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Here's What Black Scholars Have To Say About The AP African American Studies
Backlash 2/17/2023 The Root: "Dr. Michael Ralph, Chair of Howard’s
Afro-American Studies, echoes Jeffries’ concerns about the absence of
Crenshaw and other Black feminist and intersectional scholarship and
movement work in the course. “Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality is one
of the most important and most influential contributions to social science
and social theory we have yet seen,” says Dr. Ralph. Getting rid of these
intersectional voices, especially the voices of LGBTQ+ and women Black
scholars who might be considered controversial, is a massive loss, says
Howard Professor Jo Von McCalester."
Rev. Al Sharpton Is Coming Hard For Florida's Ron DeSantis and His Racist
Bullsh*t 2/16/2023 The Root: "Though Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has
set his sights on erasing Black history from statewide curriculum, Black
folks refuse to take this lying down. Hundreds of Black preachers, activists
and legislators protested on Wednesday, February 15 with a march from Bethel
Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee to the Capitol building."
CNN’s Don Lemon Asks Black History Activist If DeSantis Is Like Those
Preschool Teachers In Blackface Incident 2/15/2023 Mediaite: "I think
he gets it. I think he is using our state as the test lab to see how the
nation responds. Because he wants to run for president. And what we want to
show the nation, Don, is if you allow him to run for president, what you’re
seeing in a microcosmic way in Florida is what you will see in a macrocosmic
way in the nation."
Ron DeSantis’s war on “woke” in Florida schools, explained 2/15/2023 Vox: "From
book bans to a hostile campus takeover, here’s a rundown of DeSantis’s
conservative plan for Florida education."
Jacksonville faith leaders & Northside Coalition traveling to Tallahassee
for rally at Capitol 2/14/2023 News4Jax: "The Rev. Al Sharpton — as
well as Jacksonville faith leaders, including Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick
Jr., senior pastor of the Bethel Church in Jacksonville, will make the trip
as keynote speakers. McKissick has previously spoken out about the
administration’s move. “Tell me why you think this has no value for those
going to college. Tell me. What are you afraid your children are going to
discover about the history of this country?” McKissick told News4JAX in
January. Ben Frazier, of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville,
spearheaded a motorcade of a few dozen people Wednesday that left from the
intersection of Laura and State streets in Jacksonville around 7 a.m. They
were headed to the demonstration in Tallahassee."
Christopher Rufo's anti-DEI crusade visits University of South Florida 2/13/2023 Axios: "Rufo
called on DeSantis to "not hesitate in demolishing these offices,
terminating the employment of their commissars, and restoring the colorblind
equality, individual merit, and scholarly excellence as the guiding
principles of the academy.""
DeSantis’ attempt to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion is doomed to
fail 2/12/2023 Tallahassee Democrat: "In the real world, corporate
America has overwhelmingly adopted diversity, equity, and inclusion. All the
Fortune 100 companies have made a public commitment to DEI. Why? Because the
young, talented workers they want to attract are demanding it. Employees now
expect their employer to promote the values they hold. Why did Disney come
out against DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law? Because Disney employees around
the country wouldn’t stand for anything less. The unemployment rate is
unprecedentedly low … it’s hard to attract top talent. Millennials and Gen-Z
are driving the workforce now and they expect DEI to be a priority."
Florida is officially a laboratory for fascism in the U.S. 2/7/2023 Salon: "The
Black Freedom Struggle is one of the most successful pro-democracy
resistance movements in American (and world) history. DeSantis and the other
Republican-fascists and their forces do not want these lessons to be known,
learned, or otherwise disseminated. DeSantis is working to create a type of
"regime of knowledge" where Black, brown and other marginalized people's
triumphs and experiences are outright erased and/or grossly distorted as a
way of literally removing their personhood and existence."
Miami Black leaders apologize to Gov. Ron DeSantis after a member called him
racist 2/5/2023 Fox News: "Black leaders in Miami apologized to Florida
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis after one of its members called him a racist.
Pierre Rutledge, chair of the Miami-Dade Black Affairs Advisory Board,
issued a statement on behalf of his board that apologized to DeSantis for a
comment made at their Wednesday meeting from a member who said, "our
governor is racist.""
Call the "woke busters": Ron DeSantis sends volunteer army to snatch books
from students' hands 2/3/2023 Salon: "DeSantis' lieutenant and Florida
Commissioner of Education, Manny Diaz Jr., called the story "fake news" and
accused the teachers of overreacting. But, as Judd Legum of Popular Info
confirmed in a follow-up report, "Diaz's recommendations to teachers
directly contradicts the training produced by his own agency," which
requires all books to be prescreened and warns that the censors must "err on
the side of caution" when deciding if a book fits the very right-wing
definition of "harmful to minors." As Legum points out, one author that has
been frequently targeted by Republican censors is Pulitzer Prize winner Toni
Morrison, making it clear that it's not "pornography" that is in dispute
here — which no one actually thinks teachers were providing — but
internationally renowned literature. That explains why books about the
Holocaust and Martin Luther King Jr. have also been frequently targeted by
Republicans for bans."
What’s really behind Florida’s attack on African American Studies 2/3/2023 CNN: "There
is a very good explanation for the choice to focus public attention on false
definitions of critical race theory. By assigning values to CRT that many
people will find offensive or morally repugnant, the DeSantis administration
can gain public support for censoring the group of people who are most
likely to cite research categorized as CRT or be cited by scholars using CRT
— African Americans. If CRT teaches that some people are better than other
people (it doesn’t), or that White children are to blame for the actions of
White people across history (it doesn’t), then White parents should regard
the people who write about CRT as dangerous influences."
Rubio Releases Anti-woke Agenda for the 118th Congress 2/2/2023 Marco
Rubio: "Restoring Military Focus Act. First introduced in November 2022,
this legislation would eliminate the position of Chief Diversity Officer
(CDO) within the DOD and prohibit federal funds from being used to establish
any similar office. Senators Jim Risch (R-ID), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Crapo
(R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and James Lankford (R-OK)
are cosponsors. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced companion
legislation in the House. Protecting Students From Racial Hostility Act.
First introduced in July 2021, this legislation would protect students from
racially-hostile school environments created by the teaching of Critical
Race Theory (CRT) by directing the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of
Civil Rights to enforce Title VI protections of the Civil Rights Act when a
parent or student impacted by CRT submits a complaint. Senator Mike Braun
(R-IN) is a cosponsor."
Americans Demand Freedom from Woke Ideology 2/2/2023 Marco
Rubio: "That’s why I am reintroducing eight bills to protect the American
people from radical woke activism in all its forms. If we become a country
where left-wing protestors are exempt from the law, Wall Street wields
investors’ dollars as a weapon against conservatives, and the U.S.
government undermines the national interest, we won’t last long.
Common-sense policymakers have a duty to hold elites accountable and prevent
wokeness from turning the land of the free into another Cuba, Venezuela, or
Nicaragua."
Florida Commissioner of Education attacks Popular Information 2/1/2023 Popular
Information
La teoría crítica de la raza, prohibida en las universidades de Florida 1/25/2023 Al
dia: "Según The Chronicle of Higher Education, los presidentes de los 28
colegios estatales y comunitarios de Florida dijeron en una declaración el
miércoles que identificarían y eliminarían, antes del 1 de febrero,
cualquier requisito académico o programa "que obligue a creer en la teoría
crítica de la raza o conceptos relacionados como la interseccionalidad". Los
presidentes afirmaron que las iniciativas están impulsando "ideologías como
la teoría crítica de la raza y sus postulados relacionados", en lugar de
promover lo que se supone que deberían: la diversidad, la equidad y la
inclusión."
Florida school district cancels real history as anti-CRT censorship spreads 1/24/2023 Salon: "This
past Saturday, Dr. J. Michael Butler, the Kenan Distinguished Professor of
History at Flagler College in St. Augustine, was supposed to lead a day-long
seminar for Osceola County elementary school teachers on "The Long Civil
Rights Movement." The event was hosted by the nonprofit National Council for
History Education, a leading provider of professional development for
history teachers, and was part of a three-year partnership between the
council and the district to enrich history education at underserved public
schools. (Osceola County, just southeast of Orlando, has a population of
close to 400,000, which is nearly two-thirds Black or Latino, and a median
household income of $52,000, well below the national median.)"
