generation was going to pot, crack and stuff like that. Yeah, I remember Watts."

You start looking in the audience and realizing that the majority of our audience was little white poor kids and then you starting realizing the power of words. You can use them to hurt or you can use them to heal.

Toni Guinyard>> And so they heal, their words serving as reminders of how it used to be. They've written books and they teach and they continue to recite poetry.

Richard Dedeaux>> "It really doesn't matter where you go. As long as you're poor, it's still the Ghetto. You can be poor and white, it's still the Ghetto. They're all the same. You can be born brown. It's still the Ghetto. The barrio, the Ghetto, the barrio, they're all the same. They're all the same. You can be born black. It's still the Ghetto. They're all the same. They're all the same. The only difference is in the name, and I remember Watts."

Toni Guinyard>> I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times.

Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address:

Life and Times
4401 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90027

You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org.

Val Zavala>> There's no more reliable source on consumer products, everything from cars to can openers, than Consumer Reports. It's untainted by advertising. It's independent and objective, and now Consumer Reports is making shopping for the best and most reliable products even easier.

It's a new magazine called ShopSmart. It's simpler and more to the point than the detailed analyses in Consumer Reports. Lisa Lee Freeman is its editor-in-chief. The magazine was her idea. Its main audience will be women who are busy and want quick, easy to read product recommendations.

Now for this first edition, you took a look at a lot of safety products, right?

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Right.

Val Zavala>> So what have you found that is interesting?

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Well, one thing is, this time of year, a lot of people open their pools and they don't have any detectors in case some kid falls in. This pool guard was tested as one of the best detectors on the market. Essentially, it detects if anything over eighteen pounds falls into the pool and an alarm will sound outside and inside your house. So even if you don't have kids, you probably want one of these because, if a neighbor's kid or any kid comes by and opens the fence, they could fall in there. This is a great product.

I do want to warn you, though, that not all pool safety products work very well. We tested a lot of these and this pool guard works very well, but some of the other products we tested didn't do very well, so you want to be careful. This is peace of mind. Some of the other ones won't really provide that kind of peace of mind.

Val Zavala>> Now what's this? This looks just like a smoke alarm.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Well, this is a carbon monoxide alarm. A lot of people know they should have smoke alarms, but not everyone has carbon monoxide alarms. What's really important is that these alarms will detect this colorless, odorless gas that gets released from water heaters, from stoves, furnaces, and it's very deadly.

A lot of people die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning and often there are no symptoms at all. You might get a slight headache, then flu-like symptoms, but you might not. So it's very important. This particular unit works very well and it sounds an alarm within ten minutes so that you can vacate your house and get out of there before you get poisoned.

Val Zavala>> That's great. What's this?

Lisa Lee Freeman>> This is another smart buy. It's a GFCI outlet. These, in older homes, are not installed, but in newer homes, you'll find them often. Normally, they are installed in the kitchen or in the bathroom, any place where there's water. What it does is, it prevents electric shock. If water or any little fingers get in there, it detects little spikes in electricity and it will cut off the power before somebody gets electrocuted.

Val Zavala>> Now newer homes, you're right, we're familiar with because it has a little red button and a little black button.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Right. But older homes don't always have them.

Val Zavala>> So these go right -- oh, you just replace the existing outlet with it.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Exactly, and they're only like twelve bucks, so it's really worth putting them in. The big cost is going to have to be an electrician to install them. You need to do that.

Val Zavala>> Consumer Reports has a vast testing facility in New York State. It spends millions of dollars on everything from refrigerators to cars. They accept no freebies from companies. Instead, they have a small army of buyers who purchase products off the shelf just like you do. They gather an enormous amount of data on a huge assortment of products.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Consumer Reports is more for people who want to spend the time really delving into the product and looking at every product that we tested. We may test dozens and dozens of products. I mean, just refrigerators alone, we may test eighty of them.

But Consumer Report's ShopSmart is only going to tell you about the top ones, the ones you should buy. We're also going to tell you, for example, that the sub-zero, although you might aspire to having one, is not the most reliable refrigerator. A lot of people may not know that.

Val Zavala>> Now I know for a fact that people spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on water filtration systems.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Bottled water.

Val Zavala>> And bottled water.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Bottled water, yeah, yeah.

Val Zavala>> So you've picked one out that you were impressed with?

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Yeah, absolutely. We don't think you should buy bottled water.

Val Zavala>> Really?

Lisa Lee Freeman>> We think you should get this twenty-two box. You screw it right onto your faucet and it eliminates lead, chloroform, parasitic cysts that can give you stomach aches. The other chemicals are toxic and can actually cause cancer and all kinds of problems. But this is a very effective filter. It's very inexpensive and very easy to use. The only thing you have to do is replace the filters every few months.

Val Zavala>> Now how about the filters that are in refrigerators? You know, refrigerators these days come with water filters already in them. I guess there's no way to tell if they're good or not.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Well, we haven't tested those. But we would definitely recommend, if you're making ice from the local water, use filtration systems. Make sure you replace the filters periodically so that they're working. Municipal water supplies do have to live up to certain standards and, in many cases, those standards are better than those from bottled water.

But this is sort of peace of mind that, if things are getting through your municipal water system, they're going to be taken out and it will improve the flavor of the water too because it takes out off-tastes as well.

Val Zavala>> Now a lot of your readers will have kids, so you've got a couple of things here that will help moms out.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Well, here's a really great product. Everybody should have these in their house if they have children. You know, kids love to climb up on furniture and many kids actually die from furniture tip-overs every year. This particular product is a very good anti-tip furniture strap. What you do is attach it to the back of your furniture so that it won't tip over if a child is climbing on top of it. Very, very important to have these, especially --

Val Zavala>> -- bookcases, cabinets.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Yes, bookcases, everything. Everything in your house should be strapped down that the child can get to and climb on.

Val Zavala>> But in California, we have earthquake straps, so that does double duty.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Yeah, then you've got double duty, but make sure they're not flimsy, plastic ones. You want to make sure they're heavy-duty ones because, with a child, there can be a lot of force pulling out the drawers and climbing on, so make sure they're really secure.

Val Zavala>> They could sell these for earthquake protection in California.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Absolutely, absolutely.

Val Zavala>> What's this here?

Lisa Lee Freeman>> This is a cabinet drawer lock. A lot of parents already have these. They know about these. But we actually tested a lot of them and not all of them work as well as this one. This KidCo unit is one of the better products.

A lot of the products give you a false sense of security because the kids actually can get into the cabinets and, of course, you might have knives, china, cleaners, things that the kids can get into. This lock we know is very secure and it won't give you a headache putting it in either. Some of them are pains to put in, but this one actually works really well.

Val Zavala>> And, again, no advertising?

Lisa Lee Freeman>> Nope.

Val Zavala>> So you go out and buy the products and you test them and give completely reliable recommendations. Nobody pushing it.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> No. Our only mission is to make you a smarter shopper and also to help you make safer decisions in terms of the products. In this case, they will make your home safer and not just better (laughter).

Val Zavala>> Lisa Lee Freeman, thank you so much for all your hard work and we'll pay attention.

Lisa Lee Freeman>> You're welcome, Val.

Val Zavala>> Besides safety products, this first edition of ShopSmart takes a look at outlet stores and wines. It sells for five dollars at grocery stores, newsstands and big box stores.

And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Sponsored in part by:


Home \| Features \| Arts \| Health/Science \| OC Edition \| L&T Blog \| Archives \| About Us \| Contact Us \| Privacy Policy \| Terms of Use © 2007 COMMUNITY TELEVISION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA