Framing Cuba: U.S. Media and Cuba’s Black Lives Matter Protests

Abstract

This study explores United States of America media frames identified during the July 2021 Afro Cuban protests. Afro Cuban protest, the corresponding Black Lives Matter statement and associated media coverage converge at an intersection of the U.S. press media framing of Cuban politics and BLM movements. The researcher uses a content analysis of articles published by The New York Times and The Washington Post to determine whether frames within the coverage align with those identified in existing literature pertaining to Cuba and the BLM movement. The New York Times and The Washington Post were selected due to their focus on foreign news and their presence in existing research on Cuba and BLM framing. The Cuba content analysis coding scheme examines U.S./Cuba relations, Cuba-domestic/social and political, and Cuba- domestic/economics media frames. The BLM coding scheme explores quotations and mentions of Afro Cuban issues. The content analysis reveals that media framing aligns with Cuba relations instead of BLM. This research contributes to the intersection of Cuba and BLM to explore opportunities to highlight Black experiences in Cuba.