May 23—Following Terrance 'Uncle Tee' Smith through the streets of Liberty Square is like a masterclass in being a hometown hero. Drivers beep as he cruises by on his bike, one hand on the handle bars, the other holding a brown bagged Corona. He shouts jokes at construction workers grabbing gear from their cars. Anyone in earshot gets invited to try his famous barbecue.
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'They used to call me the mayor of Liberty Square,' he quips, a smile forming across his lips.
It's been nearly four decades since Smith lived in the Pork 'n Beans — the nickname for what's now referred to as Liberty Square — yet his presence within the community remains solid. In 1983, the bombing of a U.S. Marine barrack in Beirut claimed the life of his older brother, Kirk. But it came with a $70,000 check that allowed the then-18-year-old Smith and his mother, Barbara, to buy a home in Liberty City. A second check, as part of a judgment against the Iranian Government, gave him the cash flow to purchase a building that he turned into a pool hall — just blocks away from his old home.
Located in central Dade just west of Interstate 95, Liberty City occupies four square miles on some of the highest ground in Miami-Dade County. A little more than 26,000 people call the neighborhood home, roughly 69% of whom are Black — a percentage that has steadily shrunk over the years.
At the heart of the neighborhood is Liberty Square, the first public housing project in the southeastern United States when it was built in 1937.
A new city
The Liberty Square where Smith grew up, however, in is not the Liberty Square of today. In 2015, it was infused with a $300 million investment as part of the Liberty City Rising project to convert the once notorious project into mixed-used housing. New zoning rules six blocks south of the site will also allow for eight-story high buildings and the possibility of commercial stores like a Publix supermarket.
The changes, coupled with the neighborhood's shifting demographics and gentrification, worries not just Smith but many in Liberty City who believe their community's identity will soon be forgotten.
'All it's gone be is a story to tell,' Smith, 57, said.
Easeus data recovery wizard full mac mega. Still, Smith has hopes that Liberty Square's transformation will help curb the violence that brings negative headlines while ushering a new era of prosperity. And that, in Miami and abroad, usually comes with a decreased Black population.
That's why, despite calls from would-be buyers, Smith has no intentions of selling his building. The pool hall, which he named Barbara & Kirk's in honor of his deceased family, not only bridges the gap between the Liberty City of old and new but also shows the community the power of Black ownership.
Five blocks east, on the corner of Northwest 55th Street and Seventh Avenue, that message of Black ownership comes through clearly at The Roots Collective Black House. A grass-roots organization dedicated to creating economic stability within Black and brown communities, The Roots Collective offers a print shop, event space and an array of creative services. Its exterior features a mural paying homage to the Black Panthers, Nipsey Hussle and the Black Wall Street — a blast of energy on a once- popular business corridor that never recovered from the 1980 McDuffie Riots, says Roots Collective founder Danny Agnew.
'Ownership is important to us, seeing how things are changing around here,' Agnew said.
Though The Black House building is still under lease, Agnew intends to eventually purchase it. In the meantime, he envisions it as a hub for Black Miami's sense of community. Among its projects is a community fridge two doors down the street where anyone in need can grab food; high schoolers work as interns to understand the business. Students can also participate in a range of seminar courses on topics including entrepreneurship and gentrification. T?i bluestacks 1.
The ultimate goal, says co-founder Isaiah Thomas, is for The Black House to be a safe haven for the neighborhood long after the founders are gone.
'Liberty City, man, they can't take that away from us — it's ours,' said Thomas, who spent some of younger years in Liberty City. 'They can close up the projects, rebuild them and it's still gone be Liberty City. The people, the vibes, the energy still gone be there.'
The untold story
An outsider might see Liberty City as having little to offer.
The local public schools have 'C' grades. Crime has been a persistent issue for decades. Poverty remains high.
Liberty City residents believe the history of neglect by government and slumlords helped create a community where the poverty rate sits at nearly 32%, more than double that of Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida. Where the unemployment rate sits just above 15%, a few ticks higher than the national pandemic high of 14.8 and much greater than the most recent Miami-Dade figure of 8.2. Where the high school graduation rate of those 25 and older is 72% versus 81.4% countywide.
But these issues don't define Liberty City. The real story of Liberty City — the one that's less visible on news broadcasts, the one that's a bit more difficult to find, the one that really shows the neighborhood's beauty — is how residents have survived.
'There's a will to fight through the adversity in spite of the condition,' said Liberty City native Darryn Ferguson.
At the heart of that resiliency lies a longing to see the next generation do better than their parents. The spirit of resiliency binds residents in common purpose.
'The people of Liberty City are kind, loving,' said Elaine Black, the president of the Liberty City Trust. 'They care about their community and they care about others that live in their community.'
