Liberty City (Miami)
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Liberty City is an incorporated neighborhood in the extreme northwestern fringe of Miami, Florida.
The area comprises of more than half of Miami-Dade County's nearly half a million African Americans (as of 2000 Census). Liberty City's boundaries are roughly as follows: to the north, Northwest 79th Street, to the west, Northwest 27th Avenue, to the south, Northwest 41st Street, and to the east, Interstate 95.
Liberty City is named for the Liberty Square Housing Project built in the late 1930s for Miami's low-income African-Americans, the second of its kind in the South at the time.
The neighborhood has produced rap stars like Luke of 2 Live Crew, Trick Daddy, Trina, (who later moved to Pembroke Isles in Pembroke Pines, Florida), Jacki-O, and Fred from Da Band and is home to Miami Northwestern High School. Liberty City also produced the Miami Heat's Udonis Haslem. Darlyne Chauve's art studio and gallery, Warehouse NOW is also located in Liberty City.
Known for its contributions to black politics championed by former black congressperson Carrie P. Meek the area now has its own college. The college is called the EEC, short for the Entrepreneurial Educational Center. The Center has attracted top-notch faculty -- including attorneys, scientists, and scholars -- whose mission is to level the playing field in this inner city locale. Special credit goes to EEC Librarian Theodore D. Karantsalis who has developed what is considered to be the finest collection of black literature in the area.
Liberty City is also the location of New Covenant Presbyterian Church (Miami, Florida), which was the first Christian congregation of a main-line denomination to be organized for the specific purpose of being an integrated congregation.
In 1980, the infamous Liberty City Riots broke out after an unpopular verdict in a 1979 case of white-on-black police brutality. The acquittal of five white police officers that beat a black motorist to death sparked the violence. By the time the rioting ceased the following morning, over 850 people had been arrested and 18 people lost their lives, including eight whites and ten blacks.
Police officers had pursued motorcyclist, Arthur McDuffie, in a high-speed chase. The officers claimed that the chase ended when McDuffie crashed his motorcycle and died. The coroner's report concluded otherwise. One of the officers testified that McDuffie fell off of his bike on a I-95 off ramp. When the police reached him he was injured but okay. The officers proceeded to remove his helmet, beat him to death with their batons, put his helmet back on, and called an ambulance claiming there had been a motorcycle accident. These actions were later admitted to by one of the officers while on trial. An all-white jury acquitted the officers after brief deliberation.
Liberty City was the focal point of the infamous drug wars of 1998, where Anthony Fail feuded with fellow John Does gang members. This feud began when the leader Corey Smith was taken down by Miami Police, which Fail saw as an opportunity to take control of the gang and reclaim revenue from drug sales.
Liberty City is also home to the Miami Workers Center. A strategy and organizing center for low-income communities and low-wage workers in Miami-Dade County. Initiated in March 1999, the Center’s mission is to work to end poverty and oppression. The Center’s most significant achievement has been the initiation and development of Low Income Families Fighting Together (LIFFT) – a grassroots membership organization of and for current and former welfare recipients, low-wage workers, and public housing residents that has become a growing force in Miami-Dade County. In these efforts the Miami Workers’ Center joins arms with South Florida’s low-income people to address issues of poverty and limited opportunity. Liberty City is a notoriously dangerous area of Miami as criminality is usually tied to this section.
