Around the time labor protestors were celebrating May Day with demonstrations in D.C., Manhattan and Los Angeles, a man sprinted ahead of a Marxist parade in Cuba, holding aloft an American flag. Seconds later, the runner was tackled to the concrete.
It was a visceral and literal display of freedom in the face of tyranny. According to the Associated Press, President Raul Castro watched as the man was hauled away by secret police in plain clothes.
The runner cut an image more iconic than the cliched cult figure Che Guevara. Instantly recognizable because of his American flag in a sea of Cuban banners, he sprinted toward certain and brutal failure.
Nameless just like the hero of Tiananmen Square, the runner will likely spend the rest of his life rotting in torrid and filthy cells on the communist island. But his courage won’t be forgotten. Foreign and Cuban journalists quickly broadcast his image to the world. More importantly, his race ended right in front of Castro on the dictator’s last May Day as head of state.
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A feeble strongman at 85 years old, Castro has promised to give up the presidency in February. He will head into retirement and eventually death, knowing that the revolution he and his brother launched ended in failure.
Hopefully the more privileged protesters in the United States will take note. After all, it’s easy to #FightFor15 in a country where secret police don’t haul off dissidents in the middle of the night. And it’s no sacrifice to lose a day of work, knowing that a job will still be waiting the next morning.
But grabbing an American flag, faceplanting into the pavement, and sprinting away from your family forever is difficult and worth remembering this May Day.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
