Magic City is booming. But where does that leave Indigenous people and other communities of color with historic ties to Miami?

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – What do traditional dwellings and ancestral claims to land have in common?

Both topics were inspirational and interconnected components to the South Florida People of Color’s celebration of Miami for the 130th birthday fishbowl-style event, a discussion hosted in concentric circles with fluidity to move in and out of the inner circle to participate in the conversation.

The event, held earlier this month at Barry University, was co-hosted by Power for Good Consulting, a grants cultivating and non-profit coaching agency seeking to support leaders of color. The discussion themes and complimentary art exhibit touched on important issues like gentrification and affordability, which are making it more difficult for people of color to live in the parts of Miami in which they grew up.

As Miami community members arrived at Monsignor William Barry Memorial Library in Miami Shores for the “Keeping it Civil” election education event, they were greeted by specialty food items served by Barry University chefs, and the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator’s (DVCAI) exhibit featuring Leandro Vazquez’s Entrelazado Perpetuo/Perpetual Intertwining, with the central theme of vernacular structures – traditional dwellings built by local people with native materials.

“Who gets to call Miami home? We are going to begin with art that invites all of us to know each other,” explained Roni Bennett, Executive Director of South Florida People of Color, the sponsor of the Oct. 2 event held intentionally before Florida's Oct. 5 voter registration deadline. “We're trying to get people to talk about the issues. We're talking about the land, the people, and then charting forward.” 

Through its community programming, DVCAI promotes and nurtures emerging artists from the Caribbean, Latin and African diasporas. One student explained the partnership with Vazquez for this election related community forum.

“His art mainly focuses on finding and taking the most value out of everyday objects that most people would just discard or pass by,” said Henry Rapisado, 20, Barry University student and DCVAI intern. “So, I think him finding this value and opportunity in his arts kind of does keep with Miami's 130th, because this entire country, this city, [was] built on opportunity and culture.” 

Myah Smith, a DVCAI fellow, agreed. “Leandro's work…says a lot about the environment, a lot about communities, how they're interconnected,” Smith said.

Vazquez’s central piece in the installation,”Bamboo Dome,” seeks to illustrate how Miami’s first settlers created dwellings that could survive the South Florida weather conditions. 

“First, in the Everglades, Indigenous [people] were doing something extremely similar like this [art piece] that held winds, that held hurricanes,” Vazquez, 62, explained. “They were living without concrete, without anything.”  A complementary piece in the exhibit, “Vernacular Structures, Study of Possibilities” shows the different exteriors such dwellings had over time.

After enjoying hors d'oeuvres and welcome speeches by DCVAI leadership, including President Rosie Gordon Wallace, participants made their way to Andreas Hall for the Fishbowl Discussion forum, “Who Gets to Stay? Who Gets to Call Miami Home?”

Through a series of three 30-minute robust circular programs, where people flowed freely in and out of the center circle, community members started with their lineage by naming their great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents and shared thoughts on the history and purpose of Miami’s land and the value of a sense of belonging.  

William Osceola, Secretary of the Miccosukee Business Council, was invited to start the discussion with a grounding, a mindful practice derived from Indigenous practice to center participants of a discussion. 

“It’s a good day to be Indigenous,” he declared with pride to a room full of event participants.“And I know that, because it's kind of a welcoming, even though so much history has been made to make people like me feel unwelcome in the land, the most important thing to remember is that this land was made for you and me. Pragmatically, though, where I'm at is, this land was made for those who want to help take care of that land and steward for future generations.”

The room erupted in applause as the other speakers chimed in with the importance of taking care of the land, the concern over developing communities and pushing people out to other areas, the importance of inclusivity and belonging, as well as concern over the city’s arts districts losing their meaning to development of a new university.  

The discussion began with a question posed by former State Sen. Dwight Bullard, himself the child of state leaders. “How do we go about the business of striking a balance,” he asked, “when we're trying to balance housing and environment in a world that is constantly pulling and requiring more and more and more and more?” 

Nicole Crooks, Community Engagement Manager of Catalyst Miami opened the fishbowl session with that dichotomy.  She recounted her own journey to Miami and experiencing climate gentrification being pushed out of Coconut Grove, then Overtown, and calling the pattern of displacement “a massive attempt at erasure.” She compared the taking of neighborhoods to that which affected ancient and turn of the century South Florida tribes, including the Tequesta, then Miccosukee and Seminole communities and seeing the cycles continue. 

“And so we are at a juncture that we have to hold on to hope, even though sometimes, some days it's really hard, to hold on to hope. 
But we must give mind to all of those who came before.”

Judicial candidate Marty McNeil was tapped into the fishbowl from an outer circle to the inner dialogue during the “land” discussion and was earlier moved by the art installation as well.  “Art is something that inspires or moves people across different diasporas,” he shared.  McNeil particularly spent time admiring Vazquez’s sculpture of paint cans, “Sphere Used Paint Cans,”

“I came back to observe this piece with the paint cans, because when I was a child growing up, my uncles, I had two uncles that had auto body shops, and mixing paint was one of the first jobs that I actually had,” McNeil reminisced. “
So seeing all of the paint cans kind of together, it took me back to childhood.”  

Tying together his commitment to the Miami community and his drive to contribute at the judicial level in a city he has called home for 21 years, McNeil explained what he feels is his most important role: mentoring children.

“I was a child who was mentored and raised by a village, and I firmly believe that we need all hands on deck to bring out the best of the youth in the future generations,” he said

McNeil’s mother would take him to his elders when he was a child and have him listen to how life was when they were growing up.  

“You know, as a tree without roots is dead, so is a people without knowledge of their issues, “ he said to the forum guests. “As we talk about the land and who belongs here, we can see throughout the history of America how people have been displaced, moved out, and not welcome or not able to live in the place that they call home.”

The concern with intolerance of diverse identities is marginalization, but blending is actually what brings out the richness in the community. 


”And so I think that there really needs to be a reckoning of who is Miami being built for?” posed  discussion participant, Claribel Avila, Co-Founder of Pan MIA Club, a non-profit curator of events centered around creating connection in the South Florida community. 

“I really feel like we can't be connected to the land unless we're connected to each other.” 


At the exit of the event, members of the ACLU staff distributed voter engagement information and copies of petitions for amendment to reform Miami’s elections and city commission.  The DVCAI exhibit will remain in the Barry University library through Oct. 31.