People Acting for Community Together

The Week Ending April 11, 2025

Finite Disappointment

As I start building this post on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, I think it's a good week to give Finite Disappointment some time off because, honestly, there's just too much for Infinite Hope this week!

Ok, there's one thing: I was frustrated with the coverage of the Hands Off Miami! protest on Saturday from two television stations--including the oldest in South Florida.

Or was it only one station pretending to be two? Hmmm...click the button to find out solve the mystery of how many people were at Hands Off Miami!

Historic Interlude

Happy Birthday, Miami!

April 7, 1896 Henry Flagler's railroad saw its first freight train reach Miami, connecting the Magic City with the rest of the Continental United States by land for the first time. The event was so insignificant to people at the time that no photos remain, though the photo above was taken a week later when the first passenger train arrived.

Tempted by a woman named Julia Tuttle with the promise of orange blossoms even in years when the rest of the country froze over, Flagler extended his Florida East Coast Railroad from Broward County to what would officially become Miami a few months later--with the help of a number of local Black men. Built on the backs of convicts during the convict lease era, Flagler would eventually extend the line all the way to Key West while building an empire in Miami.

The main east-west street that divides Miami bears Flagler's name. It wasn't until the last few decades that anyone remembered Tuttle's.

Happy Confederate Tears Day!

On April 9, 1865, slaveholder and traitor to his oath to the US Constitution Robert E. Lee put on a brand new suit and went to surrender to General and future US President Ulysses Grant. Lee also begged for food and had his entire army fed by the end of the day.

While the link above contains the history I allude to as told by award-winning historian Heather Cox Richardson posted in 2022, I highly recommend her recalling of Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse (a place, not a building, by the way), this week. In it, Richardson talks about the parallels between the cause for which the oligarchy, called the slaveocracy, fought and forced their poorer neighbors to fight for, and today's oligarchy. Please read it all, but it ends thusly:

At the end of his life, General Grant recalled the events of April 9, 1865. “What General Lee's feelings were I do not know,” Grant wrote. “[M]y own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter [asking to surrender], were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.”

Infinite Hope

People acted for community together so much this week, giving me so much hope I am choosing to talk about them in the order in which they happened.

Hands Off Miami!

It's hard to believe it's only been one week since the nationwide Hands Off! protests, including several in South Florida. You can see my normal collection of photos trying to tell a visual story here:

It was an interesting event where people were lifting each other up, as a community, together. My guess is there were about 1000 people at the Miami event held at the Torch of Friendship near Miami's original port. Interestingly, at least two television stations questioned the size of the event, as I mentioned above--which is precisely why I started trying to document the protests in the first place! Typically, there's been zero news coverage of protests in South Florida. When the protest got so big it was undeniable; one station claimed that thousands of protesters were "two dozen." Anyway, if nothing else, check out this 56-second video I sent to one of the stations before I knew they were going to claim dozens were at the protests.

Miami Pride

The Pride Parade in Miami Beach on Saturday was a festive and lively event full of many dogs, plenty of drag queens, lots of love and, generally and genuinely, a community of people coming together to support one another. I was great fun.

If you want to see 20 photos I took at the event check out this link or the button below.

Nehemiah Action Assembly

The headline this week, "people acting for community together," is a nod to the non-profit I give much of my time to, of the same name, also known as Miami PACT. Each year, PACT organizers rally the 40 mosques, churches (protestant and catholic), synagogues, and schools and universities that are members of the organization to the annual Nehemiah Action Assembly. The Nehemiah Action, as it is called in the organization, typically draws hundreds of people. Monday's assembly, which saw nearly 1000 people in attendance, was one of the largest in years.

Miami PACT, founded in the late 1980s as a response to the McDuffie Rebellion, created a much duplicated method of listening to the people to see what "keeps them up at night," refine the problem, figure out a solution, identify stakeholders and officials who can implement a change and force those officials to make the change, starting (not ending) with the annually Nehemiah Assembly.

