From the Trump camp’s mouth to Miami: Assimilate. ‘Why do we need Little Havana?’ | Opinion
The white nationalists in President Donald Trump’s inner circle, comfortable in a divided America and out of the closet — don’t like what they see in Miami.
They come here canvassing for votes, but all that proud display of Cuban culture bothers them.
We already suspected this, of course. Now, there’s evidence.
“If you come to America, you should assimilate. Why do we need to have Little Havana?”
The words landed on Calle Ocho from inside the halls of the White House and the mouth of Katie Miller, press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence and wife of Stephen Miller.
He is the notorious architect of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, a man with a record of expressing anti-Latino sentiments that date back to his high school days in California and making extremist and racist comments in emails.
The Trump policies that Miller designed — including ripping children from their parents’ arms and incarcerating them thousands of miles away from each other — were engineered to stop the flow of brown people from Latin America.
And Katie, who was born in Fort Lauderdale and attended the University of Florida, promoted and defended the ruthless family separation policy as a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Still, when Katie married Stephen back in February, some wondered what kind of woman could possibly vow to spend a lifetime with someone harboring so much inhumanity, so much hate toward The Other.
The question has been settled. Stephen found the perfect match, a soulmate in hate.
Disdain for immigrants, Miami neighborhood
Katie is quoted in NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff’s new book, “Separated,” not only defending the inhumane separation of children, but kicking it up another notch in the hate scale, and throwing in her disdain of Little Havana for effect.
“My family and colleagues told me that when I have kids, I’ll think about the separations differently. But I don’t think so. Homeland Security sent me to the border to see the separations for myself — to try to make me more compassionate — but it didn’t work,” she said to Soboroff.
Soboroff counters: “It didn’t work? I will never forget what I saw. Seriously. Are you a white nationalist?”
Katie: “No, but I believe if you come to America, you should assimilate. Why do we need to have ‘Little Havana’?”
Her supremacist words might have stayed tucked into the pages of the book, except that MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow read them out loud on her show Monday and posted them on Twitter.
Stomach-churning enough, but the woman who remains unmoved by the separation of suffering families fleeing homelands for their lives is now in charge of communications for the White House Coronavirus Task Force led by Pence. She also tested positive for the virus in May.
God help us.
Little Havana is us
Why do we need Little Havana?
Let me count the ways.
Because the enclave’s heart beats to the most American of drums: the immigrant success story.
Because the vibe of the arts, food, music, and culture on display not only inside galleries, restaurants, and watering holes —but on the streets — is a big part of the reason why Miami became a global destination.
Because Spanish is Florida’s first spoken foreign tongue.
Why wouldn’t we have a Little Havana?
The governor of Havana governed Florida before the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts.
Cuban exiles, who left it all behind and started anew in the neighborhood close to downtown Miami, built small businesses that brought not only commerce but also the color and flair of cigar making, domino playing, salsa dancing.
The Cubans brought their topsy-turvy politics, too, from which Trump and Pence have benefited.
But Katie’s lack of respect for Cuban culture gives a whole new meaning to the cultish group that calls itself Cubans4Trump and demonstrates its boisterous support for a white nationalist agenda in front of the iconic Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana.
Now you know, Trumpsters, what they really think of you.
We not only need Little Havana, we love it dearly — and all the more when bigots hate it.
Little Havana is us.
This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 2:41 PM.