Civil rights leaders plan rally to protest Florida’s decision to reject AP
African-American studies class 1/23/2023 News4Jax: "Faith and civic
leaders will launch a statewide movement to reverse the Florida Department
of Education’s decision on African American studies."
DeSantis: la clase de estudios afroamericanos prohibida incluye una lección
de “teoría queer” 1/23/2023 Local 10, Miami: "El Comisionado de
Educación de Florida, Manny Diaz Jr, se refirió al curso como
“adoctrinamiento woke disfrazado de educación”. DeSantis también dijo que el
plan de estudios fue diseñado para impulsar una agenda política."
AP Teacher’s Guide Proves DeSantis Right in African-American Studies Clash 1/23/2023 National
Review: "In the wake of the controversy, however, the Florida Standard
newspaper has obtained a copy of the pilot APAAS curriculum and made it
public. In another new development, I have now obtained a copy of a second
document, the “APAAS Pilot Course Guide,” a manual designed for use by
teachers. Taken together, the curriculum framework and the teacher’s guide
expand our understanding of the course in a way that confirms the wisdom of
DeSantis’s decision."
FIU professor’s ‘Teach the Truth’ tours defy DeSantis law on black history
lessons 1/23/2023 The Grio: "Marvin Dunn, 82, one of eight plaintiffs
in a complaint concerning DeSantis’ Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees
Act, has been leading high school students on his “Teach the Truth” tour
since Florida’s Republican governor began his mission to devalue Black
studies."
Florida says AP class teaches critical race theory. Here's what's really in
the course 1/22/2023 NPR: "Florida rejected an AP course filled with
Critical Race Theory and other obvious violations of Florida law," Florida
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. wrote on Twitter on Friday. "We
proudly require the teaching of African American history. We do not accept
woke indoctrination masquerading as education," he added. But Tinson denied
accusations that the theory will be taught in the course. While the class
will explore the issue of inequality, the framework itself is too advanced
for high school students even in a college-level course, according to
Tinson."
Florida cites CRT, ‘Black Struggle,’ and communism in rejected African
American course 1/21/2023 Orlando Sentinel: "The administration does
not want to ban the teaching of African American history, which for years
has been a required subject in Florida public schools, but it cannot allow a
course to be taught if it violates Florida law and amounts to “woke
indoctrination masquerading as education,” tweeted Education Commissioner
Manny Diaz, a former GOP state senator tapped by DeSantis for the top school
job last year."
Florida Explains Why It Blocked Black History Class—and It’s a Doozy 1/20/2023 Daily
Beast: "The Florida Department of Education says it banned AP African
American History because it teaches students about activism,
intersectionality and encourages “ending the war on Black trans, queer,
gender non-conforming, and intersex people,” according to a document the
department sent to The Daily Beast."
Rejected African American Studies Course in Florida Features CRT,
Intersectionality and Queer Theory 1/19/2023 Florida Standard: [Links
to download of the full AP syllabus.] "Section 4 of the syllabus introduces
the topic “Postracial Racism and Colorblindness” and features texts from
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, who employs Critical Race Theory in his writings.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s book Racism without Racists describes how “Whites
talk, think, and account for the existence of racial inequality and makes
clear that color-blind racism is as insidious now as ever.” The book’s
second chapter, entitled “What is Systemic Racism? Coming to Terms with How
Racism Shapes ‘All’ Whites (and Non-Whites)” explains how “all members of
society participate in structural racism,” according to an online summary."
Administración de DeSantis bloquea clases de estudios afroestadounidenses en
las escuelas secundarias de Florida 1/19/2023 CNN: "En 2021, el estado
promulgó una ley que prohibía enseñar el concepto que explora la historia
del racismo sistémico en Estados Unidos y sus continuos impactos. La ley
también prohibió el material de The 1619 Project, un proyecto ganador del
premio Pulitzer de The New York Times para reformular la historia
estadounidense en torno a la llegada de barcos de esclavos a las costas
estadounidenses. El año pasado, DeSantis también firmó un proyecto de ley
que restringe cómo las escuelas pueden hablar sobre la raza con los
estudiantes."
El presidente del Partido Demócrata de la Florida renuncia tras deplorables
resultados electorales Read more at:
https://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/florida/article270991527.html#storylink=cpy 1/10/2023 Nuevo
Herald: [Padre e hijo, ambos cubanos blancos, han hecho mucho para mantener
abajo a 1,2 millones de afros en el sur de la Florida. El padre no hizo nada
para revertir el abastecimiento del Partido Demócrata a los cubanos y
venezolanos blancos, el hijo impulsó la ley Anti-WOKE.] "Díaz, ex alcalde de
Miami, fue elegido para el cargo hace dos años por activistas del partido
para que ayudara a cambiar las cosas en el estado más poblado de la nación
después de las decepcionantes elecciones de 2020. En cambio, según su propia
definición, se va con los republicanos firmemente con el control y el
partido en ruinas."
Muzzled by DeSantis, Critical Race Theory Professors Cancel Courses or
Modify Their Teaching 1/3/2023 ProPublica: "A month before the fall
2022 semester was set to start, he scrapped both courses. Students scrambled
to register for other classes. “It didn’t seem like it was worth the risk,”
said Cox, who taught a graduate course on inequality and education instead.
“I’m completely unprotected.” He added, “Somebody who’s not even in the
class could come after me. Somebody sees the course catalog, complains to a
legislator — next thing I know, I’m out of a job.”"
'The Stop WOKE Act': HB 7, Race, and Florida's 21st Century AntiLiteracy
Campaign 9/1/2022 University of Florida: "Florida’s Stop the Wrongs to
Our Kids and Employees Act (Stop WOKE) took effect July 1, 2022. The new
law, known as House Bill 7 (HB 7), regulates how race issues can be taught
in the K-20 educational system and imposes stiff sanctions for violations.
This Article provides an incisive analysis of HB 7, with a particular focus
on the law school classroom. It begins with a discussion of anti-literacy
laws adopted during slavery and how these laws prohibited enslaved Blacks
from learning to read and write. The historical analysis establishes that HB
7 is a modern-day iteration of anti-literacy laws. While early anti-literacy
laws prohibited basic literacy, HB 7 prohibits teaching substantive literacy
about race. Anti-literacy provides a framework for understanding the breadth
and impact of HB 7. The Article investigates HB 7 through two prominent
theoretical lenses, racial threat and critical race theory. These analyses
predict and explain legislative responses such as HB 7. Through a series of
hypotheticals, the far-reaching problems of HB 7 are revealed. This Article
establishes the broad powers of HB 7. At full bore, HB 7 will drastically
reduce race-related instruction and in doing so, it will likely delegitimize
race scholarship and race scholars in the state of Florida."
Critical Race Theory: My concern for public education in Florida 7/6/2022 Tallahassee
Democrat: "Consider the wealth gap between Black and white Americans. Rather
than recognizing how generational wealth and income inequality affect wages,
it will be credited to Black Americans being lazier, having unskilled jobs,
and being uneducated. Would these instances not make Black students feel the
mental distress that the bill attempts to prevent?"
Some teachers alarmed by Florida civics training approach on religion,
slavery 6/28/2022 Tampa Bay: "Those dynamics came into full view last
week, when trainers told Broward teachers the nation’s founders did not
desire a strict separation of state and church, downplayed the role the
colonies and later the United States had in the history of slavery in
America, and pushed a judicial theory, favored by legal conservatives like
DeSantis, that requires people to interpret the Constitution as the framers
intended it, not as a living, evolving document, according to three
educators who attended the training." [Most of the Founders were Deists, not
Christians.]
Why a Dem dream candidate can't touch Rubio in Florida 6/11/2022 Politico: "“This
is my race. And this race is between Marco Rubio and me,” Demings said in an
interview. “I know Marco wants me to focus on the president’s approval
ratings. I can control what I’m doing. I can’t control the president’s
approval ratings.” Yet as a sign of how gloomy Florida looks for Democrats,
neither the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee nor a super PAC that
backs Senate Democrats has reserved any ad time in the state. Demings may
not get any measurable help in a state that may be slipping away from her
party. She’s now focusing on two issues in the hopes of energizing voters,
though political advisers warn it may be a losing proposition. It’s another
sign that the key Senate race may be out of reach for Democrats, further
jeopardizing the party’s control of Congress. Demings has started to hammer
Rubio over gun control and abortion in an effort to turn the tide in a race
where polls have shown her trailing the two-term Republican. She has spent
time in recent campaign stops highlighting Rubio’s opposition to abortion
after the disclosure of the Supreme Court’s initial draft opinion
overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision."
