I was at West Grove today. Our school is doing a project on the day of the election, and we’ll be at West Coconut Grove all day long, trying to cover that communities’ reaction to either the first African American president becoming elected, or the first female vice president. I took a few pictures with my iPhone, and if I can figure out how to post them up here, I will.
I have to admit that I’d never ventured to that part of town, because it’s considered extremely dangerous. However, I’m glad I did today. I was exposed to a completely different side of Miami, and it was wonderful. So full of color.
My colleagues and I stopped by a barber shop where you can still get your shoes shined. Inside was the proprietor, friendly, but cautious. “Take a picture of that would you? That’s father and son right there,” he said, pointing to a 20-something man buzzing the fluff off the top of his toddler son’s head.
Farther up the street was the neighborhood convenience store, where you can stop and talk politics with Jamal, the store owner, and some of his workers, including one from the Sudan. When asked if he knew of anyone in the area voting for McCain, Jamal quipped, “Yeah, maybe there were two or three, but I’m sure they’re all dead now.” In a town like this where cops warn outsiders to “get out!” before 6pm, his joke is not without a bit of morbid cynicism.
The truth is, West Grove is one of the more poverty-stricken areas in Miami. At the moment, there’s a lot of buzz surrounding the community because there are plans to gentrify it. Architecture students at the University of Miami have been contributing drafts of what the city could look like but many of the drawings they’re producing have no regard for the historical richness of the community. However, developers are excited about this prospect, because West Grove is surrounded on all sides by prime real estate.
So since there is quite a bit of change taking place in West Grove, we at the University of Miami thought it would be a great place to cover on election night.
A little farther down the street, there were teen girls and boys playing in their school uniforms. Across the street from them are two parked cop cars, lights blinking ominously. To their left, a couple of men were busy conducting their own business. According to the police officer, those men were dealing drugs.
At the laundromat ten feet away, Evelyn Turner watched from behind a bolted gate. ”This is not a good neighborhood,” she says. The bus stop just three feet away is the very one she stands at every morning to go to 
work. According to her, it’s also a drug dealing spot. “I call it little Vietnam here,” she says, laughing. She’s from up north, from Baltimore. She’s only been in the Grove for two months, but she doesn’t feel safe. At night she sees drunks, prostitutes, and drug dealers wandering around. She only ventures outside her home to go to work. “I wanna get out,” she says. She is living in fear.
I guess we’ll see how election day pans out. I wonder how the people in the community think Obama will affect their lives if he becomes president. Will his abstract notion of “change” affect the real-life changes going on in West Grove?
Popularity: 6% [?]