Let's have a polite discussion about cultures & ethnic groups in Mia... (Miami: home, neighborhoods)

[CLTKing]

Originally Posted by crisp444

Harry: I don't know if this is exactly what you want, but I will try to tell a somewhat brief version of the demographic changes in the Miami area over the last 50 years. OK... this isn't that brief, but I will try not to make it too long!

Prior to 1959, Miami was a small "Southern" city, complete with strict black/white segregation. The white population was not strictly Anglo-Saxon, however; there were a considerable number of people of Greek, Lebanese, Italian, Spanish, and Spanish-Cuban heritage. As far as I know, ethnicity didn't matter much in the Jim Crow era of racial segregation; black vs. white is what mattered.

Starting with the Cuban Revolution in 1959, several upper class Cubans, almost of all whom were white, arrived to Miami. Though this lasted into the 1970's, the 1960's are when most of this group came. During the 1960's and 1970's many middle-class Cubans, most of whom were white, arrived to Miami. Many affluent Cuban families had their property seized by the Castro regime and came to the US with nothing but their education and job skills. For this reason, many formerly-affluent Cubans settled in working class neighborhoods such as Little Havana and Shenandoah. As they began to establish themselves in the US, many moved to more affluent areas such as The Roads, South Miami, Coral Gables, and Key Biscayne. The children of these early arrivals (including some of the arrivals who came to the US as small children) grew up in either majority-Anglo-American areas or in areas with substantial Anglo-American and Cuban populations. For this reason, these people grew up similar to how Italian-Americans in NJ and Portuguese-Americans in MA grow up - as "ethnic" white Americans.

During the 1960's, Miami went through racial desegregation. For the first time, black children and white children attended integrated schools and separate waiting areas, restrooms, and public water fountains were elimanated for black and white adults. With this said, however, residential segregated between whites and blacks persisted.

Though Miami changed demographically in the 1960's and 1970's, it wouldn't be until the 1980's that the most drastic changes would occur.

In 1980, Fidel Castro declared that any Cuban who wanted to leave Cuba could do so by boat. By the time the US convinced Cuba to put a stop to this, over 125,000 refugees had arrived. These refugees tended to be working class and ranged from white to black to all colors in between. Castro called these people who left "the scum of Cuban society" and is rumored to have sent people living in Cuban jails and mental institutions to the United States. This gave the Mariel arrivals a negative image in the US, even though it was later estimated that only a small percentage of the Mariel arrivals were living in jails and mental institutions in Cuba.

Despite the fact that most of the Mariel arrivals proved to be hard-working and non-criminals/insane, many Anglo-American, Cuban-American, and more established Cuban residents did not want to be associated with that group. For this reason, many members of these groups moved away from working-class areas to middle-class areas, especially to SW Miami-Dade.

The McDuffie race riots occurred in 1980 after an all-white jury acquitted the white police officers who beat a black man to death after a high-speed car chase. The rioters, who were mostly African-American, set fire to buildings, smashed through store windows with baseball bats to streal things, and killed over 20 people. This occurred mostly in Overtown and Liberty City but really affected the common psyche of Miamians. Racial tension between whites and (African-American) blacks, and also between mulatto Cubans and (African-American) blacks had come to its boiling point. One of the principal things of which African-Americans complained in the 1970's and 1980's was that white American and Cuban business owners hired newly-arrived Cubans to do blue-collar jobs; these were jobs that (African-American) blacks once did and now they were being disciminated against and preference was being given to non-Americans, many of whom did not speak English.

Cubans, most of which fit the demographic profile of the Mariel arrivals, continued to arrive during the 1980's. Many central and inner-SW Miami neighborhoods, and also Hialeah, started to become so heavily Cuban that speaking English was no longer a necessity to live in those areas. Though virtually all new arrivals learned English to an extent, they learned at varying degrees. Some people became perfectly fluent while some did not make much of an effort at all. Many Anglo-American (and to a lesser extent, Americans born of Cuban parents) residents near these areas did not like this and began to move further into SW Miami, to Broward County and northward, and toward the coast.

