Discrimination
The West Grove's story throughout the years has been marred by racism during much of the 20th century
The West Grove has often been forced to house unwanted buildings. Old Smokey is a perfect example of the West Grove being forced to house a harmful establishment due to its low-income minority status. In addition to this, residents were living in areas with contaminated soil, and the City of Miami were very reluctant to intitiate a clean up. This was not the case for Blanche Park, however, which received a fast response to the discovery of contaminated soil. Blanche Park is not located in the West Grove.
The image to the right is a photo taken of Old Smokey, the West Grove's trash incinerator.
Established in 1926 in the heart of the West Grove, a trash incinerator named Old Smokey operated for 44 years against citizens' wills. This film produced by the University of Miami center for Ethics & Public Service documents the history of Old Smokey and its effects on the health of local citizens and their land.
Zoning
The KKK
The West Grove faced discrimination in zoning through the practice of redlining. Redlining, the practice of carving out certain neighborhoods by race was used to keep many blacks away from whites and segregate Miami. The practice of redlining also hurt the West Grove by marking black neighborhoods as unlikely to pay back loans making it extremely difficult for blacks to gain access to affordable housing. The original annexation of Miami in 1925 made it such that the voices of West Grove residents could not be heard due to many neighborhoods that had been incorporated into the City of Miami. This could be seen when in 1941 white residents protested expansion of black settlement in the West Grove and argued that the value of their homes would be diminished by expansion of affordable housing
The KKK had a heavy presence in Florida and acts of violence committed in the West Grove were done in order to preserve the social hierarchy with whites on top, and blacks towards the bottom. An example of KKK violence in the West Grove was the kidnapping of a preacher named H.M. Higgs. Higgs had been preaching racial equality of blacks, intermarriage between blacks and whites, and he also advocated for aggressive tactics proposed by Malcolm X. They released him, on the condition that he would leave Miami and return to the Bahamas. Before this could happen, a rumor was spread that he had been lynched. This rumor caused a fearful police response and the arrest of 25 black individuals, which deteriorated relations between the residents of West Grove and the police. The violence of the KKK and intimidation tactics were effective deterents to participating in movements for equality. The climate of fear had lasting effects on the people of the West Grove as they became more and more disillusioned with the local government and police for not taking action.
The image to the right is a photo taken of a KKK christmas party in Miami.
Police Relations in the late 20th century
In May 1980, numerous suspicious police shootings sparked a massive uprising throughout many black neighborhoods including the West Grove. These riots were a culmination of anger towards white abuse and classism, but these shootings set Miami aflame. These riots created a large tension between police officers and residents in the West Grove. After these riots, many police officers realized the most effective way to police the West Grove was to build a relationship with the local residents. Recently the relationship with West Grove residents and the police force has improved leading to fewer clashes and a lower overall crime rate. The Interview with Sergeant Albert Pacheco offers a great insight into the current mission of the police in the West Grove.
Astor Developments and the Trolley Garage
In 2013, the company Astor Developments reached a deal with the City of Miami to place a garage for its trolleys in the West Grove. These trolleys serviced the neighboring Coral Gables and high-end mall Merrick Park for free but did not offer the trolley service to the Grove. As a result, citizens of the West Grove had to house an establishment that produced pollution and made large amounts of noise directly in a residential area. The trolley garage was not only bitterly fought but harmed the West Grove’s economic capabilities by taking up a large amount of space and by producing pollution and noise. The construction also led to the destruction of several homes and a Soul Food restaurant.
Jim Crow Racism
Jim Crow Laws in the south were a series of regulations against blacks in order to solidify them lower on the societal ladder. A black resident of the West Grove going to the East Grove would see the evidence of Jim Crow everywhere. Most of the stores displayed signs that "Whites Only", and if for whatever reason a clothing store did not display this sign, a black person would not be allowed to try on any clothes because the whites believed that they were "tainted" afterwards. All of the black residents of the West Grove were in opposition to these laws, but for much of the early 20th century they could do nothing about them. Also, the belief is put in their head subconsciously that they are inferior to whites, which stagnated the progress of the West Grove as well.
Sources Cited
Information Cited:
Cruz, Robert D., and Robert Hesler. "Socio-Economic Conditions in Miami's Targeted Urban Areas." Miami Dade Gov. 2007 - 2011. https://www.miamidade.gov/business/library/reports/2013-socioeconomic-profile-tua.pdf
George, Paul S.. “Policing Miami's Black Community, 1896-1930”. The Florida Historical Quarterly 434–50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30151006.
Livingston, Grant. "The Annexation of the City of Coconut Grove." The Historical Association of Southern Florida. 2000. http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/2000/00_1.pdf?bcsi_scan_4D7E231455658879=0&bcsi_scan_filename=00_1.pdf.
Madigan, Nick. "In the Shadow of ‘Old Smokey,’ a Toxic Legacy." The New York Times. September 22, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/us/old-smokey-is-long-gone-from-miami-but-its-toxic-legacy-lingers.html?_r=0.
"Old Smokey." Old Smokey Steering Committee. 2016. http://www.oldsmokey.org/story/.
Pitts, Leonard. "Shame on Miami for Ignoring West Grove." Miamiherald. September 28, 2013. http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article1955606.html
Mohl, Raymond A.. 2001. “Whitening Miami: Race, Housing, and Government Policy in
Twentieth-century Dade County”. The Florida Historical Quarterly 79 (3). Florida Historical
Society: 319–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30150856.
Photos Cited:
"Old Smokey." Old Smokey Steering Committee. 2016. http://www.oldsmokey.org/story/.
KKK Christmas party - Miami, Florida. 1925. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/13824
Old Smokey Video:
Kaiman, Catherine Millas, Cindy McKenzie, and Anthony V. Alfieri. "Old Smokey. A Community History." Vimeo. 2014. Accessed May 12, 2016. http://vimeo.com/104690626.
_________________________________________________
Dunn, Marvin. Black Miami in the Twentieth Century. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997
Prothero, Arianna, “West Grove Trolley Unearths Vulnerabilities of Low-Income Neighborhoods.”, WLRN.org, last modified April 1, 2014.
Jenny Staletovich and Patricia Borns. “West Grove: The Miami Neighborhood that Time Forgot.” The Miami Herald. April 6, 2013.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/in-depth/article1948901.html
Marable, Manning. 1980. “THE FIRE THIS TIME: THE MIAMI REBELLION, MAY, 1980”. The Black Scholar 11 (6). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 2–18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41067932.
Navarro, Mireya. “ In Miami, a Search for Calm.” New York Times 1923- Current File (New York, N.Y.), Jul 29, 1995 pg. 1.