Had you heard of emancipados before? Why did Cubans turn a blind eye to it? Are there questionable practices we turn a blind eye to today?

Several times, the book touches on the lives of emancipados – slaves freed by England but transported to Cuba and more or less enslaved again. Had you heard of this practice? Why did Cubans turn a blind eye to it? Are there questionable practices we turn a blind eye to today?

I had not heard of emancipados. What a despicable practice! It's amazing that these people could think it was morally OK; I'm sure it all came down to profits.

I think we do a lot of that today, and probably for much the same reason. I read today that the Metropolitan Opera fired James Levine for sexual misconduct. I'd heard about his antics when I was in college, more than 35 years ago - and they're just acting now? Talk about turning a blind eye! And that's just one example. I think we tolerate a lot of bad behavior.

I do not believe that I previously had heard that exact terminology of emancipados. One thing that might need a slight change in one's perception of this part of history is that the Cubans were often under the domination of colonial powers. So it is not the Cubans who were evil, but the people in power who often had European ancestry. Every country's history books are primarily slanted to present their own country in a favorable light, but the United States has often fostered revolts and even sent in assassins to do away with "dictators" that did not want to do business or allow American businesses to operate in their country. WE imprisoned the Queen of Hawaii and took over the separate kingdom of Hawaii, eventually making it the 50th state. Other than taking over Hawaii by force, the terminology used most often was to "stop the domino effect of communism."

I had never heard of emancipados before reading the book and of course the Cubans (as influenced by the Spanish, mentioned in the previous review), turned a blind eye to it -- it was to the advantage of the wealthy land owners, who held a lot of power, to prevent any legal problems with slavery. The captured slaves were paid next to nothing to work the highly-profitable sugar plantations. The author refers to them as "the condemned ones," in spite of the fact the Spanish government had issued them certificates of freedom. And yes, there is a multitude of blindness in our country today.

I had not heard of this until the movie 12 Years A Slave came out, and then soon after on a walking tour in Boston. The practice is horrific, as was slavery, and Cubans and others turned a blind eye for the same reason they accepted slavery - $$$. Freed slaves, captured slaves what is the difference - both cruel and disgusting. Humans can be convinced that anything is justifiable - slavery, abuse, colonization, cruelty, war, murder, destroying the environment, factory farming, child labour, horrible working conditions to build soccer stadiums in Qatar, etc- when it feeds their greed and need to "win". Yikes - touchy subject for me!!

This was the first time I really heard that term and it was part of the story that probably troubled me the most but then I think there are many issues in today's world that we purposely turn a blind eye to, religion, political wrong doings ... certainly "Me Too" has shed a light on many aspects of how women are treated and certainly that is something I would hope we no longer turn a blind eye to. Race relations that, while making headlines, is slowing bringing a lot of issues out from under that "blind eye" phase was well, albeit far too slowly for a lot of folks.