Florida wants to avoid critical race theory and ‘social justice’ in social
studies texts 5/20/2022 Politico: "The state is also targeting social
emotional learning, which has recently emerged as another topic under
criticism from DeSantis. Social emotional learning aims to teach students
how to manage their emotions and develop strong relationships with their
peers. This is counted as an “unsolicited” strategy to FLDOE, which told
publishers to refrain from teachings on “identity and identity
identification concepts; managing emotion; developing relationships and
social awareness.”"
Senador Manny Díaz es el primer hispano a cargo de la educación en Florida 4/29/2022 SwissInfo: "Recibió
su licenciatura de la Universidad de St. Thomas, obtuvo una maestría en
Educación en Nova Southeastern University, y completó un programa para
directores de la Escuela de Graduados en Educación de Harvard."
DeSantis recommends Sen. Manny Diaz for education commissioner 4/21/2022 Palm
Beach Post: "Diaz co-sponsored a measure that passed the Legislature this
past session, but has yet to be signed into law by DeSantis, to set
guidelines around discussions teachers and businesses can have about race.
The bill was pushed by DeSantis as a means to fight critical race theory and
passed the Florida Senate on a party-line vote last month. The legislation
bars instruction to make members of a race feel guilty for past actions
committed by people of that same race, and bars teaching that meritocracy is
racist. It also expands language in state law on requiring teaching on the
history of slavery and racial oppression."
How Florida’s ‘anti-woke’ bill could impact public universities 4/16/2022 Tampa
Bay Times: "That virtues such as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness,
neutrality, objectivity and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist, or
were created by members of a particular race, color, sex or national origin
to oppress members of another race, color, sex or national origin."
No veto for Miami’s new map as Mayor Francis Suarez bows out — again 4/5/2022 Political
Cortadito: "Suarez apparently asked for DeGrandy to address allegations from
both the NAACP and the ACLU about breaking up a black voting bloc in the
West Grove as well as arguments that the new map “benefits elected officials
in an improper manner.” Ladra wonders who he meant by that (read: Joe
Carollo). The mayor also wanted the consultant to “explain whether the
adopted plan minimizes the movement of African Americans from D2 to other
districts,” which seems like a scripted question, especially based on the
answers that Suarez would purportedly have no knowledge of."
FL Legislature stuck last-minute policy changes to HB 7; critics call it a
‘huge problem’ 3/14/2022 Florida Phoenix: "“So basically it took a
bill, turned it on its head and basically said ‘oh if you have a complaint,
if you believe that a higher education institution, for example, taught
history or taught racism in a way that made you feel uncomfortable, in
violation of the Stop WOKE Act, you can bring that complaint to a political
committee of the Florida Legislature.’ I say political because it is made up
of politicians with Republicans in the majority. That committee will be the
judge, jury, and executioner on all violations of House Bill 7.”"
Florida House passes measure limiting race-related instruction 2/24/2022 WLRN
Miami: "Under the measure, school instruction or workplace training would
constitute discrimination if it “compels” people to believe certain
concepts. For example, the measure targets training sessions that would lead
people to believe that they bear “responsibility for, or should be
discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of, actions
committed in the past by other members of the same race” or sex."
State Senator Manny Diaz Jr. On Critical Race Theory Afro Latino scholars
and activists slam Gov. DeSantis' dissection of AP African American studies 2/14/2022 CBS: "CBS4's
Facing South Florida host Jim DeFede inteviews State Senator Manny Diaz Jr.
He spoke about critical race theory."
After fiery debate, ‘Individual Freedom’ bill banning ‘woke’ lessons in
schools, businesses heads to House floor 2/9/2022 Florida
Politics: "Its sponsor, Rep. Bryan Ávila of Miami Springs, acknowledged the
bill “brings out a lot of passion” but insisted its aim was not to
discriminate."
DeSantis asks Florida court if Black congressman’s district is
constitutional 2/1/2022 AP: "The Republican governor posed his question
to the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday. Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson said
DeSantis is race baiting to build political points."
Freedom from discomfort or a knowledge ban? ‘Individual freedom’ bill
covering schools, businesses moves in House 1/26/2022 Florida
Politics: "Ávila and Republican Rep. Mike Beltran of Lithia repeatedly
insisted the bill would not stop the instruction of difficult historical
subjects including slavery, the Holocaust or internment camps. The bill only
requires they be taught objectively, and that teachers not wander from the
approved curriculum."
Black lawmakers hammer Ileana Garcia over ‘deeply hurtful’ race comments 1/20/2022 Politico: "Some
Black members of the Florida Senate have soured on Miami Republican Sen.
Ileana Garcia after she said during a TV interview that people should “move
on” from experiences with racism — comments that came days after she quietly
clashed with a veteran Black senator after an otherwise mundane committee
meeting."
Fla. State Sen. Ileana Garcia On Critical Race Theory: 'I Have Been
Discriminated On All Fronts. Should We Take It Personally?' 1/18/2022 CBS: "DeFede
asked her, "You don't think that the African American experience today is
different than the experience by either yourself or someone like me.?"
Garcia said, "No, not at all. As a matter of fact... That's why we had Obama
as a president. That's the best example in the world. Obama was president
now for four years for eight." Senate sponsor Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah,
told reporters after the committee meeting: "The intention of the bill … is
to make sure that these trainings that occur are objective, and that we're
not finding a person guilty of something just because of their ethnic
background or the color of their skin. I think that we have to go back to
the premise that all of us are created equal, and we should be judged on our
individual merits, or deeds, not a blanket statement."
'Shameful and appalling': Ron DeSantis moves press conference following
arrest of well-known community activist 1/5/2022 Alternet: "Rep. Angie
Nixon, a Jacksonville-based Democrat who serves in the Florida House of
Representatives, was highly critical of DeSantis and his staff when she told
the Times-Union, “The governor runs and hides when the people demand to be a
priority…. Public service is the people’s business, and the governor must
answer for his failings. There’s nothing private about America witnessing
the suffering that Floridians have endured because of Gov. DeSantis’
people-last strategy. The treatment of Mr. Ben Frazier, a disabled
civil-rights activist and member of my community, was shameful and
appalling.”"
Florida activist handcuffed while trying to attend DeSantis news conference 1/4/2022 WaPo: "Frazier
said he wanted to listen, then talk to DeSantis about the pandemic and the
“antiriot” bill that the governor signed into law last year. The Northside
Coalition is one of several groups that have sued the DeSantis
administration over the new law, which they say violates the First Amendment
by placing limitations on public demonstrations."
Democrats riled by Spanish-language radio attacks on Kamala Harris 12/21/2021 Politico: "Florida
Democrats are sounding alarms over what they believe is a sustained and
coordinated campaign rapidly unfolding across Spanish-language media to
tarnish the image of Vice President Kamala Harris. Democratic veterans in
the state are unnerved by the ferocity and speed of the attacks, which have
come from callers and guests on local radio programs in recent weeks. They
suspect the participants are part of a larger, astroturf effort to diminish
Harris’ standing among key Latino constituencies in a region where
Republicans have notched sharp gains. Even more worrying for these Democrats
has been the lack of pushback from their party. The fears spilled out into
the open when a Miami-based Democratic pollster took to social media to warn
that he’s been hearing arguments against the vice president from talk-show
callers that he felt appeared scripted."
Black Lives Matter Support for Socialism Creates Sharp Divide with Cuban
Americans 8/4/2021 Newsweek: "Cubans, Mohl wrote, injected "new life"
into the city, but "also brought in the wake of their invasion a host of
grave social and economic problems." Those problems included competition for
jobs, housing, schools, and government services. "The Cubans are slowly
taking over the business of Dade County," complained the Miami Times, the
city's Black weekly newspaper, in 1966."
Critican a Black Lives Matter por los invitados que elige para foro virtual
sobre Cuba 7/27/2021 Cibercuba: "En un escrito de abril de este año,
titulado ‘Contra la rabia política: una vacuna y una propuesta’, Zurbano
analizó el impacto del Movimiento San Isidro (MSI) en la dinámica actual de
conflictos y propuestas dentro de la cultura y la política de la Cuba actual
desde una visión que, si bien incidió en el racismo latente dentro del
proceso “revolucionario”, redujo el potencial verdaderamente revolucionario
del MSI y llamó a estar preparados para la “racialización” interesada de
conflictos por parte del “el escenario mediático de Miami”."
