By Reginald Clyne, Miami Times Columnist
During a drive to the Historic Lyric Theater last week, I spotted a young white woman walking nonchalantly down Northwest 8th Street. She seemed totally at home and perfectly at ease as she strolled along, eventually entering a brand new ultra-modern, high-rise apartment building that did not exist just a couple of years ago. Driving down that street, I noticed other buildings just like this one — new and very large. In fact, the Overtown that had remained unchanged for most of the 30 years that I’ve lived in Miami was now completely changed.
A friend who lives in New York once told me, “You know gentrification has occurred in a Black neighborhood when you see a white woman pushing a baby carriage.” While there was no baby carriage, there was a white woman walking casually in an area that a young white woman would not dare walk in just a few years ago. Some would call this progress: Overtown has brand new, shiny apartment buildings that have attracted white yuppies, who can now avoid the long commute to downtown.
In the last couple of years, Overtown has been transformed. You can see similar transformations along Biscayne Boulevard, Coconut Grove, Little Haiti, Perrine, and Cutler Ridge.
Now, some would say these brand-new fancy buildings are helping modernize long overlooked parts of Miami. The replacement of the old homes that Black people lived in with brand new shiny apartment buildings shows our county government is making our Black neighborhoods better, right? Or is it that the investment in our neighborhoods is simply making it impossible for Black people to live in prime real estate that we used to rent and even own — prime real estate that was close to downtown with public transportation readily available.
This progress — helped by nonprofits, community redevelopment agencies (CRAs), Black churches, Black politicians, Miami-Dade County government and big developers — is good, isn’t it? I’m not so sure it is. In fact, it disturbs me. Where did the Black people that lived in Overtown get shipped to? Where are the Black people that lived in Coconut Grove for more 100 years? Where did they all go? Are Black people in Miami going to disappear like the dinosaurs?
The Black churches helping the developers for a few dollars are short-sighted. Do their pastors think about the fates of their congregation, when all the Black people who used to support their churches are shipped out of the neighborhood? How are churches in Overtown going to survive without a congregation? They have helped white developers build over the homes of Black people in exchange for a small royalty that will last only as long as the developers live up to their promises. Most developers will pay for just a few short years and then walk away from their commitments. The churches will end up with a neighborhood where there are no members, only faded memories of the pittance they were paid to sell out their Black congregations.
The Black politicians helping these developers are also short-sighted. How are you going to get re-elected when you’ve gotten rid of all the Black people in your district? Without a majority Black population, Black politicians are not going to survive. Maybe they, too, will go the way of the dinosaur.
In the meantime, where do Black people go for housing once they are displaced? The cost of living is high throughout Miami-Dade County. Developers speak of “affordable housing” at rates of $2,000 per month. Since when was $2,000 a month for a one-bedroom unit affordable? Why do CRAs and politicians fall for these sales pitches claiming affordability? If they really wanted apartments to be affordable, they would rent a one-bedroom for $600 a month. I think only then would you still find Black people living in Coconut Grove and Overtown.
Reginald J. Clyne is a Miami trial lawyer who has worked in some of the largest law firms in the United States and been in practice since 1987, trying cases in both state and federal courts. He has lived in Africa, Brazil, Honduras and Nicaragua.
