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Miami Now!: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Social Change
The book illustrates the unparalled happenings in what is arguably the most internationalized American city.
232 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 1992
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October 21, 2018
It's a truism in political science circles that Miami is sort of the bellwether of larger political trends in America, as regards the intersection of race, ethnicity, and politics. That's somewhat true, as Miami has been demographically more diverse than most American cities, but in some ways Miami's diversity is a lot more idiosyncratic and complex than the general fault lines that have been developing in America since the Hart-Cellar Immigration Act in 1965, with the Democrats becoming the de facto party of minorities and the Republicans shaping up into the party of whites (still, mostly at the implicit or "dog whistle" level, but tensions are roiling hard enough in America in 2018 for anything to happen).
"Miami Now!" does a good job of showing Miami way back then, in the late 1980s and early 90s, when large and affluent communities of expatriates from Cuba and Nicaragua (and to a lesser extent, Haiti) used their clout to carve out a sphere of influence in Miami-Dade, many times putting their weight and money behind Republican candidates or hawkish Democrats who would exercise a heavy hand against Castro and for the Contras. The U.S. government of course directly meddled in Haitian affairs at the level of a coup, failing to do so in Cuba (see "Operation Mongoose" and the Bay of Pigs), but that's a topic for another day and a different book.
Each of the eight essays included deal with the politics and daily power plays that show a clear (but shifting) hierarchy as different races and ethnic groups basically compete for spoils in their own attempts to define what it means to be a Miamian (sic?) in a way that will ensure them the strongest position on the ever-shifting sands of the seaside town. Everything from race riots to battles over English-as-an-official-language is covered here. Charts and graphs are copious. Photographs less so. No bibliography is included, though each of the contributors to "Miami Now!" has since gone on to write multiple books/studies related the subjects dealt with in these pages. Recommended, in any case.
"Miami Now!" does a good job of showing Miami way back then, in the late 1980s and early 90s, when large and affluent communities of expatriates from Cuba and Nicaragua (and to a lesser extent, Haiti) used their clout to carve out a sphere of influence in Miami-Dade, many times putting their weight and money behind Republican candidates or hawkish Democrats who would exercise a heavy hand against Castro and for the Contras. The U.S. government of course directly meddled in Haitian affairs at the level of a coup, failing to do so in Cuba (see "Operation Mongoose" and the Bay of Pigs), but that's a topic for another day and a different book.
Each of the eight essays included deal with the politics and daily power plays that show a clear (but shifting) hierarchy as different races and ethnic groups basically compete for spoils in their own attempts to define what it means to be a Miamian (sic?) in a way that will ensure them the strongest position on the ever-shifting sands of the seaside town. Everything from race riots to battles over English-as-an-official-language is covered here. Charts and graphs are copious. Photographs less so. No bibliography is included, though each of the contributors to "Miami Now!" has since gone on to write multiple books/studies related the subjects dealt with in these pages. Recommended, in any case.
Displaying 1 of 1 review