It can be seen in the way residents relax on the front porch of their quaint, one-story homes, keeping a watchful eye on the neighborhood. At Broadway Park, where domino games are played endlessly beneath towering trees and murals plastered on the buildings lining NW 18th Avenue. Around smokers like the one Smith owns at the corner of NW 15th Ave and 62nd Terrace, where locals unwind after a long day of work, the savory smell of barbecue filling their lungs.
Liberty City 'is the best place to work, play and do business,' said Black.
She isn't the only one who believes that. In 2015, the County began a multi-million dollar plans to revitalize Liberty City. Called Liberty City Rising, the project aims to raise 'the standard of living for residents and creating opportunities to earn a decent living,' according to the County website.
At the initiative's core was transformation of Liberty Square, a sprawling housing development spanning the area between Northwest 12th Avenue to 15th Avenue and 62nd to 67th streets. By the time the final phase is completed by 2023, the complex will feature 1,455 units, 640 of them reserved for public housing. The other 815 will be a mix of affordable, workforce and market-rate units.
Two phases have already been completed. Those who live there sing its praises.
'I done stayed in the heart of everything — Liberty City, [Brownsville], Opa-locka, whatever you want — but I never found nothing like this,' said Melinda Tellis who moved to Liberty Square in March.
Liberty Square isn't the area's only change. A Dunkin' Donuts recently opened on the corner of Northwest 62nd Street and 12th Avenue. Collective 62, an artist-run space owned by Argentina-born Nina Surel, opened in 2017. House are being bought, modernized and rapidly flipped.
Whether the sudden interest in Liberty City will damage that sense of community is unknown. There's always a fear that residents will be displaced, as has sometimes happened in the past. The construction of mid- and high-rise apartments around NW 62nd Street and 15th Avenue that parallel Liberty Square and along 6th Avenue near I-95 will likely attract a whole new group of people with limited knowledge of the area. That's part of the reason Black has made an extra effort to ensure that the neighborhood's history gets recognized.
'We knew gentrification was coming,' she said. 'Development is already happening. It's just about letting people know and making sure we have [historical] markers to note' what used to be here.
And it's also why Black and other members of the Liberty City community speak so highly of Desiree Faulkner, a development manager at Related Urban who oversees the Liberty Square project. Faulkner speaks passionately about her plans for the future, some of which include bringing an organic market, aerospace school and training courses to the residents.
'That's what is going to sets this project apart; we go beyond the needs of just the pretty buildings,' Faulkner said, 'we have to meet the needs of the population that's in this area.'
To do so, Faulkner has sought input from locals including Samantha Quaterman, the CEO and executive director of Multi-Ethnic Youth Group Association (MEYGA) Learning Center. More than just a school, MEYGA provides resources such as food and computer access for the entire family so that the children will be better well off in the long run. When it comes to the kids, Quaterman can relate to their issues because she was once there.
'You have to deal with children as if they are adults,' said Quaterman, who was born and raised in Liberty City. 'Our kids are going through a lot of mental health [issues]. They have not got the right counseling or the right help. We've been taught just to deal with it.'
History of neglect
That's where the history of neglect comes into play. When Liberty Square and other area housing projects began to deteriorate in the 1960s, the surrounding neighborhood suffered too. Abstentee landlords failed to maintain the many graceless two-and three-story apartment complexes devoid of green space. Integration prompted the more affluent African Americans to buy homes in once forbidden neighborhoods. Their dollars went with them, stripping surrounding businesses of revenue.
The race riots of 1968 and the 1980s erupted over what Black Miamians saw as second-class status and further diminished the neighborhood. After four white police officers were acquitted of beating insurance salesman Arthur McDuffie to death in 1980, three days of rioting ensued; at least 18 people died.
Despite more than $100 million worth of damage within the neighborhood, the federal government's response — primarily loans and grants — never made it to Liberty City or Black business owners, according to Marvin Dunn's 'Black Miami in the Twentieth Century.' The area has yet to fully recover.
'Our foundation was cut from under us,' Ferguson said.
When crack hit the streets of Miami, Liberty City never stood a chance. Gang activity reached new highs, shootings became even more common. Many of the Black-owned businesses that once lined main corridors like Northwest 15th and 18th avenues began to disappear.
'I think we had everything from clubs to restaurants to shoe repair to dry cleaning,' said Ferguson.
Federal efforts to curb gun violence in the 1990s — including police barricades around the neighborhood, made the situation worse, said Dexter Gunder, who grew up there.
'When you treat people like animals and put people in a cage, then they start to act like animals,' said Gunder, an activist with the Circle of Brotherhood, a grass-roots organization.
