The nomads have arrived in Miami. Sunny South Beach to be precise. 1 street removed from the famous Ocean Drive and 1 block off the shiny white Miami beaches and the Atlantic ocean. We are staying at the old Clay Hotel currently a mix of mid range rooms and a hostel for backpackers. But in older times a fancy place that occupied the likes of Al Capone and springboard to the sins of Batista’s capitalist Cuba. Today Cuba is the last stronghold of the Communist religion and Castro’s private kingdom. The former elite of the Batista era are now all in exile right here in Miami. What can you say about a US city that thrives on its’ Latin flavours and doesn’t seem to sleep, except for a midday siesta? It has a skyline that rivals New York’s Manhattan, a buzzing business centre, a shopping paradise, a top entertainment industry, including an exhilarating party scene, beautiful beaches and beautiful people to populate them and all of this in a lush tropical setting. But what is most ear- and eye catching is the fact that the city’s first language is Spanish and its inhabitants are mostly Cuban.
When I visited the famed ’Calle Ocho’ (8 Street) in little Havana, it did not strike me as particularly Cuban at all. But that is probably because the whole city is a hybrid of US-Cuban. To be honest it is nothing like the real Havana. That unique city is Cubana to the core, in each sense of smell and sound. And it is easy to understand how the Cuban refugee community, especially the first generation is prone to nostalgia and still sick for home. Old dreams of re-conquering Cuba are still very much alive. But what they did in their Diaspora is in fact the second best thing. They made Miami into a US version Cuba. Different but also appealing.
In all big US cities from the East to the West Coast you can hear Spanish. But usually spoken by the peeps in blue collar jobs, cleaning and serving for Anglo-American segment of society . For 80% of the Miami population the first language is Spanish, the Latinos are in the majority with a significant Cuban segment of almost 40%. This is the one place in the USA where the Latinos are (already) leading society. Here the people being served in the fancy restaurants and having their huge garden sculptured are also Latino. First and second generation Cubanos have build a Latino empire where they have set the norm. Their banks control billions of dollars, generating bigger revenues than many small Latin American nations. American businesses that want to profit here, better speak Spanish to. Heineken commercials are already in Spanish. El dinero habla!
Being a mixed race ranging from Negroid to Caucasian and anything in between, the Cuban Mullato and Mestizo culture more readily adapted to Anglo-American culture. However these mixed people did not assimilate into it, but rather created their own brand of American capitalist culture. The fact that many of the refugees were well educated, government officials and entrepreneurs also contributed to their success. Having a common foe in Castro helped retaining a strong sense of unity in the community. But after the ‘Bay of Pigs’ fiasco they also knew that, at least for the time being, there was no turning back to Cuba possible. El futuro es aqui.
It’s fitting that the avant garde intellectual Tjalie Robinson turned his attention to the USA and the Latin American world to benchmark Indo identity and culture and establish a vision for the future. For whatever that identity is, it is nomad in nature...
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