South Florida Town Halls and Meetings: Week ending May 16, 2025
Introduction
No ducks this week, but there are magic mushrooms, assertions that Florida is the birthplace of the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement, how the new Pope has connections to South Florida and plenty of gratuitous pictures of my dog. So join me for this week's installment of This Week in Florida.
Finite Disappointment
ICE takes a nursing mom from her baby and stashes her 200 miles away
It is becoming so common it's tempting to let the horror of it seep in. Our brains are literally wired to start ignoring things that are horrifying so that we don't find ourselves needing, say psychedelic assisted therapy.
In an all too common story, a breastfeeding mom was detained by ICE and separated from her children in Florida. She was then sent 200 miles south of where she was picked up, to South Florida's detention center in Broward County.
Some haters might read the link story and point out that the woman admitted that she stole from a Walmart, so she had it coming.
First off, she still deserves due process, second, let's dive deeper into that, shall we. She stole $34 dollars worth of things from Walmart so as to give her one year old a birthday party.
Do you know what normal human beings do in that situation? Someone else pays for the $34 dollars and she goes home to have one of the happiest birthday celebrations of her life. That someone is often the store manager, the cop who arrested her or someone there who saw what was going on. Instead, she's ripped away from her children, sent 200 miles away from them and her husband all over less than I spent on pizza this week.
By the way, this is a 44 year old mother. I'm not sure what the story is that a 44 year old woman is having a baby, but whatever the situation, that's a higher risk pregnancy and an additional stress on her and her family.
Some other hater might say she's "an illegal." Setting aside that by definition, a person cannot be "an illegal," she's here legally awaiting her asylum trial. Also, calling someone "an illegal" is grammatically incorrect and the equivalent of saying "she done ain't 'spose to be here, I re'kon." If anyone is being criminally negligent its the courts that take so long to process asylum claims. She has the legal right to work here through at least 2029.
But let's get back to that baby she's breastfeeding. As the Miami New Times puts it perfectly, I'll let them say it:
Studies have shown that abrupt weaning (when a woman abruptly stops breastfeeding) is "traumatic for the infant, uncomfortable for the mother, and may result in blocked ducts, mastitis or breast abscesses," among other problems. "Abrupt weaning is to be avoided if possible."
All for what? Where is she going to go if ICE were to let her face her misdemeanor charges? She has a baby, she has a job. She's going to be right there. But instead, she's being detained, 200 miles from her family and her baby, costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars all so...I am not sure what it is for.
If I'm being overly political by saying tormenting a family and causing potential psychical harm to a mother over $34 to celebrate a one year old's birthday is cruel, then I guess I'm being overly political. And here I thought "overly political" was talking about how Florida lawmakers can't agree on a budget, literally the only thing their job requires, because they're too busy grandstanding for cameras. But, I wouldn't say that here, because I'm trying not to be too political.
Rants about the press annoying me this week
Philip Cardella
Philip Cardella
Historic Interlude
A. Philip Randolph
On May 16, 1979 Asa Philip Randolph passed away. A driving force of the Civil Rights movement, unlike his proteges such as Martin Luther King Jr., Randolph lived into his nineties. Born in Crescent City, Florida in 1889 and raised in Jacksonville, "Randolph brought the gospel of trade unionism to millions of African American households," as the AFL-CIO website puts it.
Randolph would go on to become the most recognized spokesperson for "black working-class interests in the country." When FDR refused to ban anti-Black discrimination in the defense industry while that industry was ramping up for World War II and while FDR was courting peace among trade unions and management, Randolph called for "10,000 loyal Negro American citizens" to march on Washington. Roosevelt capitulated, issuing an executive order on June 25, 1941 that said, "there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin."
In Post War America, as racial strife emerged with renewed fervor, a new generation of Black Americans drew inspiration from Randolph's threatened March on Washington. Working with Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist born in Pennsylvania, Randolph got his March on Washington, headlined by Martin Luther King Jr and remembered for the iconic, "I have a dream," speech.
The speaker before Martin Luther King Jr., was one of the "big six" along with Randolph, Rustin and King, that organized the March on Washington. He was a young man named John Lewis. John Lewis would go on to be a member of the United States House of Representatives and a leader of the Democratic Party for over twenty years.
“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.” John Lewis made this statement on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 1, 2020 commemorating the tragic events of Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday occurred on March 7, 1965 as peaceful protesters were beaten by law enforcement officers for crossing the bridge. Lewis and others like Amelia Boynton Robinson were beaten so badly they were hospitalized.
Like Randolph, Lewis lived a long life.
Above quote from:
See More
Though to many Americans, the name Asa Philip Randolph is not a household name, given his status as one of the most important people in America in the twentieth century both as a Civil Rights and a Labor Union leader, A. Philip Randolph, of Jacksonville, Florida, should be.
