Do you think South Florida is diverse? (Miami, Orlando: high school, living in)

[compelled to reply]

Well, you called the Keys more diverse than Miami, which to me is like calling Suffolk County more diverse...now I think I confused my self though.

[schiphol]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

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.

Sorry, I didn't see your whole post. I was responding to half of a sentence. Diversity to me is all kinds of people and languages and cultures. In NYC you will hear hundreds of languages being spoken just walking down a block. In Miami it's all Spanish and regardless of which Spanish speaking country the people are from, there is one culture. Everyone looks the same, acts the same, and thinks the same down here regardless of race. It's a Miami look that everyone has. I am not championing having more white faces to equal diversity. I am not white. I know it's not my place since I am not from here, but I feel for someone who lived here all his life and is forced to learn another language to live in his own city / state / what have you. I am Cuban and Haitian. I can speak spanish with my friends but I am not confident in my skills to do it at work. I was denied interviews b/c of this. Is that diversity?

[schiphol]

Well granted they were tourists, but I was exposed to a lot more diversity down there during my brief stay. Maybe I am not articulating my thoughts as clearly as I would like but I firmly believe Miami is not diverse. Maybe I don't get out much.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by schiphol

Sorry, I didn't see your whole post. I was responding to half of a sentence. Diversity to me is all kinds of people and languages and cultures. In NYC you will hear hundreds of languages being spoken just walking down a block. In Miami it's all Spanish and regardless of which Spanish speaking country the people are from, there is one culture. Everyone looks the same, acts the same, and thinks the same down here regardless of race. It's a Miami look that everyone has. I am not championing having more white faces to equal diversity. I am not white. I know it's not my place since I am not from here, but I feel for someone who lived here all his life and is forced to learn another language to live in his own city / state / what have you. I am Cuban and Haitian. I can speak spanish with my friends but I am not confident in my skills to do it at work. I was denied interviews b/c of this. Is that diversity?

OK, now I see where you are coming from. There are quite a few generalizations that I can't get over but you make some good points. There is kind of a "monculture" forming down there. I picked up that word from the forum although I think monoculture is just a type of agriculture lol.

[schiphol]

What generalizations do you mean?

[compelled to reply]

"It's a Miami look that everyone has". "Everyone looks the same, acts the same, and thinks the same down here regardless of race." The rest of it I can't object.

[schiphol]

Looks like we hijacked the thread. You're right; they are generalizations. Obviously not everyone is like that, but that's what I see in the Miami I have been exposed to. I live in South Miami, completely engulfed in Coral Gables, I work in Miami Lakes and attend grad school downtown. It's rare when I don't see a spiky haired, no undershirt wearing guy or some chick dressed like she came from the club or is about to go to the club, flaunting whatever expensive accessory and car they have. I see them everywhere. The streets, the news, the supermarket, school, etc.

[compelled to reply]

Oh trust me I agree there is a high prevalence rate of that stuff here and there isn't an overall huge diversity of lifestyles in Dade County. "Everyone" just seemed harsh. I don't think we really hijacked it because diversity doesn't just mean ethnic diversity but diversity in lifestyles too.

[Mr. Gaffney 14]

[quote=schiphol;3708122]Sorry, I didn't see your whole post. I was responding to half of a sentence. Diversity to me is all kinds of people and languages and cultures. In NYC you will hear hundreds of languages being spoken just walking down a block. In Miami it's all Spanish and regardless of which Spanish speaking country the people are from, there is one culture. Everyone looks the same, acts the same, and thinks the same down here regardless of race. It's a Miami look that everyone has. I am not championing having more white faces to equal diversity. I am not white. I know it's not my place since I am not from here,[quote] but I feel for someone who lived here all his life and is forced to learn another language to live in his own city / state / what have you.
Moderator cut: ..

I am Cuban and Haitian. I can speak spanish with my friends but I am not confident in my skills to do it at work. I was denied interviews b/c of this. Is that diversity?[/

No it's not. Not really.

[UrbaneAspects]

Originally Posted by schiphol

Sorry, I didn't see your whole post. I was responding to half of a sentence. Diversity to me is all kinds of people and languages and cultures. In NYC you will hear hundreds of languages being spoken just walking down a block. In Miami it's all Spanish and regardless of which Spanish speaking country the people are from, there is one culture. Everyone looks the same, acts the same, and thinks the same down here regardless of race. It's a Miami look that everyone has. I am not championing having more white faces to equal diversity. I am not white. I know it's not my place since I am not from here, but I feel for someone who lived here all his life and is forced to learn another language to live in his own city / state / what have you. I am Cuban and Haitian. I can speak spanish with my friends but I am not confident in my skills to do it at work. I was denied interviews b/c of this. Is that diversity?

Hello!? Finally someone hits the nail on the head here. This person knows exactly what I have experienced here in Miami. The amount of times I have been overlooked in the workplace because of not knowing the language is discouraging. I am a 20 y/o college student that has lived here since Febuary 2007 and for every 10 jobs i apply, 8 need bilingual. I am actually mixed race myself; neither being latino. And I originally moved to Miami because I liked the 'international' feeling it had. I took Spanish in school and so am not a stranger by no means to the language. Im just not 100% fluent, as the dialects and accents are very hard for me to understand sometimes. I am definently pursuing to improve that. However, Miami is not integratedly diverse. Its segregatedly diverse. Go to the nightclubs and you'll see exactly what I mean. Go to each one of the neighborhoods and you'll see exactly what I mean. Go in the workplace breakroom and you'll see EXACTLY what I mean. It's RIDICULOUS to know that a place that misleads people to think it's diverse is in fact just a place with lots of different latinos that are close minded. All of my friends in Miami are latino so I'm not bashing. I'm talking about the big picture. I even been told by latin people who say how bad the latino people in Miami are. Something about the propaganda and flooding diversity has caused Miami to become an unfair place with lots of different races, but with very few of them actually wanting to operate together. That's not diversity. That's singling people out.