Now, after decades of apparent neglect, there's been a renewed interest in Liberty City. The Hispanic population more than doubled between 2013 and 2019 to just about 7,500. At the same time, Liberty City's Black population fell 10% to 18,550. And the median value of single-family homes has more than tripled to $278,000 over the past decade.
For some, it's difficult not to see these changes as a combination of regular and climate gentrification due to Liberty City's setting on some of the county's highest ground — at about 12 feet, double the county's average elevation — and the relatively low cost of land.
'A lot of people are buying up Liberty City trying to make it beautiful, trying to make it look good like they're doing it for the community but the secret is, they're doing it because they need to make it livable for the people who are trying to take over Liberty City,' Gunder said.
Others, like Maria Williams, see these changes as long overdue. Williams lived in the old Beans; in February, she moved into the new Liberty Square, thankful that she's no longer diving to the ground amid gunfire, as she once did.
'This is the change we've been asking for, so we have to take advantage,' Williams, 53, said.
'A breath of fresh air'
Liberty City Anime Con
Isis Roberts didn't always love Liberty City.
A native of Brownsville, Roberts often referred to Liberty City residents as 'those people,' drawing a sharp contrast between her and the Black Miamians who lived just blocks away. Attending Charles Drew Middle and Northwestern, two of the neighborhood's main schools, shifted her entire perspective.
'It really opened up my eyes to how we, even as African Americans, separated ourselves among each other and caused a type of discrimination,' Roberts, the arts administrator at African Heritage Cultural Arts Center (AHCAC), said. The AHCAC remains one of the pillars of Liberty City, having produced the likes of playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney and director (and former Northwestern High football star) Barry Jenkins, who created the Oscar-winning film 'Moonlight.' The duo has donated tens of thousands to AHCAC.
So as Liberty City continues its transition, Roberts can be often found encouraging everyone, especially graduates of the AHCAC who're contemplating returning to Miami, to buy property in Liberty City.
'Every community holds on to what they have,' Roberts said. 'The Jewish community holds on to what they have, the Hispanic community holds on to what they have and we, as African Americans, have to learn to hold on also to what we have and make it what it can be because there's a lot of work where we are but we have to be able to see our self-worth first.'
It might be difficult to convince those who spent their formative years in Liberty City to move back, but it's not totally impossible. Just ask Jacqui Colyer, who recently purchased the Lindsey Home off of Northwest 67th Street. The house was on the verge of being condemned before Colyer and her sister, who used to marvel at all the homes along 67th as kids, swooped in to save it.
'We did not want it erased from our community because I just think that the kids that grow up in that neighborhood need to know this was a vibrant and beautiful community,' Colyer said.
Engaging with youth is also how Smith garnered his reputation with Liberty City. The pool hall serves as extension of this reputation, with walls bearing family photos and signed memorabilia from Northwestern High football greats like Teddy Bridgewater and Lavonte David.
In one image, Smith is surrounded by two dozen smiling kids whom he calls godchildren.
'All of them out the Pork 'N Beans,' Smith said, pointing to the picture. 'They call me 'Uncle Tee'.. A couple of they fathers got killed in the Pork 'N Beans so I took over that burden to be there for them.'
In another picture, taken in the late 80s, early 90s, Smith and his youngest son, Lajuan, lean against the phone booth that used to sit in front of the building he now owns. Smith's journey — from the Beans to a house to now his own Liberty City building — sounds like a film script. Even he knows his journey was a bit far-fetched.
'Only a few make it out,' Smith said. 'Most my homeboys either dead or in jail.'
Knowing this, Smith can't help but be a bit optimistic — even if the place he's known his entire life is changing before his eyes. Strongholds like the AHCAC and Northwestern High provide hope that Liberty City's cultural identity with continue to thrive. But for Liberty City to remain in the hands of those who built it, there must be a heavy investment from those with ties to the community, said Colyer.
'I was talking to a friend a long time ago and he said, 'You know how you turn a neighborhood around? One house at a time,' Colyer explained. 'And I think he's right.'
LIBERTY CITY AT A GLANCE
Population: 26,870
Demographics: 69% Black/ 28% Hispanic
Median household salary: $31,186
Primary work/industry: Office and administrative support, food service, maintenance
Liberty City Miami
Median property value: $278,000 (Zillow) $154,428 (NICHE)
School grades: C
Liberty City Church Of Christ
Violent crime: 17.3 per 1,000 pop.
Property crime: 35.13 per 1,000 pop.
Liberty City Ms
Source: Census, Florida Department of Education, Zillow.com, Niche.com Apowersoft screen recorder 2020.