Miami Police Chief Clashes With Proud Boys Member at Cuba Protest 7/14/2021 Miami
New Times: "Why are you with Black Lives Matter?" the man asks Acevedo,
referring to the former Houston police chief's words of support in the media
for social-justice protests last year. Asked again about why he supports the
Black Lives Matter movement, Acevedo becomes incensed."
Florida Democrats shouldn’t be punishing internal dissent | Bill Cotterell 6/17/2021 Talahassee
Democrat: "The Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee voted
overwhelmingly on June 3 to censure four of the county’s school board
members for voting to remove the words “white advantage” from a policy
statement. The statement said Palm Beach County schools are “committed to
dismantling structures rooted in white advantage and transforming our system
by hearing and elevating under-represented voices, sharing power,
recognizing and eliminating bias and redistributing resources to provide
equitable outcomes.”"
Florida Board of Education adopts rule banning ‘critical race theory’ in
public schools 6/11/2021 News 4 Jax: "The original rule change
proposal, which bars teachers from attempting “...to indoctrinate or
persuade students to a particular point of view,” did not mention “critical
race theory” specifically, but the language was added in an amendment
offered by Board member Tom Grady during Thursday’s meeting at FSCJ’s
downtown campus in Jacksonville."
Florida State Board of Education Bans the Use of Critical Race Theory in
Schools 6/10/2021 Ed Week: "Lessons that deal with critical race theory
and the “1619 Project” are not welcome in Florida’s public schools following
a State Board of Education vote on Thursday."
'Unacceptable': Only 7 percent of vaccinated Florida residents are Black 5/12/2021 Politico: “Gov.
DeSantis and the folks around him need to move heaven and earth to get
vaccines to the black community, and as they do this I don’t want to hear
them blame their inability to equitably distribute the vaccine to people of
color on vaccine hesitancy,” he said."
Miami-Dade’s wealthiest areas are almost fully vaccinated. Black communities
are at 31% 4/26/2021 Miami Herald: "Politicians have been quick to
blame the disparity on vaccine “hesitancy.” But residents of
under-vaccinated communities interviewed by the Herald described a far more
complex range of emotional reasoning and logistical hurdles. There was never
just one thing that kept someone from getting vaccinated but rather a
compounding and often fluid set of circumstances: lack of information from
trusted sources, a complicated appointment sign-up system that privileged
white-collar workers with more flexible schedules and paid time off,
difficult-to-reach vaccination sites that required access to a car, and
doctor’s note requirements that disproportionately hurt underinsured Black
and brown communities that have less access to doctors."
Miami’s Republican Cuban Americans need to soul search and confront their
racism 4/7/2021 Miami Herald
Residents defend Robert E. Lee High: 'Jesus himself never condemned slavery' 3/25/2021 CNN: "A
school board in Jacksonville, Florida, proposed changing the name of its
Robert E. Lee High School and held community hearings on the issue. Comments
made in support of the name outraged many at the hearings."
The Batistafication of Florida 3/1/2021 Wayne Madsen Report: "The
Euro-Cubans, as a voting bloc, must be written off as unobtainable. They are
far too rooted in the fascism of their old hero, Batista, and new hero,
Trump, to be of political use to a progressive political party. Instead, the
Democrats should concentrate their voter registration and get-out-the-vote
(GOTV) efforts on the Afro-Cubans, many who arrived in Florida in the El
Mariel boatlifts in 1980, as well as working class Puerto Ricans, Mexicans,
Haitians, Bahamians, Jamaicans (America has a Vice President of Jamaican
descent), Trinidadians, Afro-Colombians and Afro-Venezuelans, and
Amerindians from Latin America"
Over 50% of the elected Democratic Party legislators from Miami-Dade are
Black 2/18/2021 Miami-Dade Democrats: "Did you know that over 50% of
the elected Democratic Party legislators from Miami-Dade are Black? Does
anyone know the number for Miami-Dade Republicans?"
Where is Florida Democrats’ Stacey Abrams? 2/10/2021 Orlando
Sentinel: "Since Election Day, the Florida Democratic Party has been trying
to recover from the disastrous cycle. Their first reaction was to choose a
Miami Cuban American, former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, to lead the party out
of the wilderness. Poor performance among Latino voters, especially South
Florida’s Cuban Americans, was cited as a key factor in the Democrats’
anemic showing. However, in the wake of Georgia’s success, party leaders
should be asking: Where’s our Stacey Abrams?"
Leilani Bruce’s Candela Book Club Explores Afro-Cuban Experiences 2/9/2021 Start
Up Cuba TV: "Candela, an eloquent acronym that stands for Cuban-American
Narratives and Dialogue for Equity, Liberation and Allyship, found its roots
over the summer amidst the tragedies of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and
Ahmaud Arbery. Along with the Cuba One Foundation, the Miami Freedom Project
began a dialogue about systemic racism in Cuban-American communities. This
dialogue expanded to a Whatsapp conversation, virtual meetings, and finally
blossomed into the birth of the Candela book club, which is meant to
highlight black voices and Afro-Cuban stories."
Brevard County: Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda Executes Black Teen for
Driving Past Him 11/22/2020 Cop Blaster: "Brevard County Deputy
Sheriff's Office (BCSO) Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda executed two black
teenagers for trying to drive past him. The shooting was caught on his dash
camera where you can clearly see that the vehicle he shot at was turning
right in an effort to drive past him (see video below). The vehicle was
obviously going to great lengths to evade the officers without actually
hitting them."
Florida’s reeling Democrats struggle to reclaim the Sunshine State 11/6/2020 Sun
Sentinel: "Tuesday exposed a litany of problems for a divided party:
insufficient voter registration; lack of on-the-ground campaigning; a dearth
of young, charismatic candidates; neglect of the minority population; an
unfocused message to voters; and the inability to counter Trump’s socialist
branding — all of this complicated by the paralyzing environment of
COVID-19."
Review shows objectionable content routinely appeared in columns in el Nuevo
Herald insert 9/20/2020 Miami Herald: "The columnist wrote that
Michelle Obama reminds him of a “black monster” in Dante’s Inferno. Other
times, he wrote that Islam is “filth,” Native Americans “primitive” and
Africa the “ass of the world.” On another occasion still, he called George
Floyd “ugly,” a “common criminal” and the protests over his death at the
hands of police “racial whoremongering.” And then there’s the time that he
wrote, in all apparent seriousness, that Black Lives Matter protesters
should summarily be put to death."
South Florida Grapples With Its Own Contested Monuments Of Spanish
Conquistadors 6/30/2020 WLRN, Miami: "QUEELEY: I've thought about this
question and what is the kind of society that I would envision that I would
want to live in? What would they do? One of the obvious answers to that
question is, of course, having them in museums, so they can actually be used
as tools for education. I'm hoping that we're on the brink of some kind of
process of truth and reconciliation nationally. And I wonder whether or not
an actual burial of these statues would be appropriate in having some kind
of ritual that would kind of signal that we are embarking upon a new chapter
in this country."
WHEN LIBERTY BURNS 6/19/2020 Miami Film Festival: "On December 17,
1979, Arthur McDuffie failed to stop for a traffic light, and police
officers gave chase. After realizing he could not escape, McDuffie
surrendered. He was beaten until he lost consciousness, ultimately causing
his death. The shocking acquittal of the offending officers charged in the
murder sparked a civil disturbance in Miami’s urban core. The “McDuffie
Riots” that followed in May 1980 caused the deaths of 18 people, millions of
dollars in destruction, and became a symbol of the city’s struggle to
contend with race relations and its sordid history during the Jim Crow era.
The documentary engages family members and friends of Arthur McDuffie,
retired police officers, eye witnesses, historians and contemporary
community activists in interviews and it chronicles McDuffie’s life and his
rich relationships with his family and his community. It traces, with
brilliant insight, the dynamics of race relations in the City as it manages
increasingly diverse ethnic populations, growth and change. And yet, 40
years later, this seminal Miami reckoning is in danger of disappearing from
public consciousness – something that Alexis’ timely and important film
seeks to redress."
