I was in Miami in 1980 when we had one of the most vicious race riots

[RagingInMiami]

in the history of this country.

It lasted for three days and claimed the lives of 18 people (both white and black). Many white people said they were surprised by the outbreak of violence and anger from the black communities.

But a look at what lead to the riot showed that Miami's black community had been tolerant in the face of continuous injustices for a very long time. There had been several several police injustices, including a white cop receiving probabtion for molesting a black girl, in the year before the riot.

The final straw was when white cops beat and killed an black unarmed ex-marine named Arthur McDuffie on a street corner for what amounted to a traffic violation. The black community waited for a trial and for justice to take its course.

But six months later, when an all-white jury acquited the white cops, the black community exploded.

There had been yet another wave of Cuban immmigration coming into Miami that year, and history showed that would make it even harder for Miami blacks to get jobs. Because of the countless waves of Cuban immigration in Miami starting in the 1960s, many blacks in Miami felt as if the civil rights movement had stopped short of the city border.

The injustices against the Miami black community continued throughout the 1980s. There were two more riots after two more police-shootings of black youths.

But most white people down here could not comprehend the frustrations of the black community. And many of the Latin American immigrants were too caught up in establishing their own lives to understand.

They failed to see beyond the burning buildings as to what is actually triggering this anger.

And I wonder if that is where we're at right now. Are most of the non-black people in this country blind to the constant injustices of black people?

Or if they are aware, do they write it off as simply "their problem"?

And if black people are still so low on the totem pole that they are just left to die while the world watches, what is there left for poor blacks in this country to do?

White people frequently ask why are black people so angry, but goddamn it, who wouldn't be angry?

As a white Latino, I am seething at what happened. And I am angry how blacks have been treated historically in Miami, a city they built.

I'm left wondering if this country is headed for a major breakdown. Is it going to start in our nation's poor black neighborhoods? Is the revolt going to include other races, as what happened after the 1992 Rodney King riots?

Or in the eyes of most poor black people living in major cities, is it going to be white vs. black?