The 1990's continued to bring more Cubans, but the main arrivals during this decade were Nicaraguans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Haitians, and to a lesser extent, Brazilians. These arrivals ranged from working-class to upper-class and from white to mestizo to mulatto. Nicaraguans began to settle along the Flagler corridor and the western portions of the SW 8th Street corridor; Colombians settled in West Kendall; Venezeualans settled in Doral and West Kendall; Haitians settled in the NE and NW portions of the City of Miami. Some of the upper-income Colombians and Venezuelans, and also Brazilians, settled in Brickell. Another group to arrive in large numbers was that of Mexicans in Homestead and far south Miami-Dade. Middle-class Anglo-Americans, and to a lesser extent Cuban-Americans, left Miami-Dade in great numbers during the 1990's. Areas whose demographics shifted a lot during this decade are West Kendall, South Dade in general, North Miami Beach, and parts of SW Miami-Dade between Bird Road and Sunset Drive. This last area I mentioned did not gain many Central or South American residents, however; it just became a lot more heavily old-time Cuban and Cuban-American. Coral Gables west of US1 became increasingly old-time Cuban and Cuban-American as well, as did Miami Lakes and Miami Springs.

The 2000's brought even more Cubans and all of the groups I discussed in the previous paragraph. Little Havana, especially in northern sections, became home to numerous Central Americans. Miami Beach became home to thousands of Argentinians. As real estate boomed, even more Brazilians, Venezuelans, Colombians, Russians, Spaniards, and Italians moved to newly-developed buildings and communities. All of these groups to a varying extent invested heavily in coastal areas; Colombians and Venezuelans invested heavily in West Miami-Dade and newly-built areas of South Miami-Dade.

Here we are in 2010. Anyone care to offer any predictions of how the demographics or cultural coalitions (Anglo+Cuban)/(African-American+Jamaican)/etc. will shift?

My predictions:
-The Anglo-American population loss will continue at a very slow rate, but may stop completely
-The European (from Europe, not referring to Euro-Americans or Euro-Latins here) population will increase somewhat
-The Haitian and Jamaican populations will increase and the African-American population will decrease
-The Latin American population will become increasingly diverse - more countries represented and more mestizos and mulattos
-Cuban-Americans will become accostumed to the growth of other Latin groups and a lot more mixing will occur. As this happens, and especially in areas with very few Anglo-Americans, Cuban-Americans may start to see themselves as "Latino" and as a "minority" as most other Latin American-descended people in this country label themselves. If this happens, Miami's strong business and social coalition between affluent Anglo-Americans, Jews, and Cuban-Americans could begin to break down, which might lead to flight of these groups from upper-middle and upper-classes areas that have not seen substantial demographic changes in the last 20-30 years.

I really enjoy your post, it describes how Miami became what it is today in detail. However, I don't agree with part of your prediction. Even if Cubans become the minority in South Florida, they will not classify themselves as Latinos. I am Cuban and I now live in an area where there are only around 2,000 Cubans in a city of near a million. I don't consider myself Latino, although through the eyes of my fellow Anglo neighbors, there is no distinction between me, a Mexican or an Argentinean. I might be mistaken, but I think people that originate from Mesoamerica identify themselves more as Latino. Countries where there is less of a native Indian descent (e.g. Chile, Argentina, Cuba, Puerto Rico) would think of themselves as Hispanic, which is mainly use for to identify those that speak Spanish but culturally different one from the other. Just my 2 cents.

[harrycrat]

Interesting to learn about the "ruling coalition "of Wasps-Jews & Cubans in Mia economy...

Something like the 3 Is for NYC,Israelis,Italians,Irish...

So,actually the ethnic groups in Mia kind of like each other,right..?

After all,with such a weather & natural beauty around ,who wants to live by hate ...?

[Chelito23]

I think Miami will always be what it is now, but there is one major difference, the prices. Miami can't grow anymore unless you have money to build up. There is a huge immigran population, but as people assimilate and have children, it will be harder for new immigrants to establish themselves here. Only immigrants with money will be attracted towards Miami because there aren't many factory or high paying jobs for unskilled workers. Miami will attract people who want to get their feet wet and be in a Hispanic environment before transitioning beyond, but I think it will be more of a stop over for future immigrants who will look to other cities. This started back with the boom when prices skyrocketed, and continues today with the bad job market.