Though Miami PACT's member organizations include universalists, the vast majority of member congregations and schools share common scriptures in what is often called "The Old Testament" or "Jewish Bible." In that collection of books is a book called Nehemiah, which is a history book about how the people acted together for the community to restore the walls of Jerusalem. Drawing inspiration from Nehemiah and to a prophet named Micah, who told the people, "he has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God," Miami PACT strives for justice for all residents of Miami.

This year, the people demanded that efforts be made to help with rent. Miami PACT came up with the problem statement, "Due to stagnant wages and gentrification, Miami-Dade residents cannot afford the high cost of rent!" In 2024 Miami Dade County saw 19,000 evictions (an official number; the functional number is much higher)--about 52 per day. So PACT identified that there is a program in place for helping people facing eviction, that when people employ that free, county-supported program, 98% of them avoided eviction, and that the program is underfunded and temporary.

So Miami PACT got the county mayor (we have one of those; if anyone talks about the City of Miami Mayor, you need to understand he's functionally the biggest neighborhood association president in the county rather than, say, "Mayor of Los Angeles") to agree to get the county commission to make the eviction diversion program permanent and increase funding for it.

The mayor agreed, saying "Rent is too damn high" in Miami-Dade County.

PACT's cry is "Let Justice Roll!" You can read about justice rolling in stories in The Miami Herald, The Miami Times (the city's oldest black owned newspaper), and NPR's WLRN.

The Coral Gables Spring Election

The city of Coral Gables, right in the heart of Miami-Dade County (and where my place of worship, and my kid's two choirs are), held their annual election Tuesday. Presently, Coral Gables holds the elections in April to separate them from the national election drama each November brings.

I was lucky enough to participate by handing out fliers for one candidate and in the process got to meet almost all of the others. While the locals insist that this isn't a small city, the reality is is there are far fewer registered voters (33,000) than students at nearby Florida International University (45,000). All of the candidates and their families were out pressing the flesh.

I'm not going to say I'm impartial--I had my preferences--but I will say I loved seeing these candidates and their families and friends working so hard and so earnestly for democracy. This is what its supposed to be all about! I disagree with some of them strongly, and one I'm not crazy about at all, but I loved that that person was out here asking for votes, the way it should be.

You may wonder why there aren't more photos and the answer is--some of the candidates didn't want me to take their picture. I don't understand this thinking at all. I mean, even if I were to say, "Look at this bozo!" who cares? And, of course, I would never do that. They don't know that about me, but what does it matter what I'd do with the picture of them in public shaking hands and taking pictures with supporters? Obviously, I could have taken pictures anyway, legally. But, well, I'm not an asshole--if they didn't want their picture taken I wasn't going to take it. So, instead of showing pictures of all of the candidates in the best light I could (because I'd be honing my photography more than trying to promote any of them), I'll post none in the interest of throwing shade. LOL.

That aside, and though the election didn't turn out the way I had hoped, I loved being a part of it and if the teenager I talked to who was working hard for their parent sees this, I want to say "hi!" and pick FIU, it's a great school.

Best thing I saw this week

Best thing I read this week

While making calls for a political candidate in the Coral Gables election, a person yelled at me about the war-mongering ways of the Democratic Party in the United States. It is a sentiment held by not a few people who voted for the Republican Party with the hope that the former President would bring peace to the world, as he repeatedly promised on the campaign trail and even during his inaugural address. I wish the 47th President's Administration had brought peace. I loathe attacks on civilians under any circumstances. Honestly, I consider US General William T. Sherman to be a war criminal for his attacks on civilians during the Civil War and a genocidal maniac during the so-called Indian Wars. So, in the present world affairs you should read that as me condemning anyone who intentionally targets civilians--any civilians. The Guardian had an outstanding piece this week on where we presently stand with regard to the president's desire to earn the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace.