Ojito profiles two men, one black and one white, who have fled Cuba and live in Miami. In Cuba they were close friends; in America they have grown distant from and mistrustful of each other. They have been subsumed by race—they are defined now, much more than they were, by the color of their skins.

Through the story, we see in microcosm the process of racial identity formation. By telling the Cubans’ story, Ojito is telling a larger, more subtle American story. We admire her careful and colorful exposition of their relationship.

Read “Best of Friends, Worlds Apart,” by Mirta Ojito

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