Is Miami a 'Third World' city?
Miami Herald
editorial
Nov 30, 2006
Re the Nov. 28 story Colorado congressman calls Miami a 'Third World country': Comments like the one from U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and others in the anti-immigration wing of the Republican Party are as much to blame as the war in Iraq for the Republicans' election losses. According to reliable polls, the Hispanic vote went 44 percent for President Bush in 2004. This month, only 29 percent of that vote went to Republican congressmen.
Coral Gables
Let's invite Tancredo to visit our city and show him that we are a democratic, civilized and advanced people. The only difference is that we speak two or more languages.
If Tancredo is ambitious enough to seek the highest office of the land, he will need to talk to us. His recent words will have a lot of weight when we begin to judge his character.
RAFAEL JIMENEZ, Miami
Tancredo is correct -- Miami is just like a Third World country. It's about time that someone publicly stated the painful truth about our city.
If immigrants who refuse to learn English would take the time to learn the language, we just might be thought of as a true world-class city instead.
PAUL BOURJAILY, Miami
Tancredo's bigotry, revealed by his Third World label for Miami, is another example of how his party really feels. Just as the evangelical Christian right has started to realize how it has been used for political advantage, it is time for the Cuban-American community to stop supporting a party that has given it 47 years of a failed Cuba policy designed to pander for their votes. Our three Cuban congressional representatives are not leaders, simply enablers.
DAVID C. HANCOCK, Coconut Grove
I come to Florida regularly, and yet I cannot stand to visit Miami. Obviously South Beach is a separate entity (and objectionable for its own superficiality), but most of Miami looks and feels dangerous. Certainly any large city has its share of problems. But the city's image sorely is in need of improvement. Large areas of the city desperately need to be revitalized.
Some anger toward Tancredo's comments is natural, but Miami residents should realize that he's far from the only one who feels that way.
J.D. BOLICK, Greenville, N.C.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has invited her ''friend'' Tancredo to visit Miami and give us another shot. This man is clearly not her friend. I challenge her and the Díaz-Balart brothers to stand up to this man and act with courage in the House.
Tancredo wants to build giant fences around our borders and between our people. We need leadership that is focused on building bridges between cultures and ladders for those willing to work to succeed in this country.
I recommend that Ros-Lehtinen save the taxpayers some money and not bring this bigot to the Magic City so that he can stay at one of our ``five-star hotels on the Beach.''
We are all better served if she took him for a walk in Washington, D.C., and have him visit the Lincoln Memorial and learn of ideas such as freedom, compassion and the unity of a nation.
EDDY ARRIOLA, Miami
