Racial and Ethnic Diversity in South Florida
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Racial and Ethnic Diversity in South Florida By Desmond Alufohai, CMP [email protected] Map of USA 316 m 50 states 67 Counties 19.5 million Map of Florida, USA Map of Miami-Dade County, FLA. 13 Districts 2.6 million Miami-Dade People QuickFacts County Florida USA Population, 2013 estimate 2.6 m 19.5 m 316 m Female persons, percent, 2012 51.40% 51.10% 50.80% White alone, percent, 2012 77.60% 78.30% 77.90% Black or African American alone, percent, 2012 19.20% 16.60% 13.10% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, 2012 0.30% 0.50% 1.20% Asian alone, percent, 2012 1.70% 2.70% 5.10% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, 2012 0.10% 0.10% 0.20% Two or More Races, percent, 2012 1.20% 1.90% 2.40% Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2012 64.30% 23.20% 16.90% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2012 16.30% 57.00% 63.00% Foreign born persons, percent, 2008-2012 51.20% 19.30% 12.90% Language other than English spoken at home, 72.30% 27.30% 20.50% High school graduate or higher 78.20% 85.80% 85.70% Bachelor's degree or higher 26.30% 26.20% 28.50% Per capita money income in past 12 months (2012 dollars) $23,304 $26,451 $28,051 Median household income, 2008-2012 $43,464 $47,309 $53,046 Persons below poverty level 19.10% 15.60% 14.90% Source: U.S. Census Bureau (http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/population-demographics/data/) Senator Bill Nelson Senator Marco Rubio D-FLA R-FLA FL Congressional % Delegation 21 78.0% White 3 11% Black 3 11% Hispanic 27 FL House of % FL Senate % Representatives 85 70.0% 30 75% White 21 18.3% 6 15% Black 14 11.7% 4 10% Hispanic 120 40 MIAMI: Early Beginnings Few cities of such youth can claim a history as eventful, significant, and tumultuous as that of Miami. From its beginnings as a tiny settlement along the Miami River to the robust international city of today, Miami has represented for multitudes of new residents a place to begin anew, a gateway to a better tomorrow. Beginning in 1565, Spain exercised control over Florida for nearly 250 years. Spain’s colonization effort is divided into two eras separated by a twenty-year British interregnum in the late eighteenth century. During the Second Spanish Period, which stretched from 1784 to 1821, Spain liberalized her settlement policies in an effort to develop her colony, encouraging, in addition to her own countrymen, residents of other lands and faiths to settle in Florida. In the early 1800s, a few Bahamian families accepted Spanish land offers along the Miami River and on Biscayne Bay, and farmed in those lush areas. In 1821, Spain sold Florida to the United States for $5 million in Spanish damage claims against the American government. One year later (1822) Florida became a territory, marking the beginning of its march toward statehood. In 1830, Richard Fitzpatrick, a prominent figure in the politics of Territorial Florida, purchased the Bahamian-held lands on the Miami River, and established a slave plantation over a portion of them. After the Seminole Wars, the Indian population had receded, prompting few families to settle along the Miami River as late as the 1890’s The Brickells arrived in Miami at the outset of the 1870s, and quickly established themselves as successful Indian traders as well as shrewd real estate investors. Julia Tuttle moved to the area in 1891 and purchased the Fort Dallas land to build her home. A woman of great foresight, Tuttle prophesied that a great city would someday arise in the area, one that would become a center of trade with South America and a gateway to the Americas. Henry M. Flagler, a multi-millionaire from his partnership with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil, was extending his railroad south along Florida’s east coast, and developing cities and resorts along the way. In 1894, Flagler’s railway entered West Palm Beach. The first train entered Miami on April 13, 1896. By then a city was arising on both sides of the Miami River. The heart of the community was a retail district along Avenue D (today’s Miami Avenue) emerging north of the river, in an area of piney woods. On July 28, 1896, 344 registered voters, a sizable percentage of whom were black laborers, packed into the Lobby, a wood frame building on Avenue D standing near the Miami River. They voted for the incorporation of the City of Miami. In 1911, Miami featured an aerialist soaring in a Wright Brothers airplane over a Flagler-built golf course west of Colored Town. For most Miamians this event marked their first glimpse of an airplane. The