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I do not agree. I have family in South Florida and lived in South Florida, and most of the people I know in South Florida from Carol City (now Miami Gardens) down to Florida City that are black has repped the South. Now maybe your experience is different. But my experience from them is that they repped the South. You couldn't tell my cousin in law who is Haitian that he isn't Southern. He has repped the South hard and he's been in this country his entire 35 years of his life. I am a "descendant of a slave" and a Black American, Miami is Southern to me. Especially the black population. Most Black New Yorkers (Black American or Islander) would say Miami is Southern. Is it like Atlanta? No. That doesn't mean it's not Southern.
Let us also not forget that there is still a very large Black American population in South Florida? What do people think they disappeared or something?
Of course they did not just disappear, but the same argument can be used for D.C. & Baltimore, which had a larger native slave population than all of Florida. But do we include D.C. & Baltime in arguments regarding southern cities? I mean of course they debate weather these two cities are in the south but are these cities typical southern cities in a sense? I mean on this forum we don't bring these cities up where we discuss the south. I think my experience may be different than yours. Just going to have to agree to disagree.
I LIVED there. In the midst of them. Went to school with them at American High. Talk to them every time on FB. Also sorry, almost doesn't count. While that video may not be Miami. It's Palm Beach County and it's still South Florida and not much different from Metro Miami/FLD/WPB. The accents, the way of life, etc. If you told somebody like Santana Moss that he isn't Southern, he'd laugh straight in your face.
And culturally Southern? There is no "one" culturally Southern. The South is not monolithic. It is a very diverse region. All these cities of the South share similarities but also have differences. Houston is not the same as Memphis which is not the same as Atlanta which is not the same as New Orleans. Percentage wise, yes there is a large number of Haitians (around 300,000 plus) and an extra 165,000 Jamaicans in South Florida. Out of 1.4 million Blacks in South Florida. The Black American population is still large in South Florida and many of those same Haitians especially the children assimilated into the community.
Of course they did not just disappear, but the same argument can be used for D.C. & Baltimore, which had a larger native slave population than all of Florida. But do we include D.C. & Baltime in arguments regarding southern cities? I mean of course they debate weather these two cities are in the south but are these cities typical southern cities in a sense? I mean on this forum we don't bring these cities up where we discuss the south. I think my experience may be different than yours. Just going to have to agree to disagree.
The difference between DC and Baltimore is most Blacks in these two cities do not rep the South nor do they culturally align themselves with other Blacks of the South outside of maybe North Carolina (speaking in regards to DC area). Miami does in a much major way compared to DC and Bmore. Miami aligned themselves with Georgia and South Carolina as well as Alabama. Many Black folks in Miami, as well as the rest of Florida, share similarities with Georgians and South Carolinians. Mostly because many black people in South Florida have family from Georgia (especially) and South Carolina. Trick Daddy talked about this all the time. Yes we will agree have to disagree on this one.
BTW, you can make the argument for Bmore and DC if you'd like. People do it on here all the time. But I won't go on about it as those two cities have nothing to do with the thread.
The difference between DC and Baltimore is most Blacks in these two cities do not rep the South nor do they culturally align themselves with other Blacks of the South outside of maybe North Carolina (speaking in regards to DC area). Miami does in a much major way compared to DC and Bmore. Miami aligned themselves with Georgia and South Carolina as well as Alabama. Many Black folks in Miami, as well as the rest of Florida, share similarities with Georgians and South Carolinians. Mostly because many black people in South Florida have family from Georgia (especially) and South Carolina. Trick Daddy talked about this all the time. Yes we will agree have to disagree on this one.
BTW, you can make the argument for Bmore and DC if you'd like. People do it on here all the time. But I won't go on about it as those two cities have nothing to do with the thread.
I don't know about this one man, we are going to have to agree to disagee. And regardless if the argument was used before or not, is still a very valid argument. I don't get this cultural relationship with Georgia or South Carolina you are claiming, maybe north Florida but defiantly not South Florida, but I can clearly see the relationship with Baltimore and DC with the Carolinas and Virginia. Most of the blacks that live in South Florida are foreign born, that's not the same for Georgia. And I have family that live in Florida as well,
Carribean blacks and southern blacks don't like each other. Southern blacks are often jealous of carribeans second generation success while their economic standing stagnates. Often southern blacks will call Carribean blacks derogatory names for coming from poorer countries, etc.
Don't play ignorance. You know this, all black people know this. Even a lot of young white people who grew up with the two groups know this.
