Do you think South Florida is diverse? (Miami, Coral Gables: school, college)

[Marlin Darlin']

Is Miami redefining diversity? The inhabitants of those cities are considered minorities by the federal government. Homogeneity, until Miami in the last 20 years, was a concept limited in use to describe white communities. I think crisp's Sweetwater statistics are off. A 0.2% Asian population does not fully represent the true number of Asians there. About 1/2 of the engineering students at FIU are from Asia, and their numbers are quite significant in other disciplines as well. Asians at FIU are mostly Indian, with a great number of Chinese.

I wonder when Indians will escape the "other" category... lol. They are amassing an impressive percent of educated positions in our society.

I agree that Miami is not a diverse city. Diverse cities have ethnic breakdowns like 40% White/ 25% Black /20% Hispanic /5% Asian/5% Two or more races/4.5% Other/1% American Indian. NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, etc. The only other major city that mirrors Miami in its lack of diversity is Detroit ( 81.6% black, 10.6% White, 5.5% Hispanic )

[PBCboy]

If you're gonna go by raw demographics then West Palm Beach, as a city, is more integrated than Fort Lauderdale or Miami. The white population seems to be shrinking in this city dramatically, though.

[crisp444]

This next exercise will be done using 2000 statistics because the charts from which I am taking the information I am about to post have the 2000 data.

"Exposure index" comparison of Miami-Dade and metro Sacramento (which is known to be very diverse and well-integrated)

In 2000 Miami-Dade county, the average Hispanic person lived in a neighborhood that was:
17.7% white non-Hispanic (Miami-Dade was 20.2% white non-Hispanic)
1.2% Asian (Miami-Dade was 1.4% Asian)
This shows excellent, near perfect integration.

In 2000 Sacramento metropolitan area, the average Hispanic person lived in a neighborhood that was:
51.6% white non-Hispanic (Sacramento metro was 64.3% white non-Hispanic)
10.4% Asian (Sacramento metro was 8.8% Asian)
This also shows excellent, near perfect integration, but not "better" than that in Miami-Dade.

However, statistically speaking, the actual Miami-Dade numbers are slightly more representatitve of the average than the Sacramento numbers.

Data taken from: CensusScope -- Segregation: Neighborhood Exposure by Race

Again, I will say for the umpteenth time that integration and "diversity" are two very different topics and I am arguing about integration here and not diversity. Broward - even Orlando! - is much more diverse than Miami.

[crisp444]

Marlin - my numbers are from the Census and just so you know, Sweetwater is only NORTH of SW8th street and goes only until SW 102nd Ave. FIU is only 3% Asian (including Asian Indian) and most of them probably either live on campus (which is not in Sweetwater, technically) or to the south, east, or west of FIU.

[Marlin Darlin']

Point taken; I forgot that 8th street in the divider over there. That would make the University Park area - east of 107th ave but west of 87th ave, south of 8th st and north of Coral Way, unincorporated? West Miami?

I didn't realize that you were stressing integration, not diversity. Point also taken! I would agree that the different boroughs, locales, or barrios in Miami are definately "intgrated," however lopsided or skewed the racial statistics may be.

I am new to this forum, and I don't intend on being a fire-starting race basher. Feel free to let me know if I step outside the bounds of appropriate conversation.

[crisp444]

University Park is unincorporated Miami-Dade county. Lots of areas around there like "University Park," "Westwood Lakes," "Tamiami" and "Olympia Heights" are just names of neighborhoods in unincorporated Miami-Dade.

And just to let you know, you have conducted yourself very respectfully on the forum so far. Nothing you have said has been objectionable, let alone out of line. Some people on here do not bat an eye at voicing their prejudices against Hispanics, Anglos, blacks, you name it.

PS - Although Asian Indians are Caucasian in race, the census counts them as "Asian." The "other" category is pretty much for mixed-race Hispanics who either a) don't know their racial mix (white/black, white/Amerindian, etc.) or b) don't want to identify themselves racially. I think the great majority of people who check that box are Hispanic, most of them mestizo Mexicans. Down here, most Hispanics check (and are) white. Look at a Cuban neighborhood like Olympia Heights for instance: it is 93.5 percent white (one of the whitest places around) yet only 22.3% are non-Hispanic white!

By the way, welcome to the forum!

[angela828]

wooohoo there are greeks there!!

i love spanish language, and i love latin america, so i think miami would be nice for me

[schiphol]

I moved here from New York nearly a year ago and I have yet to see this great diversity you guys speak of. To me, diversity is not the many variations of Spanish spoken. The most diversity I have seen since moving here is on CBS4 news where the anchors are white, the Keys, and on South Beach. The far majority of people are "hispanic." I personally don't consider them white regardless of what the government census or anyone else says. If you can walk around and say the n word when referring to yourself or your friends please don't fight for the right to be called white as well. I know the majority of hispanics don't do it here but I have encountered it at work when I worked at UM.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by schiphol

The most diversity I have seen since moving here is on CBS4 news where the anchors are white, the Keys, and on South Beach. .

So according to your logic, Suffolk County Long Island must be really diverse because it's mostly white. And no Miami-Dade really isn't that diverse to me, although you can read my reply on the first page to see my full opinion. The rest of your post is too haphazardly generalized for me to really make anything out of it.

New York is mostly a segregated city but no place is going to have the variety of people as NYC just due to it's density, size, and very long history of attracting and accepting people from all over the world.

[schiphol]

I don't understand your question. I haven't really been there much but I know I have never had a positive encounter with people from Long Island. They drive like Miamians and they are bridge and tunnel trash. My view of LI is that it is not very diverse; It's mostly white. I don't want to fight you on this b/c any answer I give is just my biased view of LI. I avoided it and it's people at all costs. Same for New Jersey and Staten Island. Nothing to do with race, just the regional and personality culture.