experience served as a harbinger for the city’s emergence as one of the nation’s early aviation centers. Soon after the inaugural aerial display, Glenn Curtiss, a famed aviator, arrived and established a flight school. By the time America entered World War I in 1917, Miami and the surrounding area hosted several flying schools, including a facility near the Miami Canal that Curtiss operated for future combat pilots in the Great. The Boom Years 1920’s – 1940’s Miami-Dade County, FLA State voters amended the State of Florida’s Constitution in 1956 to allow for a Home Rule Charter. Dade County was then granted the power to create commission districts, pass ordinances, create penalties, levy and collect taxes to support a centralized metropolitan form of government. The Board of County Commission may create municipalities, special taxing districts and other boards or authorities as needed. The Home Rule Charter for Miami-Dade County was adopted at referendum on May 21, 1957. On November 13, 1997 voters changed the name of the county from Dade to Miami-Dade to acknowledge the international name recognition of Miami. Home rule is the power of a constituent part (administrative division) of a state to exercise such of the state's powers of governance within its own administrative area that have been decentralized to it by the central government. Miami–Dade County is a diverse, low-lying county located along the subtropical stretches of southeastern Florida. It is a dynamic, economic and culturally diverse coastal community that is bordered by two national parks: Biscayne National Park and Everglades National Park. The County is comprised of 34 municipalities and a large unincorporated area. There are 156 nationalities represented in the County, with approximately 51% percent of the residents being foreign born and over 100 different languages spoken. Within the County 64% Hispanic 19.2% non-Hispanic Black 16.3% non-Hispanic White Due to this diversity, Miami–Dade County regularly conducts business in three different languages – English Spanish Creole Miami–Dade County has a diverse economy and culture The Cuban Influence Fidel Castro One of the city’s most defining moments came in 1959 with Fidel Castro’s takeover of Cuba. Castro’s transformation of the island nation into a Marxist state led to a vast exodus of Cubans to Miami. Many of the first wave of refugees were highly educated persons who left behind successful careers and businesses. The Bay of Pigs Invasion At the same time, Miami and South Florida became a center for intrigue as America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prepared a force of exiles for an armed overthrow of Castro’s government. But the CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 failed and an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, providing that the former would refrain from invading Cuba, left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Cubans toward the government of their adopted country. The Cuban Airlift 1965 marked the beginning of the U. S. sponsored “Freedom Flights,” a massive airlift of Cubans to Miami. By the time of their termination in 1973, more than 3,000 “Freedom Flights” had delivered 150,000 Cubans to America, primarily to Miami and its environs, and in the process had instituted the radical transformation of the city of Miami into a Latin American capital. The Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA) 1966 The CAA was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the law applies to any native or citizen of Cuba who has been inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States after January 1, 1959 and has been physically present for at least one year; and is admissible to the United States as a permanent resident. “Wet Foot, Dry Foot Policy” The wet foot, dry foot policy is the name given to a consequence of the 1995 revision of the CAA of 1966 that essentially says that anyone who fled Cuba and enters the U.S. would be allowed to pursue residency a year later. President Clinton’s administration came to an agreement with Cuba that it would stop admitting people found at sea. So a Cuban caught on the waters between the two nations (with "wet feet") would summarily be sent home or to a third country. One who makes it to shore ("dry feet") gets a chance to remain in the United States, and later would qualify for expedited "legal permanent resident" status and eventually U.S. citizenship. The Mariel Boatlift of 1980 Mass emigration of Cubans who departed from Cuba’s Mariel Harbor for the United States between April 15 & Oct. 31, 1980. The Mariel boatlift was ended by mutual agreement between the U.S.