What Dems can learn from exile communities
The red wave that crossed Miami-Dade County in the presidential and U.S. congressional races came as a surprise to many. It probably should not have. While part of the stark reversal of fortunes can be blamed onthe force of Trump’s distortions and fear-mongering in tagging Democrats as socialists, that is not the entire story.
Responsibility for this political setback should be shared by many Democrats nationally, whohave given insufficient attention to the profound experiences of South Florida’s exile communities. At stake is a generational opportunity for Democrats to reclaim their position as champions of freedom, humanrights and economic opportunity for all our nation’s immigrants.
Some Democrats rely on a caricature of Cuban exiles and a false assumption that a primary focus on Cuba and communism is largely the domain of a diminishing number of older Cuban exiles. But just look at the increasingly Republican registration ofmany newly arrived immigrants in South Florida. Despite the best of intentions, nationally, Democrats have underappreciated the depth of the trauma over Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. In doing so, they missed the opportunity to deliver a strong, persistent message on free speech, political freedom and free markets— and to offer a stronger, more coherent policy in response to Trump’s bungled approach to Venezuela.
The same lesson applies to Cuba’s human rights abuses. Democrats too often make it a binary choice of supporting or opposing the embargo when the issues are far more complicated than that.
Beyond what national Democrats say, it’s howthey say it that alsomatters. Expressions of concern for human rights in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela often have come off like eating broccoli. Something that you “have to do” when dealing with those voters in Miami. But it goes deeper than that. Virtually all of us who grewup in Miami feel deeply the profound suffering and sense of loss in our community among the hundreds of thousands of exiles from socialist dictatorships. It is a feeling that has not carried to enough Democrats in D.C., perhaps understandably, but also very unfortunately.
It doesn’t have to be thisway. As former Dade Democratic Party chair and state legislator Mike Abrams used to point out, until the 1970s, a majority of Cuban exiles where registering as Democrats. Until Ronald Reagan persuaded them that he cared more about the threat of communism in the Western Hemisphere. Under President Clinton and President Obama, Cuban-American support for Democrats continued to rise. Cuban-Americans have demonstrated time and again that they are willing to shift parties based on what they hear from those parties on issues of paramount importance to them.
National Democrats have further stumbled in creating a huge opportunity for
Republicans to exploit Obama’s overtures to Cuba to their advantage by dropping critical elements of that story.
Under the avalanche ofTrump’s rhetoric, the forcefulness of Obama’s speech at theGranTeatro inHavana inMarch2016, and the extraordinary degree to which Obamawent beyond typical diplomatic norms while on foreign soil, has been forgotten or undervalued. He challenged the host government explicitly in a live, televised address on free speech, political freedom and free markets.
Think of the significance ofObama saying to the Cuban people, in that venue, in front ofRaul Castro and Cuba’s top military and political leaders: “In the United States, there is a clear monument to what the Cuban people can build. It’s called Miami.” Also forgotten is howhe met with dissidents, and his focus on promoting entrepreneurship and free market reforms and the stark contrast he made to those reforms versus supporting the government.
While nationalRepublicansmay be cynical in their messaging to Miami’s exile communities, they deliver it with force and passion. As the late poetMaya Angelou reportedly said, “I’ve learned that people will forgetwhat you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget howyou made them feel.”
Years ago, I had the privilege of writing a play about the late Senator and Congressman ClaudePepper thatwas performed at Miami Beach’sColony Theatre. Senator Pepper brought the same righteous passion to the suffering of socialism’s exiles in South Florida that he did to the rights of seniors to live in dignity, universal health care and equal access to economic prosperity and the American Dream.
I urgemy fellowDemocrats nationally to honor that legacy and our party’s legacy for human rights and displaymore consistently a deeper understanding and appreciation for all of South Florida’s residents and their familieswhohave fled tyranny.
Shepard Nevel, born and raised inMiami, was senior campaign policy advisor to Senator-elect John Hickenlooper of Colorado. The opinions expressed here are his own.