Week ending March 21

Finite Disappointment

Instead of an opportunity to bring the community together to discuss the real pain and suffering going on in Gaza and Israel--for both Palestinians and Israelis (the links are to two different movies that both come with a trigger warning)--the Mayor of Miami Beach, Steven Meiner, chose instead to try to cancel the lease of O Cinema, a movie theater that dared to show an Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land, created by an Israeli journalist working with a Palestinian journalist, about what life is like for Palestinians. This led to a ton of backlash from both local and international communities, and Mayor Meiner submitting an alternative resolution at the start of the meeting that would dictate to the theater what movies it could show.

According to the Vice Mayor of Miami Beach, Tanya K Bhatt, O Cinema is one of the host theaters for the Jewish Film Festival in Miami Dade County and a foundational member of the Festival.

During the heated city council meeting, there was some support for the mayor's resolution to cancel the theater's lease, and there were accusations of antisemitism to people asking the council to vote no on the resolution to terminate the lease. Supporters included the mayors of Hialeah and Miami, who called into the meeting, along with dozens of others joining virtually. While speaking to the room, Mayor Suarez of Miami claimed that he, the Mayor of Miami, was being censored because audience members booed and chanted "one minute's up" at him after he went over the one-minute time limit that was strictly enforced for everyone else. The Mayor of Miami claimed that people booing him was the same as the City of Miami Beach shutting down a private theater for airing an Oscar-winning film.

The uncensored Suarez posted to social media last night praise for a massive drone show above Biscayne Bay that praised the 47th President as a savior to humanity. "ONLY IN MIAMI," enthused the mayor, an unabashed Trump stan."

Only in Miami, indeed.

In another story of an elected executive taking action after someone didn't volunteer to comply with their suggestions, Florida Governor is now threatening prosecution of police forces and cities that don't "volunteer" to sign up for the 287(g) program, posting on xitter yesterday to "govern yourselves accordingly." The Fort Meyers City Council voted not to volunteer to participate in the 287(g) program– with some council members crying while they voted. Florida's Attorney General responded to the vote by sending them a letter.

Failure to correct the Council’s actions will result in the enforcement of all applicable civil and criminal penalties, including but not limited to being held in contempt, declaratory or injunctive relief, and removal from office by the Governor. Link to the letter via Xitter

Following democratic procedures as duly elected officials in Florida is now potentially a crime, or at least a fire-able offense--if the Florida Governor decides it is. This is not the Governor's first threat or use of removal from office of a duly elected official--at least one time a Florida judge ruled Florida Governor had violated the Florida Constitution in doing so.

Given the threat of removal from office and potential prosecution, it is understandable why Coral Gables Chief of Police "volunteered" to sign the 287(g) agreement and why the Coral Gables City Council didn't reverse his decision.

I'm wondering if it's too much to ask our elected officials to demand that they be allowed to do the jobs they were elected to do. Is it too much for those who were appointed to serve and protect the public and sworn to protect the Constitution to be allowed to do so? This doesn't seem like a partisan issue to me.

During previous Presidential Administrations, the focus was on detaining and deporting serious criminals, not misdemeanor offenses—immigration violations are misdemeanors. So, for the first time, immigrants with I-220A forms, given to them upon entry to the United States, are now being detained by ICE at scheduled immigration appointments. At least 18 Cubans living in South Florida with I-220A forms, mostly women, were detained this week under this tactic.

Historic Interlude

First sit-in protestors to serve jail time

On March 18, 1960, after 11 people were sentenced in a Tallahassee courtroom to a $300 fine or 60 days in jail for disturbing the peace, 8 chose jail time. Sit-ins started in North Carolina but marked the first time that protestors chose jail time over the fine, leading to a shift in the American perception of the Civil Rights Movement and the injustices it sought to change (This Day in Florida History, 47).

This is another example of how Florida's central role in the Civil Rights movement cannot be overstated. In fact, Florida could be argued to be the most significant state in the 20th-century Civil Rights fight.

Five of the arrested were Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University students (This Day in Florida History, 48). FAMU "is the third-largest historically black university in the US by enrollment and the only public historically black university in Florida" (Wikipedia)." The Congress of Racial Equality, better known as CORE, honored the five students in June of that year for sacrificing themselves for the cause.

Infinite Hope

Protests and actions

The Miami Beach City Council meeting was attended by a public that was raucous, loud, and overwhelmingly opposed to the resolution to close O Cinema. In the end, the Mayor of Miami Beach did not have the votes to shut down O Cinema theater and clearly did not have the will of the people behind him, so he backed down. While his attempt to close the theater was real, it also seems that it was an ill-conceived reaction born out of anger that the theater had defied his request to stop showing No Other Land. Still, my takeaway was that the public standing together has immense power and is essential.

Protests work. No, seriously, they work, and they are working. And if you haven't seen them here in Miami-Dade County yet, you're missing out!

At Thursday's protest in front of the Congress Member representing Florida's 27th Congressional District, Maria Elvira Salazar, I even talked to a very nice member of her staff, who is surely reading this post. So I want to say 'hi!' I walked away from my meeting with the staffer with renewed hope that Salazar will stand up for her constituents.

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Meiner praised the community for making their voice heard and invited in-person attendees down for a photo shoot with their commissioners. I'll leave aside the cynical analysis of such a move to point out the person sitting next to him, Vice Mayor Tanya K Bhatt. Vice Mayor Bhatt, it is worth noting, is a Jewish woman with a tattoo that reads "Never Again" on her left arm, which she showed the audience, who lost close family members to crimes against humanity committed against the Jews by Russians and Nazis. Out of all of the comments for terminating the lease and against it, with impassioned pleas from both groups, hers was the most level-headed, reasoned, and thoughtful, in my opinion. She called for healing and reducing the heated accusations and either or thinking. She admonished the Mayor and the theater operator for not handling this situation the way she wanted them to but conceded that she was not their mother and they were adults.

Before this controversy, Vice Mayor Bhatt told the audience that she had no intention of seeing No Other Land, but because of the controversy, she went to see it. Her takeaway from the movie? Hope. It gave her hope that people can come together in extraordinarily difficult situations and listen to one another.

I left the meeting (virtually--I was online for this one) I got the strong sense that she was the mother of the council and I just wanted to give her a hug.

Best things I've read this week

The far-right's pretend fight against antisemitism is a perfect political strategy

What does Maga-land look like? Let me show you America's unbeautiful suburban sprawl

Another Thing I Wrote This Week

My long overdue rant on why you need to use ad blockers written because CBS Miami told me I was essentially stealing from them by not letting them steal my private usage data.