Riots in Florida, 1980

There are a great many phrases you can use to describe greater Miami, but “racially harmonious” would not be one of them. From the days of employment identification cards required for people of color to get into Miami Beach, to near-riots over a civic language ordinance, there has always been racial tension in Dade County. And while racial and cultural issues still remain a major concern in 21st century South Florida, never were our problems more evident than in the late spring of 1980. The Miami race riots (also known as the Arthur McDuffie Riots) of May 1980 were the first major race riots after the end of the civil rights movement. The Miami Black community, long abused and neglected by civic leaders who, among other things, placed I-95 straight through the cultural center of their neighborhoods, was getting angrier by the day. Recently arrived Latin and Haitian immigrants were taking jobs and social benefits that had traditionally belonged to Blacks. Cuban refugees wielding money and power were beginning to take control of the city, and as such were awarding minority contracts and jobs to Cubans instead of African-Americans. This, combined with the continuous poverty and degradation of their neighborhoods, had Miami’s Black community ready to snap.