Hallan muerta a activista de marchas contra el racismo en Florida 6/17/2020 Ruda: "La
policía de Tallahassee informó del arresto de un sospechoso, Aaron Glee Jr.,
de 49 años. Éste ya había sido detenido en mayo pasado acusado de agresión
agravada a una mujer y liberado bajo una fianza de 2 mil 500 dólares. En
varios mensajes, la joven dijo que fue asaltada, que llamó a la Policía y
que escapó. Salau se unió a las marchas de Black Lives Matter, en las que
recitaba los nombres de hombres afroamericanos que murieron a manos de la
policía, entre ellos George Floyd, según se ve en varios videos."
Marco Rubio called them ‘extremists.’ They’re really Miami rappers. They
want a retraction. 6/10/2020 Miami Herald: "When cops arrested Marco
Antonio Lopez on allegations that he vandalized patrol cars during a protest
in downtown Miami, the arrest report noted he was part of a group known as
the “Southern Slaves,” which “actively recruits people to violently protest
the government.” That drew the attention of U.S. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio,
who tweeted the arrest was evidence of “extremist groups” organizing to
cause mayhem at protests over the death of George Floyd and police
brutality. But the Southern Slaves aren’t an extremist group. And they are
not monitored by the FBI or listed by hate-group trackers like the
Anti-Defamation League or the Southern Poverty Law Center. They’re a group
of aspiring hip-hop musicians from Miami’s Flagami neighborhood, buddies
uploading their music online, doing shows at open-mic nights and spreading a
message of what they consider government overreach. “We’re not terrorists.
We love America. What we don’t love is systematic oppression and police
brutality,” said Alonzo Martinez, 23, whose stage name is “Zo The
Atlantean.”"
Videos show Miami Beach arrests of black spring breakers slammed as racist
by NAACP 3/17/2020 NBC: "The Miami-Dade chapter of the NAACP is calling
for the removal of the Miami Beach police chief and city manager in response
to videos showing police interactions with black spring breakers last week.
In one of the viral videos, a Miami Beach police officer appears to grab a
young woman by the throat after she falls onto the street following a
collision with an officer. That video was uploaded to social media and has
been viewed more than 390,000 times."
STACEY ABRAMS DISCUSSES HOW TO HELP YOUNG FLORIDIANS VOTE AT MIAMI DADE
COLLEGE 2/5/2020 Florida Dems: "“In 2018, almost 60,000 people voted at
the 12 college campus polling locations around Florida — over half of those
that voted on campus were under the age of 30. Your vote will not just
determine your future, but the future of America. When Florida’s young
people vote, Florida wins.”"
Haitian, Jamaican or American ... If you’re black in Miami, odds are you’re
struggling 2/25/2019 Miami Herald: "A new study sheds light on the
yawning gap in wealth in the Miami area between white households and
households of color. Among non-white groups, it is Miami-area households
identifying as black that continue to suffer most, according to the authors
of the study, “The Color of Wealth in Miami.”"
11-year-old arrested after refusing to stand for Pledge of Allegiance 2/17/2019 NY
Post: "The classroom kerfuffle happened when a substitute teacher, Ana
Alvarez, ordered the boy to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. When he told
her he believed the flag was racist and the anthem was offensive, Alvarez
asked him “why if it was so bad here he did not go to another place to
live,” the teacher said in a statement to the school district. The teacher
said he replied, “they brought me here.” Alvarez then told him, “Well you
can always go back, because I came here from Cuba and the day I feel I’m not
welcome here anymore I would find another place to live.”"
How was Miami’s Overtown neighborhood chosen as the place to expand I-95? 1/15/2019 The
New tropic: "“By 1961, Overtown families began receiving surprise letters
telling them they were expected to uproot and relocate from their homes
within six to eight weeks,” Fields said in an email. “No mention was made of
any appeal process, and ‘the rest is history.’” "
Video: Forget what you think you know about Overtown 12/17/2018 The New
tropic: "Once considered “The Harlem of the South,” it was the gathering
place for musicians such as Duke Ellington, Sammy Davis Jr. and Billie
Holiday. But when the construction of I-95 divided the neighborhood into
quadrants in the 1960s, Overtown’s economic stability collapsed, and so did
its claim to fame as the entertainment capital of the South."
Five Signs the Florida Democratic Party Still Doesn't Get It 12/16/2018 Miami
New Times: "Andrew Gillum was a strong candidate for governor. Ron DeSantis
and Rick Scott were grotesque, cretinous candidates and seemingly awful
human beings. Everything looked so easy. So of course the Florida Democrats
blew it. They're the Florida Democrats! They're a group of party
apparatchiks and generally privileged white people who treat political
representation like a club and a hobby instead of seeing politics as the
dire, important, often-life-altering issue it is. The party is staffed by
people who reward those who stress loyalty and tradition over good ideas."
I dig through archives to unearth hidden stories from African-American
history 12/4/2018 The Conversation: "Many years ago, as a graduate
student searching in the archives of Spanish Florida, I discovered the first
“underground railroad” of enslaved Africans escaping from Protestant
Carolina to find religious sanctuary in Catholic Florida. In 1738, these
runaways formed Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, the first free black
settlement in what became the U.S. The excitement of that discovery
encouraged me to keep digging. After doing additional research in Spain, I
followed the trail of the Mose villagers to Cuba, where they had emigrated
when Great Britain acquired Florida. I found many of them in 18th-century
church records in Havana, Matanzas, Regla, Guanabacoa and San Miguel del
Padrón."
Gov. Rick Scott's Wildly Biased Voting Rights Board: Here's How He
Reportedly Boosted Republicans and Disfavored Black Voters 10/25/2018 Alternet: "According
to the Post's findings, Scott has restored the voting rights of twice as
many whites as blacks, even though whites and blacks were released from
state prisons at roughly the same rate. Furthermore, Scott re-enfranchised a
higher percentage of Republicans, and a lower percentage of Democrats, than
any governor since 1971."
Miami Republican chairman reportedly planned Pelosi protest with Proud Boys 10/20/2018 Think
Progress: "Now another Republican has been connected to the Proud Boys.
After an angry mob confronted and cursed at House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) during a campaign event for Donna Shalala (D-FL) in Coral
Gables on Wednesday, the Washington Post reported the Florida protest
“appears to have been organized by Nelson Diaz, the chairman of the
Republican Party in Miami-Dade County.”"
Miami GOP Chairman Nelson Diaz leading Proud Boys hate group in attack on
Democratic campaign office 10/19/2018 YouTube: "The Republican Party
Miami-Dade's County Chairman led an angry mob of partisans with the local
leader of national hate group the Proud Boys in an attack on a Democratic
campaign office the week."
Miami GOP Chairman just caught leading Proud Boys in attack on Democratic
campaign office 10/19/2018 The Stern Fact: "Chairman Diaz even told me
that he never heard of the Proud Boys, even though the Miami New Times
caught local GOP Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart posting a photo of himself
with one candidate of the group’s members just two months ago. But the video
doesn’t lie, and it depicts Diaz only a few feet away from Miami Proud Boys
leader Enrique Tarrio when he yelled: “Open up! It’s some Proud Boys in
here.”"
Third police officer sentenced to prison for framing black males 10/19/2018 Nation
of Change: "After pleading guilty to framing innocent black men and punching
a handcuffed suspect in the face, a third Florida police officer was
sentenced Thursday to 27 months in prison for conspiracy to deprive a person
of his civil rights and deprivation of civil rights under color of law. Two
other officers have been sentenced to one year in federal prison, while
their former police chief awaits sentencing next month."
Why Young Men of Color Are Joining White-Supremacist Groups 9/4/2018 Daily
Beast: "Tarrio, who identifies as Afro-Cuban, is president of the Miami
chapter of the Proud Boys, who call themselves “Western chauvinists,” and
“regularly spout white-nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with
known extremists,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center."
Here Are 5 of the Most Disturbing Facts About Florida Republican
Gubernatorial Candidate Ron DeSantis 8/30/2018 Alternet: "The Florida
gubernatorial race could become a referendum on Sanders’ ideas versus
Trump’s ideas, and DeSantis is way beyond conservative—he is extreme."
After surprise primary victory, can Andrew Gillum win the Florida governor's
race? 8/30/2018 NBC: "But the state remains divided stubbornly 50-50,
which means Democrats need to both energize their base and win over swing
voters, said Steve Schale, a Florida Democratic strategist who backed
Graham. “It's still a state that is very evenly balanced,” said Schale —
who, like Graham, quickly got behind Gillum. “Democrats that think Andrew's
not going to be able to connect with suburban white women, and typical swing
voters aren't paying attention to what's happening around the country.”"