I know this post is old, but that AA vs Caribbean Blacks conflicts are largely an OLD relic from 1980's South Florida. There's more inter-marriage and relationships, and child-rearing between the two groups more than any other time in SoFla's history. There's a blending of cultures in SoFla between the two groups. That AA Vs Caribbean Blacks segregation is "Old time" South Florida stuff that doesn't really happen anymore. I'm Haitian, and a great portion of my cousins male and female married and have had kids with AA's in South Florida. That "Zoe vs Yank" stuff is old time stuff, and there's a blending of AA/Caribbean/Haitian culture in South Florida. You can see the Black Southern influence on any Haitian who's been "americanized" in South Florida. This is the reality. I say this as a Haitian-American who's originally from Palm Beach County and has family from Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade.
Me and you could go back and forth all day and I have things to do. You look at a sliver of a states culture and want to think it defines it, and it doesn't. African Americans are what, 20% of south floridas population? And with a huge Carribean component that isn't southern. If you want to tell me I know nothing of floridas black culture I could say the same to you about floridas white culture, and the white culture is even further removed from southern than the black culture is.
20% is pretty big. That's still big enough where that culture is still a large influence on newly arrived young immigrants. Sure if a Haitian migrates to SoFlo and they migrate to Little Haiti, and they NEVER EVER venture outside of Little Haiti, than they'll retain their Haitian culture. But assimilation is very common among younger Haitian immigrants and other Caribbean immigrants. This is reality.....
I don't know about this one man, we are going to have to agree to disagee. And regardless if the argument was used before or not, is still a very valid argument. I don't get this cultural relationship with Georgia or South Carolina you are claiming, maybe north Florida but defiantly not South Florida, but I can clearly see the relationship with Baltimore and DC with the Carolinas and Virginia. Most of the blacks that live in South Florida are foreign born, that's not the same for Georgia. And I have family that live in Florida as well,
There's been plenty of migration between GA and South Florida. Southern Black AA's are the foundation of alot of Black culture in South Florida. And many of those Blacks have roots in GA. I say this as a Haitian. Culturally(music, vernacular, etc) there's still a very culturally Southern influence in the way most Black South Floridians speak. And that includes West Indians who have been Americanized. This is reality.....
Why is black culture the litmus test here? Black culture is Southern even in places outside of the South. White culture is what is primarily used to determine whether a place is Southern or not. And in South Florida the white culture isn't Southern.
Black culture outside of the South has Southern Derivatives. This is true, but that does not mean that Black culture outside of the South is uniformly Southern with Black culture within the South. There are characteristics that Black Miamians share with Black Georgia natives, that they don't share with any other Southern state, let alone states OUTSIDE of the South. Black Miami is Southern culturally, and that should at least be PART of the litmus. Especially when compared to Southern Texas, where the White population is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY small. The native AA Black population in SoFla is still large enough and still has a large enough cultural influence where you can still see the influence in music, and vernacular from that area. The Black AA population in SoFla is larger than the native Southern White population in South Texas. This is a fact, this is reality. SoFla is more culturally Southern.
I don't know about this one man, we are going to have to agree to disagee. And regardless if the argument was used before or not, is still a very valid argument. I don't get this cultural relationship with Georgia or South Carolina you are claiming, maybe north Florida but defiantly not South Florida, but I can clearly see the relationship with Baltimore and DC with the Carolinas and Virginia. Most of the blacks that live in South Florida are foreign born, that's not the same for Georgia. And I have family that live in Florida as well,
I do not know why. Many Black American families hail straight from GA and South Carolina. Pretty much brought down the same foods and mannerisms over the last few decades.
One of my best friends for six years running is from West Palm, went to FAU. Her entire family lives in West Palm/Boca/Miami--they are Southern...
Every native Miami black I've ever seen DEFINITELY sounded Southern. That includes all black celebrities from there--some of which have Carribean roots--and the Miamians I've known personally. I knew two when I lived in Georgia, one of which was a Trinidadian native, and yes, she was Southern...
I knew a Latina from Miami, she was southern. Pitbull even has a southern-inspired accent. Not that I think a few speak for the majority, but come on. There are tons of celebrities FROM Miami, and they all sound southern...
I knew a white woman from Miami. Same thing...
Personally, I don't see where Miami, and South Florida on the whole, have this dissociation from the South. Having an eclectic mix of cultures means that it isn't as southern as places that don't have the same degree of culture mixes. These different cultures definitely contribute to the region's culture, but come on. Southern culture is alive and evident in South Florida--whether it's the predominant culture isn't the question; South Florida isn't really "deviant" from the South. It's just a different type of Southern....
Have really never met anyone from nor been to South Texas, unless San Antonio counts--I've met people from there (blacks, whites, and Latinos). Again the blacks were incredibly southern. The Latinos definitely had southern influences in speech, accent, and personality...
Pitbull is a rapper trying to sound like black Southern rappers. That accent is not typical among Cuban Americans. It's true that many black people in South Florida sound Southern, a lot more than other groups in the area. There may be some Latinos and whites who try to fit in with that culture. But by and large it's not a distinctly Southern culture down here.
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