The 44 Percent: School Boards, N.O.R.E. and the Oscars slap heard ‘round the world
Since becoming the Herald’s race and culture reporter, I’ve found that stories which receive the most racist backlash are also the ones that receive support from Black South Florida.
Most recently, this happened after a piece exploring Miami Beach’s historic treatment of Black tourists. One person found my Instagram and commented “Can’t have anything nice in this country anymore without you guys shooting it up” on a random picture.
The silver lining is that the story sparked a thought. As someone writing about Black Miami, it is probably inevitable that some stories will generate strong reactions.
I usually get a random phone call or two from somebody. This time it was an elderly Black woman in Broward who wanted to know how this 25-year-old kid from Delaware ended up at the Miami Herald. Moments like that carry more weight than hate mail.
INSIDE THE 305
Miami Beach wins lawsuit over removal of artwork remembering Black man killed by police:
Reading through this case’s court documents, I learned a valuable piece of information: government messaging isn’t subject to First Amendment scrutiny.
That fact essentially explains why Miami Beach removed a portrait of Raymond Herisse, who police killed in South Beach in 2011, and won the lawsuit that claimed they violated the artists’ First Amendment rights.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke on Tuesday ruled in favor of the city, concluding that the entire art fair — and, by extension, the Herisse portrait — constituted “government speech.” The city and the artists signed a contract that said all of the art installations would be subject to city approval. The city leased the gallery space and paid a total of $85,000 to the artists behind the event.
Despite the ruling, Alan Levine, the artists’ attorney, still believes that Miami Beach censored his clients and wouldn’t rule out a possible appeal.
“The City of Miami Beach should take little satisfaction in this decision,” Levine said in a statement. “While the court has ruled that the City acted within its legal authority in taking down the portrait of Raymond Herisse — another Black man who was the victim of a police shooting — the fact remains that what the City did was an act of political censorship.”
Firm backed by Jay-Z, Will Smith turns Miami renters into homeowners:
For someone looking to buy property in the near future, what Landis, a New York-based real estate technology firm, is doing seems noteworthy. The Miami Herald’s Michael Butler explains:
After a customer selects a house to buy, Landis pays cash for the property and closes on the deal within 21 days. Aspiring homeowners then rent the homes from Landis for up to 24 months, while working with a homeownership coach and building credit before buying the properties. The rent money paid goes toward the down payment on a mortgage.
This program comes as Miami rents and home prices have skyrocketed. As Butler noted, the single-family median price of a home is $536,000, something only 8% of Miami-Dade County residents could afford. But Miami Homes For All president Annie Lord believes Landis’ business model has potential.
“When you’re talking about people who need it, people above the median income are struggling to buy homes,” Lord said. “What I suspect is this (Landis) model is more viable because you’re working with people who earn a significant income that are out of reach (of homeownership).”
OUTSIDE THE 305
How school boards have forwarded the agenda of white supremacy:
I love when writers dive into American history.
This article does just that by comparing white America’s current backlash towards critical race theory to that of the opening of Canterbury Female Boarding School in Connecticut in 1833. A school specifically for Black girls, Canterbury was essentially forced to close in 1834 as the town’s white residents tried everything to prevent the school from educating anyone. This fact, author Anthony Conwright writes, is extremely noteworthy given Florida’s recent passage of the “Stop Woke Act:”
Throughout history, the “unpardonable sin” of educators moving toward racial progress without white consent has been atoned for in the same way: disgruntled white people band together on a school board or committee to erase unwanted Black people, texts, and consciousness. Today it is happening even where CRT cannot be found but where attacks on it hang like a specter.
This celeb couple opened a juice bar in Hollywood and you never know who will drop by:
N.O.R.E. is a legend. Point blank period.
When he speaks, it’s definitely worthwhile to listen. Case and point: the man dropped so much game — on topics ranging from supporting your partner to redefining yourself — that it would’ve taken me two articles to even capture half of it. Even more intriguing, this man has stories for days (I included a few about Kanye West and Nas in the article).
HIGH CULTURE
The slap heard ‘round the world highlights Two Americas:
At this point, everybody has a take on the Will Smith and Chris Rock fiasco. Regardless of where you fall on slap spectrum, as Jemele Hill noted in her recent piece in The Atlantic, you should “refuse to look at this ordeal beyond face value.”
Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.