Black lawmaker says Miami Democrats have ‘lynched’ him in primary 8/16/2018 Miami
Herald: "Hardemon, in interviews with the Miami Herald, said his party
doesn’t like black people — “especially black men” — and claimed the
chairman of the Miami-Dade Democrats recruited a Haitian-American candidate
to boot him from office. This week, Hardemon went one step further, lobbing
a racial accusation during a meeting of Democratic leaders in Doral. “It’s
surprising to be lynched from the Democratic Party,” Hardemon said from a
stage, standing next to Chairman Juan Cuba."
Miami Congressman Diaz-Balart Posts Photo With Alt-Right "Proud Boy" 8/10/2018 Miami
New Times: "The Proud Boy who met with Diaz-Balart describes himself online
as a military veteran and National Rifle Association "certified pistol
instructor." He's repeatedly taken photographs with Miami-Dade County
Republican Party members and appears to be involved with Carla Spalding's
campaign for Florida's 23rd Congressional District, a seat currently
occupied by Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Spalding has been endorsed by Roger
Stone and has appeared on InfoWars, so it's perhaps not surprising that her
campaign seems to include a Proud Boy, as well."
Cops, courts in Miami-Dade harsher on blacks. New study details stark racial
disparities. 7/19/2018 Miami Herald: "No group in Miami-Dade County
gets treated more harshly in the criminal justice system than blacks,
according to a joint study released Thursday by the American Civil Liberties
Union and University of Miami. Researchers, who analyzed five years of data
between 2010 and 2015, found stark differences across the board."
A conversation about racism in Miami should include all groups – not just
Cubans 6/2/2018 Miami Herald: "In my life — and in 38 years as a
journalist covering every topic in the book in South Florida — I've
witnessed racist and prejudiced words and acts from members of every group
in our community. Yet the flurry of outrage and calls for conversation seem
to happen only when the offender is Cuban or Cuban-American." [Cuban
privilege!]
Afro-Latinos Say Miami Blackface Play Is Part Of Bigger Problem With Racism
In Latino Communities 5/29/2018 WLRN: "And supporters of the play kept
telling her this was tradition, but Afro-Latinos say this is bigger than a
play. For them, it's part of larger problem in Latino communities, where
blackness is demonized and deemed inferior through art, entertainment and
everyday conversations."
This Miami parody features an actress in blackface and the audience 'loves
it' 5/19/2018 Miami Herald: "A popular Spanish-language theater near
Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood has been entertaining its audiences for
months with a parody that would spur outrage in many other cities. One of
the leading actors in the play performs in blackface. The response from most
of this audience: applause and laughter. “It has been a hit and no one has
complained ... on the contrary, she is one of the favorites," said Marisol
Correa, who oversees the venue where the play is showing. “The character is
typical of the Cuban theater, the negrito cubano, but the person is never
discriminated.”"
Publix bankrolling the campaign of Florida GOP Adam Putnam 5/17/2018 Ybor
City Stogie: "Latinos who shop at Publix - Check this out… ----- Its heirs
and past and present leaders are bankrolling the campaign of Agriculture
Commissioner Adam Putnam at unprecedented levels. ----- Putnam is a vocal
supporter of Trump’s vitriolic anti-immigrant policies, and while he served
in Congress before Trump existed, he cast anti-minority votes. ----- His
voting record clearly shows he’s all about suppressing the vote of
minorities who are U.S. citizens."
Justice for Keegan Von Roberts 3/5/2018 AVAAZ: Petition with a good
explanation - "The state of Florida is attempting to justify his murder with
this law all due to a small part of his car being parked on the sidewalk.
His murderer lives all the way across the street. We wont let the state
brush this under the rug all because they don't have time or do not want to
deal with it. If your mindset is where all of ours is after reading this we
ask that you please sign this petition and share as we all just want
"JUSTICE FOR KEEGAN"."
Estate of Keegan Roberts v. Michael Centanni Evidence Locker 3/5/2018 John
M Philips Esq: Contains numerous call recordings and statements by Keegan
Von Roberts' murderer, the white supremacist Centanni.
Manolín: "Vivimos en EE.UU. y le estamos muy agradecidos pero no hay por qué
callar" 2/16/2018 Cibercuba: "Manolín, El médico de la salsa, ha
publicado un texto en su perfil de Facebook a propósito del tiroteo en una
escuela secundaria de Broward, el pasado 14 de febrero, en el que murieron
17 personas y otras 15 resultaron heridas. Más que aludir directamente a la
tragedia, el músico cubano ha ido a la que considera la causa principal, el
gran problema de origen: la venta de armas."
Miami Latinos Have Avoided Electing African American County Mayors, But That
Could Finally Change 1/29/2018 Remezcla: "In 1983, Puerto Rican Miami
Mayor Maurice Ferrer won his sixth consecutive two-year term against
Cuban-born Xavier Suarez after a campaign that began to uncover the growing
tensions between Miami’s Cuban majority and the Black minority. Many Black
voters campaigned for Ferrer, resentful of the “Cuban takeover” of the city.
Suarez’s supporters, in turn, were found holding signs that simply urged,
“Cubans, vote Cuban.” As Luke wrote, only one Black county mayoral candidate
has gotten a close chance at the seat: Arthur Teele, Jr. in 1995. Teele won
a majority of the Black vote, but barely gained any Latino neighborhoods,
while his opponent, Cuban born Alex Penelas, garnered 90 percent of the
Latino vote come election day."
TRES VIUDAS EN UN CRUCERO llega a la Sala Catarsis de Miami 1/25/2018 YouTube: "Tres
viudas que viven que en el mismo Condominio en Hialeah, deciden tomar un
crucero por el Caribe. Lo que nadie imagina, es lo que les ocurre mientras
lo planeaban, y después que regresan del viaje. En esta comedia le
aseguramos una risa continua y una diversion constante . Más info en
www.teatrotrail.com" [Con una negrita en blackface…]
Hispanic Voters Will Never Elect a Black Miami-Dade County Mayor 1/22/2018 Miami
New Times: "When he was seeking reelection in 2012, Gimenez showed up at
every rally and black church to drum up endorsements. Though the black vote
can push a candidate over the top in a countywide election, we somehow
always select the best Cuban candidate. And once the Cuban candidate wins,
he tosses the African-American community into the garbage. All we get in
return is a giant F-you."
In 1959, "white" Cubans started emigrating to Miami on a massive scale and pushed aside the then thriving Black American and Bahamian communities, who many still remember had built Miami. Black jobs and neighborhoods were taken over by the federally financed refugees while Blacks were relegated to Overtown, Liberty City, and Opa-Locka, among others. Until then Overtown in particular had a rich history and was called the Harlem of the South, it is no longer, though that is likely due to the Feds passing I-95 through there. Overall, there should be a good reparations case against the Federal Government for this ethnic cleansing that started only 60 years ago.
Cubans coming to Miami continued to be mostly of Ibero-Spanish origin until Mariel in 1980 and the balseros who followed. Even then, many Black Cubans blended in with Black Americans or moved to New Jersey and New York, rejected by their white Cuban counterparts. This was recently referenced in the Academy Award winning film, Moonlight: “Lotta black folks in Cuba but you wouldn’t know it from being here [in Miami].” (How Oscar Favorite ‘Moonlight’ Subtly Illuminates the Erasure of Miami’s Black Cubans 1/6/2017 Remezcla). This same article references a 2016 book, Miami’s Forgotten Cubans by Alan A. Aja, which is one of the few studies of AfroCubans in Miami.
From the start of the Cuban invasion, the two wealthiest and most important Cuban American families, the Bacardis and the Fanjuls, who own Domino Sugar, funded terrorist groups such as Alpha 66 that attacked Cuba repeatedly and killed over 3,000 civilians. They form the exiled plantocracy, complete with their stable of politicians: the Diaz Balarts, Ileana Ross Lehtinen, Marco Rubio and their cohorts.
Throughout this process, many Black Americans were killed every year by Florida police, whose officers were increasingly Cuban Americans or Latinos.
In 1990, the Miami City Commission rescinded a proclamation welcoming Nelson Mandela to the city during his tour of the U.S. after his release from prison in South Africa. The city's Cuban-American mayor and four other Cuban-American mayors from the area publicly criticized Mandela for not denouncing human rights violations in Cuba. Of course they ignored the fact that Mandela was out of jail because of the Cuban victory in Southern Africa. The response from Black Miami, then 21% of Miami's 359,000 inhabitants, was swift: they declared a national boycott that cost Miami anywhere from $40 million to $3 billion in lost revenue and forced a settlement 3 years later.
