Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/GoogleMaps
With a deeply controversial plan to erect a pilot homeless encampment on a remote barrier island in Miami on the ropes, its chief proponent is accusing opponents of “playing the race card” in an ugly new chapter in a local controversy gone haywire.
During a Monday afternoon press conference, Miami Mayor Frances Suarez announced the city’s intention to hold off on pursuing a pilot program to build dozens of “tiny homes” on Virginia Key for at least six months. The “transition zone” program moved forward in a 3-2 vote earlier this month and promptly spurred a furious outcry from every type of Miamian—from environmentalists worried about destroying the island’s ecosystem to advocates for the homeless concerned about the lack of infrastructure in the area off Rickenbacker Causeway to wealthy residents of nearby posh enclaves like Fisher Island.
But before it was the site of a tug-of-war between almost every constituency in Miami, Virginia Key was a Black beach at the height of Jim Crow-era segregation.