Miami’s Forgotten Cubans: Race, Racialization, and the Miami Afro-Cuban Experience (Afro-Latin@ Diasporas)

Alan A. Aja argues that post-1958 Afro-Cuban reception and adaptation experiences were vastly different than their predominantly "white" co-ethnics in South Florida, much due to processes of race-based social distancing operating within the Cuban-American community. "Dedication"--"Foreword"--"Acknowledgments" -- "Notes" -- "Contents" -- "List of Figures" -- "List of Tables" -- "Chapter 1: Introduction: If Elián Were Black?" -- "Methods" -- "Order of the Book" -- "Notes" -- "References" -- "Chapter 2: â#x80;#x9C;Itâ#x80;#x99;s Like Cubans Could Only Be White, â#x80;#x9D; Divided Arrival: Origins of a Racially Bifurcated Migration" -- "Divided Migration, Divided Arrival" -- "Notes" -- "References" -- "Chapter 3: Beyond El Ajiaco: Eviction from el Exilio (1959â#x80;#x93;1979) and Miamiâ#x80;#x99;s (White) Cuban Wall" -- "Roots of the Enclave" -- "Beyond the Numbersâ#x80;#x94;Exiled from El Exilio" -- "Notes" -- "References" -- "Chapter 4: â#x80;#x9C;You Ainâ#x80;#x99;t Black, Youâ#x80;#x99;re Cuban!â#x80;#x9D;: Mariels, Stigmatization, and the Politics of De-Racialization (1980â#x80;#x93;1989)" -- "(De- )Racializing Mariel" -- "Ten Years Beyond Mariel" -- "Beyond the Numbers: Hiding Under the â#x80;#x9C;Hispanicâ#x80;#x9D; Umbrella" -- "Notes" -- "References" -- "Chapter 5: â#x80;#x9C;They Would Have Tossed Him Back into the Sea, â#x80;#x9D; Balseros, Elián, and Race Matters in the Miami Latinx Millennium (1990-present)" -- "If Elián Were Haitian" -- "Race Matters in the Miami Millennium" -- "Beyond the Disparities: Racialized Arrival in Summary" -- "Notes" -- "References" -- "Chapter 6: From la Cuba de Ayer to el Miami De Ayer: The Cuban â#x80;#x9C;Ethnic Mythâ#x80;#x9D; in Contemporary Context" -- "La Miami de Mañana" -- "Summary" -- "Notes" -- "References" -- "Chapter 7: Between â#x80;#x9C;Laws and Practice, â#x80;#x9D; Blacks, Latinxs, Afro-Cubans/Latinxs, and Public Policy" -- "Better of Two Different Worlds?" -- "Universalizing Wealth: Childrenâ#x80;#x99;s Development Accounts and a Federal Job Program" -- "Living Wage Ordinances in Miami-Dade County" -- "Notes" -- "References" -- "Bibliography." This book explores the reception experiences of post-1958 Afro-Cubans in South Florida in relation to their similarly situated “white” Cuban compatriots. Utilizing interviews, ethnographic observations, and applying Census data analyses, Aja begins not with the more socially diverse 1980 Mariel boatlift, but earlier, documenting that a small number of middle-class Afro-Cuban exiles defied predominant settlement patterns in the 1960 and 70s, attempting to immerse themselves in the newly formed but ultimately racially exclusive “ethnic enclave.” Confronting a local Miami Cuban “white wall” and anti-black Southern racism subsumed within an intra-group “success” myth that equally holds Cubans and other Latin Americans hail from “racial democracies,” black Cubans immigrants and their children, including subsequent waves of arrival and return-migrants, found themselves negotiating the boundaries of being both “black” and “Latino” in the United States. Front Matter....Pages i-xxvi Introduction: If Elián Were Black?....Pages 1-26 “It’s Like Cubans Could Only Be White,” Divided Arrival: Origins of a Racially Bifurcated Migration....Pages 27-60 Beyond El Ajiaco: Eviction from el Exilio (1959–1979) and Miami’s (White) Cuban Wall....Pages 61-106 “You Ain’t Black, You’re Cuban!”: Mariels, Stigmatization, and the Politics of De-Racialization (1980–1989)....Pages 107-142 “They Would Have Tossed Him Back into the Sea,” Balseros, Elián, and Race Matters in the Miami Latinx Millennium (1990-present)....Pages 143-173 From la Cuba de Ayer to el Miami De Ayer: The Cuban “Ethnic Myth” in Contemporary Context....Pages 175-208 Between “Laws and Practice,” Blacks, Latinxs, Afro-Cubans/Latinxs, and Public Policy....Pages 209-229 Back Matter....Pages 231-240 Alan A. Aja. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.