As more and more balseros or raft people poured in from Cuba throughout the 90's, US intel agencies took notice that many were Black and sent out memos to their Cuban American client organizations to start integrating Black Cubans in a classic imperial divide and conquer approach. CIA agent Jose Basulto took the lead and trained his people in nonviolent protests at the Martin Luther King Institute (Invoking MLK and Rosa Parks in Cuban Exile Politics 5/30/2009). Having devastated Black Miami, the exiled Cuban plantocracy appropriated US Civil Rights icons in their struggle to regain influence over the now largely Black homeland. The exiles are using race as their main wedge issue to try and destabilize Cuba, and we have been tracking this since at least 2001.
These facts are not in dispute. The real question is why this whole process, especially the ethnic cleansing of Miami, has been so ignored, both in Cuba and the US, and what can be done about that. This ignoring has already caused problems by making the Cuban rap and hip-hop community vulnerable to persuasion and money from Miami, USAID, and NED, leading to needles state repression.
-- Andy Petit
The White Man's Burden (1899)
Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden,
Send forth the best ye breed
Go bind your sons to exile,
to serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
En 1959, muchos cubanos "blancos" comenzaron a emigrar a Miami y dejaron de lado
a las entonces prósperas comunidades afroamericanas y bahameñas, que se acuerdan
bien como habían construido a Miami. Los negros y sus barrios fueron asumidos
por los refugiados financiados por el gobierno federal, mientras que los negros
fueron relegados a Overtown, Liberty City y Opa-Locka, entre
otros. Overtown en particular tiene
una historia rica y
fue llamado el Harlem del Sur, pero no lo es ahora, aunque esto es mas la culpa
del gobierno federal directamente, que paso la autopista I-95 en medio del
barrio. Pero en general, debe haber un buen caso de reparaciones con el
gobierno federal por esta limpieza étnica que
comenzó hace solo 60 años.
Los cubanos que vinieron a Miami siguieron siendo en gran parte de origen
ibero-español hasta la onda de Mariel en 1980 y los balseros que siguieron.
Incluso entonces, muchos cubanos negros se mezclaron con negros americanos o se
mudaron a Nueva Jersey y Nueva York, rechazados por sus homólogos cubanos
blancos. Esto fue recientemente mencionado en la película ganadora del Premio de
la Academia, Moonlight: "Mucha gente negra en Cuba, pero no lo sabrías por estar
aquí [en Miami]." (How
Oscar Favorite ‘Moonlight’ Subtly Illuminates the Erasure of Miami’s Black
Cubans 1/6/2017 Remezcla). Este mismo artículo hace referencia a un libro
de 2016, Miami's Forgotten Cubans de Alan A. Aja, que es uno de los pocos
estudios de los AfroCubanos en Miami.
Desde el comienzo de la invasión cubana, las dos familias cubano-americanas más
ricas e importantes, los Bacardis y los Fanjuls, propietarios de Domino Sugar,
financiaron grupos terroristas como Alpha 66 que atacaron a Cuba y mataron a más
de 3.000 civiles. Ellos forman la plantocracia en el exilio,
con su conjunto de políticos: los Diaz Balarts, Ileana Ross Lehtinen, Marco
Rubio y sus cohortes.
A lo largo de este proceso, muchos estadounidenses
negros fueron asesinados cada año por la policía de la Florida, cuyos
oficiales eran cada vez más cubano-americanos o latinos.
En 1990, la Comisión de la Ciudad de Miami rescindió una proclama dando la
bienvenida a Nelson Mandela a la ciudad durante su gira por los Estados Unidos
después de su liberación de la prisión en Sudáfrica. El alcalde cubano-americano
de Miami y otros cuatro alcaldes cubano-americanos de la zona criticaron
públicamente a Mandela por no denunciar las violaciones de los derechos humanos
en Cuba. Por supuesto, ignoraron el hecho de que Mandela estaba fuera de la
cárcel debido a la victoria cubana en el sur de
África. La respuesta de Black Miami, entonces el 21% de los 359.000
habitantes de Miami, fue rápida: declararon un boicot nacional que costó a Miami
de $40 millones a $3 mil milliones en ingresos perdidos y obligó a un acuerdo 3
años después.
A medida que más y más balseros llegaban de Cuba a lo largo de los años 90, las
agencias de inteligencia estadounidenses advirtieron que muchos eran negros y
enviaron memorandos a sus organizaciones clientelares cubanas para comenzar a
integrar a los cubanos negros en una clásica división imperial. El agente de la
CIA, José Basulto, tomó la iniciativa y entrenó a su gente en protestas no
violentas en el Instituto Martin Luther King (Invoking
MLK and Rosa Parks in Cuban Exile Politics 5/30/2009). Después de haber
devastado a Black Miami, la plantocracia cubana exiliada se apropió de los
iconos de los Derechos Civiles de los Estados Unidos en su lucha por recuperar
la influencia sobre su patria hoy en gran parte negra. Los exiliados están
utilizando la raza como su principal problema para tratar de desestabilizar a
Cuba, y hemos estado rastreando esto desde al menos 2001.
Estos hechos no están en disputa. La verdadera pregunta es por qué todo este
proceso ha sido tan ignorado, tanto en Cuba como en los Estados Unidos, y qué se
puede hacer al respecto. Esta ignorancia intencional ya ha causado problemas al
hacer que la comunidad de rap y hip-hop cubana sea
vulnerable a la persuasión y el dinero de Miami, USAID y NED, lo que lleva a
una represión estatal innecesaria.
-- Andy Petit
IDEOLOGY, RACE AND CURRENT DISCOURSE, Lisa Brock 1994
While there has been substantial scholarship on the U.S. domination of Cuba,
projects devoted to uncovering the historical connections between
African-Americans and Cuba have been minimal. Aside from Willard Gatewood's
several volumes, Johnnetta Cole's short 1977 article on African-American
solidarity with Cuba, and Rosemari Mealy's 1992 collection of testimonials on
Fidel and Malcolm, there is little else. In fact, given African-American
sentiments concerning the Cuban-American community today, it is difficult for
one to believe that any feelings of closeness ever existed.
African-Americans under age forty - like their peers - have come to know Cubans
through the opinions and activities of Cuban emigres in Miami. Enraged at the
revolution, the latter have been promoted and given political clout by
successive U.S. administrations and the national media. Unlike previous
Cuban-American populations, Cubans in Florida are largely White and drawn from
Cuba's pre-revolutionary elite. Implicated in police brutality and overtly
racist politics, they have attained dispropor- tionate power in Florida. 4
Police shootings have incited Blacks in Miami to riot in the section known as
Liberty City. The differential treatment of Haitian and Cuban emigres has
prompted persistent demonstrations. Haitians, when not turned back, are held for
months in detention camps while Cubans often attain political asylum within
twenty- four hours.
Tensions peaked in 1990 when Miami mayor Xavier Suarez, a Cuban- American,
became the only United States official to refuse to greet African National
Congress head Nelson Mandela-whose organization was known for its ties to Cuba-
when he visited that city. Mandela had been invited to attend the national
convention of the American Federation of State and Municipal Employees, a trade
union long active in the anti-apartheid struggle. Mayor Suarez' position so
angered the trade unionists and Black residents of Miami that they called for a
convention boycott of Miami. The boycott was effectively sustained for three
years and called off only when the city's politicians negotiated a deal with
prominent Blacks for greater Black empowerment. In addition, the rightist Cuban
American National Foundation, through its ties to the Heritage Foundation,
became known for its support of right-wing contra wars in southern Africa.
Many African-Americans have only known Cuba through such experiences, creating
for them a somewhat muddled assumption that all Cubans are fascist and racist.
The 1989 publication of Carlos Moore's Castro, the Blacks and Africa, added fuel
to this fire by attacking Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution as consciously
racist. A few prominent African-Americans such as Maya Angelou and St. Clair
Drake endorsed the book, which boosted readership in the Black community. Even
though Moore's book was of poor scholarship and based more on hearsay than
in-depth analysis, to it kneaded an already ethnically and ideologically charged
situation. But more importantly, the work has served to whittle away at some of
the support base of the Cuban revolution in the Black community. Paradoxically,
it has served to relocate some African-Americans to the counter-revolutionary
side of the U.S. government on the one hand, and on the other, bolstered the
Congressional Black Caucus in its call for an end to the blockade. The CBC has
argued that only an end to the United States blockade can better the lives of
Black Cubans.