I also think the White population will go up as condos, in better times, will be bought up by Americans as well. I am not saying that Miami will revert to its early days, but I think the White population will grow and the city will become even more diverse, and this will propbably be a good thing if this potential population brings new ideas and innovation to the area (new ways of thinking, new jobs and companies, etc).

[Deeman804]

Okay, I may make this a little immature, but Miami has the sexiest nationalities ever.
From a guy's perspective:
1. Cubans are like white women with with gorgeous hispanic figures. As for black cubans, please reference number 3
2. The other Hispanic countries have the sex appeal to die for
3. Caribbean women have the best looking black girls in this hemisphere
4. Brazilians and Colombians - no matter what you are into, there is a beautiful woman that suits it from one of these two countries

my 2 cents, you may go back to your regularly scheduled adult conversation

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by harrymiafl

Interesting to learn about the "ruling coalition "of Wasps-Jews & Cubans in Mia economy...

Something like the 3 Is for NYC,Israelis,Italians,Irish...

So,actually the ethnic groups in Mia kind of like each other,right..?

After all,with such a weather & natural beauty around ,who wants to live by hate ...?

It is not like that. Cubans have displaced the anglos. If that wasn't the case the anglo population would have not decreased so drastrically.

And I don't see anything wrong with my comment, one thing is a polite discussion, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with what is being said here, especially when it's not true.

[harrycrat]

Originally Posted by Deeman804

Okay, I may make this a little immature, but Miami has the sexiest nationalities ever.
From a guy's perspective:
1. Cubans are like white women with with gorgeous hispanic figures. As for black cubans, please reference number 3
2. The other Hispanic countries have the sex appeal to die for
3. Caribbean women have the best looking black girls in this hemisphere
4. Brazilians and Colombians - no matter what you are into, there is a beautiful woman that suits it from one of these two countries

my 2 cents, you may go back to your regularly scheduled adult conversation

Positive & polite comments like that are gems in a forum,especially when they are also...TRUE...

Miamian women,of all ethnic origins are some of the most beautiful in USA.

Definitely a beautiful city ,with beautiful people...

Also,those who have visited Cuba are amazed by the natural beauty of Cuban women...An excellenty gene pool...

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by crisp444

The 1990's continued to bring more Cubans, but the main arrivals during this decade were Nicaraguans

My understanding, and based on all the Nicaraguans that I know, many arrived since the 80's. I remember when I went to Palmetto they were plenty of first and second generation Nicaraguans, in fact they outnumbered Cuban Americans in my school.

I also remember a lot of Cubans arriving in the 90's. Never saw them in person, only in the news.

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by harrymiafl

Positive & polite comments like that are gems in a forum,especially when they are also...TRUE...

Miamian women,of all ethnic origins are some of the most beautiful in USA.

Definitely a beautiful city ,with beautiful people...

Also,those who have visited Cuba are amazed by the natural beauty of Cuban women...An excellenty gene pool...

Maybe the mod could change the title to "Miami hot Latinas: which nationality is hotter?" so we don't interrupt this interesting discussion with all those cultural clashes comments that have been happening since the 60's.

[portorro]

Crisp- Great post! I dont live in Miami anymore. But travel often. This post truly helps me understand the racial makeup of Miami. But I am surprised you did not mention Haitians, since I know they represent a large slice of the population in that city.

Very very informative!

[crisp444]

Originally Posted by ♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥

It is not like that. Cubans have displaced the anglos. If that wasn't the case the anglo population would have not decreased so drastrically.

And I don't see anything wrong with my comment, one thing is a polite discussion, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with what is being said here, especially when it's not true.

We are talking about the affluent, not about the middle class. Cubans have not largely displaced Anglo-Americans in South Miami, Glenvar Heights, East Kendall, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Coral Gables (especially east of US1), Key Biscayne, the bay islands off of Miami Beach, and Coconut Grove - the places were the affluent reside. These areas have substantial (and in some cases, MAJORITY) Anglo-American populations that are very well integrated with the Cuban-American and established Cuban population.

Areas where the middle class Anglo-American population has decreased substantially (being replaced by middle class Cubans and Cuban-Americans) but still remains a strong minority include central Kendall, Westwood Lakes, Blue Lakes, Westchester, Miami Lakes, Miami Springs, and some areas west of the Turnpike around Coral Way and Bird Road.