Annotations for People: Smith-ht

Four years after he was convicted in the shooting deaths of two African American men, Miami police officer William Lozano was acquitted of those same charges. After a second trial held in Orlando, Florida, the not guilty verdict in this racially charged case did not set off the widespread racial violence that many had predicted. In a round table of Latino reporters, Miami-based correspondent Ivan Roman, Nancy San Martin, and Emilio San Pedro say that's because many things have begun to change in Miami's minority communities.

The symbolic leader and the man who speaks for the African American boycott of tourism, HT Smith. He says that there have been a lot of changes in the last four years for African Americans, things that have made a difference, things that have made them feel that perhaps there is some hope, for example, that there are two Congress people representing African Americans from Florida, and that makes a statement for African Americans, the changes in the county commission. So, the situation he feels, and a lot of African Americans feel that the situation now in 1993 is not the same as it was in 1989. That's not to say that everything is fine and that everybody is, and that no one has any problems. But the point is that there is some sign that there can be some hope and that there isn't that feeling of despair that may lead people out into a riot-type situation, and that's the kind of thing that they were looking for with the boycott to bring up all these topics.

Let's talk a little bit about the background. What was at the heart of the tensions between Latinos and African Americans in the area? And in fact, there were many efforts by the local government there to ease those tensions. Have they been effective? Do the same problems still exist, and do the misunderstandings still abound, or is there, as you say, Emilio, there's a move now to say, well, things have really changed between African Americans and Latinos in the area?

There have been efforts, continuous efforts by community groups to get together to discuss their differences, and the key issue really is economic empowerment. The key issue is hopelessness because of economics, because Blacks many times are stuck in communities in day county that are basically the communities that are deprived economically and socially. They're the first communities that they want to get the schools out of. They're the first communities that they don't pick up the garbage. They're all these things that are starting to get addressed, and so people feel, okay, well let's give it another chance. Let's see what happens. Let's figure out ways to try to diminish these tensions. And they have worked a lot on it since 1989. I'm not telling you they're all the way there, but at least they've made some efforts and they're definitely trying to get rid of or quell the opportunists who will go out and riot anyway because they always are, but at least they've made some effort and people see that.

I was going to say that I think the biggest change since the riots has been that there's been a lot of communication, and I think that's the key factor. The county has a board called the Community Relations Board, and it consists of community leaders from all facets of the community who meet periodically to discuss precisely that and vent out frustrations that the community may be feeling. Since the beginning of the Lozano trial, that group has been meeting monthly to discuss ways to prevent violence and create a understanding between the various communities. And I think that's been real effective because people have been able to say what's on their mind and get the anger out before it's too late.

What's interesting is that, I don't think that across the country people necessarily look to the Miami area as one that was breeding this new kind of multicultural acceptance and living together. Do you guys sense that there's a possibility that Miami and what's happening there may in fact, have some kind of a national impact?

People tend to put Miami in a certain perspective and they don't think that maybe there is a whole sector of people that are starting to learn and appreciate each other's cultures, and I think that is something that's starting to happen in Miami. It took a while, but I think that there are Latinos who attend events in the Haitian community cultural events. There are Haitians that go to Miami Beach and take part in the South Beach environment. That's not to say that everything is coming together rapidly, but I think that there's an appreciation of other cultures in Miami that perhaps does not exist around the United States. And I think yes, in some ways Miami can become a model for people getting along.

Thank you all very much, Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, general assignment reporter for the Sun Sentinel, and Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Public Radio.