Community

Two women walk with a child, shooting friendly greetings at their neighbors as they pass by. They even wave to the man who lives out of a shopping cart on the curb. The two women, the child, and the man they wave to all wear the same broad grin that shines as a juxtaposition against the cheap townhouses, old cars, and worn clothing. What the viewer doesn’t see in the
photograph is the block party going on at the end of the street behind the women. People from all over the neighborhood congregate and set up lawn chairs, set their kids free to play tag, and discuss their jobs at the local markets and restaurants.

Despite the fact that this neighborhood is low-income, there is a sense of community that trumps that of any condominium on South Beach. Kids don’t run on the beach and spend their
childhoods making sandcastles, they run around outside with the neighbors because the TV only gets cable. Their parents don’t dress up in expensive gowns and suits and go to cocktail parties and night clubs, they sit outside on lawn chairs and talk after a long day at their minimum-wage paying jobs. The local Miamians may be segregated into different neighborhoods, but these
neighborhoods are more than just that, they’re communities. This is the real Miami.