Next week: Mary McLeod Bethune, long time Florida resident, women's rights activist and civil rights activist who also passed away in May, in her case, 1955. I'll keep telling you: the birth place of the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement in the United States is Florida.
Infinite Hope
The ACLU of Florida and Miami-Dade Democratic Party
This page isn't meant to be politically leaning so much as filling in the gaps where the media seems to leave things out. I'm interested in relaying stories I hear and events I attend from all over the spectrum. Whatever my political agenda is, I believe it is best served by letting people see Florida, especially South Florida, for what it is: a messy, diverse, beautiful, crazy, normal, unique, strange, wonderful place. I love stories where people are talking about a community that is big enough for all of us.
That's the takeaway I got from attending a meeting of a couple of Miami Dade Democratic Clubs on Tuesday. Democracy gives me hope. Freedom gives me hope.
Philip Cardella
Conversations with Cava
On Friday, perhaps 100 residents of Miami-Dade County and 50 employees of the county ready to serve the residents, crammed into a hall in the Main Branch of the County Library System across from the History Miami Museum to hear their Mayor talk about the budget crisis and to ask her questions.
The meeting started with a lot of information about why the county is facing the crisis. I will publish something on that later this weekend. What gives me hope is the spirit of the meeting. While facing a huge budget crisis the mayor sat down and patiently answered twenty questions, literally, not the game, from community members over the course of an hour.
The majority of questions were about the potential cuts to Miami-Dade County's recently improved, yet still needs a lot of improvement, mass transit system. That's a whole other post in and of itself. Funding for Head Start, the Eviction Diversion Program and other issues came up as well.
While people are on edge, it still fills me with hope to see a room full of County staffers that seemed genuinely eager to serve their constituents and a mayor who seemed as much like a school teacher with a class of favorite students as much as a politician. The crowd repeatedly cheered her during the question and answers section, even when the most contentious subjects came up--like foreign investment in Israel.
In that case, the question posed was by a person who spent two minutes going line by line about the economic risk--not the moral implications--involved with supporting Israel, something the Mayor and the County Commissioners have steadfastly done.
In other words, the questioner went hard after the mayor, but remained courteous through her passion and patiently let the mayor respond.
While I'm not going into the mayor's response here, other than to say there was some politician speak in it, the mayor treated the questioner with dignity and praise for having so many facts at her disposal.
The two people disagreed on something very important to them. The interacted with respect and poise, without condescension or accusations aimed at each other. I've witnessed meetings with elected officials in this county (they were city officials, I won't go into which city--there's 34), where the commissioner literally yelled and called people names.
This was the opposite of that, though that too is democracy. But at this meeting, I left hopeful despite the challenges ahead.
There are two more of these special town hall meetings. Saturday, May 17, at 12:30 and Monday May 19 at 6:00. Click on the button to learn more.
The upcoming Interfaith Breakfast of Hope
As a historian I wince at the number of wars that have been fought over religious differences. This website lists just twelve of the nastier religion motivated wars, which include two 21st century wars, and wars that go back to the Middle Ages.
So, when I get a chance to hang out with people from other faiths I jump at the chance. This is why I do so much with People Acting for Community Together, an interfaith organization working to make Miami-Dade County a better place for all, and why I'm promoting the Interfaith Breakfast of Hope on May 30, 2025 at the Biltmore Hotel, even though it is put on by a political party, in this case, the Miami-Dade Democrats. From the event website:
Amb. Rev. Charles Stith is Chair of the African Presidential Leadership Center in Johannesburg & a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. He served as Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania, appointed in the aftermath of the U.S. embassy bombing. A Harvard Divinity School graduate, Ambassador Stith was Pastor of Boston’s United Methodist Church & founding director of Boston University’s African Presidential Center. He negotiated the nation’s first comprehensive community reinvestment agreement securing $500M for low -to moderate-income minority & women borrowers in Massachusetts.
I hope to see you there!
Get your tickets by May 18th and save 15% (technically, 14.66%)!
Bear the History Hound Finds
Things written by professional historians (and maybe some others about history) that Bear found this week. Bear tries to only post things from this week, but sometimes he digs up old things.
By academic historians
Heather Cox Richardson
This one is technically by an International Affairs professor
Daniel W. Drezner
This one is by an engineer, turned lawyer, turned politician, turned first Cuban born mayor of Miami, turned President of PACT, turned retired guy who writes good op-eds.
Gratuitous Bear the History Hound Photos
Bear's current favorite toy got in the pool in a spot he couldn't reach and he was so obsessed with it I was able to get out the camera, wait for the lens to defog from the over abundant humidity, set up a secondary light and take several photos of him. Yes, of course I eventually got the toy for him.
Bear was obsessed with getting that toy out of the pool at night. The pool has a planter box on one long side, that's what he's on top of. Copyright Philip Cardella 2025.