Racial Segregation in Miami

The issue of segregation in Miami has been contentious since the 1896 when the city
was founded. Patel explores the practice of redlining in the city, which largely accounts for
past and present segregation. By designating certain neighborhoods as high risk (marked in
red) through the famous redlining maps, banks set off a trend where black-dominated regions
could remain underdeveloped because they lacked access to investment loans or
improvement. To date, there is a class and racial inequality that exists due to the far-reaching
consequences of the 1930s redlining. The author also compares a 1990 census map is to a
2010 one, showing similarity in residence patterns by racial groups (Patel, 2019) . Regions
that were white-designated are still present, while historically black-dominated areas still
existent.
Undoubtedly, racial segregation is still evident, especially in schools in Miami-Dade.
According to a recent study, experts have dubbed the present-day segregation in Miami
schools as “apartheid”. Apparently, schools are becoming even more racially divided in
2020s compared to 100 years back. According to a recent report by Florida State University,
there are schools where 99-100% of student population are non-white (Iannelli, 2017) .
Students in Miami are also more likely to go to a school in a racially segregated environment;
black students in Miami-Dade have some of the lowest rates of exposure to whites.
I think demographics in Miami-Dade county will experience a slight shift in status quo
in the future, since there have been no major shifts in this trend over the past 100 years.
However, with federal initiatives to develop the underdeveloped neighborhoods, the county
can expect more growth and influx of a more diverse population. This is due to the fact that
segregation is mainly propagated through unfavorable housing and income disparities, where
blacks are predominantly low-incomers and occupying predominantly low-socioeconomic
neighborhoods.

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References

Iannelli, J. (2017). Miami Is Full of “Apartheid Schools,” and Segregation Is Getting Worse.
Retrieved from Miami New Times: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-
school-segregation-is-arguably-the-worst-in-florida-9704823
Patel, S. (2019). Past/Present of Segregated Miami. Retrieved from Miami Grid:
https://miami-grid.com/2019/04/10/segregated-miami/