Florida
South Florida Black Journalists Association
Visit Florida Where to Learn About Florida's Black History
History of Florida/Modern Florida, 1900-1945, WikiBooks
Miami
Dr Marvin Dunn, historian, organizer
www.facebook.com/thenewblackmiami
zipatlas.com/us/fl/miami/zip-code-comparison/percentage-black-population.htm
www.facebook.com/thenewblackmiami
Liberty Square Rising
www.youtube.com/channel/UCA35_jPnej5Sy0cbaKU5CnA/videos
Race riots in Miami - Wikipedia
Look Back at Miami’s Vibrant African American and Caribbean Heritage, Miami and Beaches
www.floridamemory.com/photographiccollection/photo_exhibits/black_history/
www.bahlt.org
Black Archives, Miami
The Bahamian Influence on the South Florida Shotgun House, Kisla Foundation
"If the family represents the soul of the community, then the house is the
soul's vessel. In West African culture, religious rituals made clear the belief
that the traditional clay artifact – the home – contained the soul of the
ancestors. In many ways, the simple nature of the shotgun houses – long,
straight and narrow – found in Miami and other southern cities, affirms the
lives of intimacy that the Bahamian builders' West African ancestors led. The
structure of the shotgun house is illustrative of cultures where concepts of
personal space suggest a closeness among family members that was uncommon in
Western societies."
Miami, 1959 - 1980, USC
Miami History, Soul of America
"The federal government designated Miami to be the point of embarkation and
assistance for Cuban immigrants. To use a chess metaphor it was a “Queen” in the
Cold War Cuba Policy directed at Russia. Towards America’s Cold War objective,
the U.S. government awarded 50 times the amount of business loans and grants to
immigrant Cuban businesspersons than to black Miamians in the 1960s. The federal
government also persuaded Miami, Dade County and Florida officials to award
public service jobs and more home loans to Cuban immigrants. As a result, U.S.
government leaders could parade successful Cuban immigrants to Latin America as
an example that Democratic-Capitalism works better than Communist-Dictatorship.
Anglo-Americans could own businesses and live anywhere in South Florida. Like
the rest of America, many chose new suburban communities with larger homes, new
malls and jobs nearby. New freeways to suburban communities were built. The
first purpose of the Interstate Highway System was to easily transport military
equipment and forces nationwide, so extending I-95 Freeway to Miami was a top
priority. Given the unprecedented geo-political-racial-transportation climate,
swift policy decisions with bad unintended consequences were inevitable.
Since Black Miami was a Pawn on the chessboard of Cold War Cuba Policy, federal
and state governments permitted construction of a major freeway interchange in
the heart of economically stable Overtown. The freeway interchange had a
dagger-like effect on the black community. With only historic churches remaining
as anchors, Overtown became a worn-out husk of its former self. Middleclass
residents moved from Overtown to Broward County, points north or out of state.
City officials offered the poorest Overtown residents opportunity for public
housing in Liberty City. As a unincorporated district without a tax base or
political power, despair in the concentrated poverty of Liberty City was
palpable.
The federal, state and city government did not develop a comprehensive plan to
preserve & enhance black businesses and middleclass homes in and adjacent to
Overtown concurrent with Cuban Immigrant assistance. When urbanologists and
historians look back on 1959-1990 Miami, they can easily document how Cold War
Cuba Policy destabilized Miami’s black community."
Dayton
A Timeline: Black History in the Miami Valley 1798 to 2001, Dayton Daily News
Orlando
Orlando Minority Media Outlets
Central Florida Black Journailst Association
cfabj.org
Cuba and Florida
The US, the Exiled Plantocracy, and Race
Cuba's Plantocracy: Cuban American business and terrorism
Questions about Black Cubans in Miami, City-data.com
Ife-Ile Afro-Cuban Dance Company, Miami
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/histarch/mose.htm
Alan A. Aja
Miami’s Forgotten Cubans
Race, Racialization, and the Miami Afro-Cuban Experience, Palgrave MacMillan,
2016
This book explores the reception experiences of post-1958 Afro-Cubans in South
Florida in relation to their similarly situated “white” Cuban compatriots.
Utilizing interviews, ethnographic observations, and applying Census data
analyses, Aja begins not with the more socially diverse 1980 Mariel boatlift,
but earlier, documenting that a small number of middle-class Afro-Cuban exiles
defied predominant settlement patterns in the 1960 and 70s, attempting to
immerse themselves in the newly formed but ultimately racially exclusive “ethnic
enclave.” Confronting a local Miami Cuban “white wall” and anti-black Southern
racism subsumed within an intra-group “success” myth that equally holds Cubans
and other Latin Americans hail from “racial democracies,” black Cubans
immigrants and their children, including subsequent waves of arrival and
return-migrants, found themselves negotiating the boundaries of being both
“black” and “Latino” in the United States.
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Michelle Hay
"I've Been Black In Two Countries": Black Cuban Views
on Race in the US, 2009
Hay describes how black Cubans experience racism on two levels. Cuban racism
might result in less access for black Cubans to their group's resources,
including protection within Cuban enclaves from society-wide discrimination. In
society at large, black Cubans are below white Cubans on every socioeconomic
indicator. Rejected by their white co-ethnics, black Cubans are welcomed by
other groups of African descent. Many hold similar political views as African
Americans. Identifying with African Americans neither negatively affects social
mobility nor leads to a rejection of mainstream values and norms. Those who
identified most with African Americans were college-educated professionals, some
of whom credited African American traditions for their achievements, their
affirming feeling about blackness, and their ability to negotiate racism.
--
www.lfbscholarly.com/product-detail/ive-been-black-in-two-countries-black-cuban-views-on-race-in-the-us
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books.google.com/books/about/I_ve_Been_Black_in_Two_Countries.html?id=kZwYAQAAMAAJ
Monika Gosin
Primary research interests include: Afro Cuban and other Afro Latino immigration experiences in the U.S.; African American and Latino relations; immigrant incorporation into US society. My current research focuses on the impact of two waves of Cuban immigration, the 1980 Mariel boatlift and the 1994 Balsero crisis, on the African American and Cuban exile communities in Miami. The project also foregrounds the experiences of Afro-Cubans in the U.S., a demographic which grew in the course of these migration waves. This work is the basis for a broader study utilizing data from interviews I previously conducted in Miami, Los Angeles, and Cuba to examine the effect of migration experiences on Afro-Cuban notions of race and identity; experiences which challenge U.S. and Latin American racial and ethnic categories, as well as notions of whiteness, Pan-Africanism, and of Pan-Latinidad. -- www.wm.edu/as/sociology/directory/gosin_m.php
Gosin, Monika. 2017. "A Bitter Diversion: Afro-Cuban Immigrants, Race, and Every day-Life Resistance." Latino Studies.15:4-28.
The Death of “la Reina de la Salsa:” Celia Cruz and the
Mythification of the Black Woman
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-59874-5_4
www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2009418980_Monika_Gosin
Antonio Lopez
english.columbian.gwu.edu/antonio-lopez George Washington University
Unbecoming Blackness
The Diaspora Cultures of Afro-Cuban America
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In Unbecoming Blackness, Antonio López uncovers an important, otherwise
unrecognized century-long archive of literature and performance that reveals
Cuban America as a space of overlapping Cuban and African diasporic experiences.
López shows how Afro-Cuban writers and performers in the U.S. align Cuban black
and mulatto identities, often subsumed in the mixed-race and postracial Cuban
national imaginaries, with the material and symbolic blackness of African
Americans and other Afro-Latinas/os. In the works of Alberto O’Farrill, Eusebia
Cosme, Rómulo Lachatañeré, and others, Afro-Cubanness articulates the African
diasporic experience in ways that deprive negro and mulato configurations of an
exclusive link with Cuban nationalism. Instead, what is invoked is an
“unbecoming” relationship between Afro-Cubans in the U.S and their domestic
black counterparts. The transformations in Cuban racial identity across the
hemisphere, represented powerfully in the literary and performance cultures of
Afro-Cubans in the U.S., provide the fullest account of a transnational Cuba,
one in which the Cuban American emerges as Afro-Cuban-American, and the Latino
as Afro-Latino.
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