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In the melting pot of Miami, unity among small and African-American-owned businesses yields success

Posted on Sun, Sep. 17, 2006

BY BILL DIGGS

Special to The Miami Herald

Business Matters

This weekly column is supplied by the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce and is intended to provide information for small and minority businesses, especially African-American-owned businesses, and a forum for discussing related issues.

There is an interesting phenomenon that is sweeping our community: the deafening discussion in the media about the divide that exists between African Americans and other blacks from the Caribbean and Haiti. Malcolm X once said that the media comprise the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent.

This discussion about our differences has gotten out of hand because it is destroying our chances of being a powerful force in this town. When I say our chances, I am talking about black folks, people of color represented by many different shades of brown all over the world.

Not long ago, I was in San Francisco and I spotted this sharply dressed black man across the street from me and, as I walked by, he raised his head to acknowledge my presence. I nodded back. It was a simple gesture but one that many black men across this world make numerous times a day, as if to say, ``Hello, my brother.''

While I am out around Miami, this happens often. It happens no less when the other black man is Haitian or Jamaican. As a matter of fact, I think many times that as a true Southerner who grew up in a race-torn city I and the Caribbean-born black man have more in common because neither of us has a sense of entitlement. We both know what it is really going to take to succeed.

We need to learn from other great cities and learn how to better do business with one another. I realize that Miami is a melting pot of many different ethnic groups but so is New York and they found a way to create a better business environment for all.

While we are busy talking nonsense, Miami is being carved up and slices are being eaten up by every other ethnic group. The time is now to grab control of this momentum before it is too far gone. Haitians in Miami are growing businesses and Miami is becoming a better place because of their strong sense of family and community. Jamaicans and folks from the other Caribbean countries are here to stay and we must find a common ground so that we may all prosper.

We should just look to our kids for guidance. My daughter and her friends resemble the United Nations. I think that only she and one of her 10 close friends are past third generation American-born. The rest are from all over the southern hemisphere. They speak in three or four different languages -- Creole, French, Spanish and flashes of Jamaican and/or Bahamian English. They all are working hard to get good grades and, because of that, they have a singular focus and pull together like a team.

That level of cooperation is what is needed for the adult blacks in South Florida. I know this level of cooperation is going on quietly throughout Miami. The Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce is an example of that. We employ a Jamaican-born attorney and a Jamaican-born finance vice president. We have a Haitian-born committee chair of our international trade committee and our supplier of chamber trinkets is from Trinidad and Tobago.

I can go on and on. But what I am really trying to point out is that we should not believe the media hype. Black folks are doing business with one another here in Miami.

Malcolm X also said, ``You don't have a peaceful revolution. You don't have a turn-the-other-cheek revolution. Revolution knows no compromise. Revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way.''

Last hint: Either participate in what makes Miami great or become a past business owner.

Bill Diggs is the president/CEO of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce.

Send feedback or news for this column tobdiggs@m-dcc.org.