Reflection Paper Number 14

In the article, The Tale of Two Islands, Miami is described as an area that is good for immigration. It explains how there were many immigrants from Cuba and Haiti that migrated down to this area of Miami to live in a free way.
This concept is really something remarkable to understand. The Cubans and Haitians were suffering in their own land. Once they experienced their own distinct Revolution, the Americans then came into the picture. The concept then becomes self-explanatory. The Americans would have to make room for these immigrants that were coming into their land.
This idea becomes problematic for the Cubans and Haitians. For not only are they leaving their homeland that they are accustomed to, but they are coming into a land where the Americans are not only different but financially stable as well. Coming into this new environment definitely was not easy for them to cope with. They had to change their personal lifestyles in order to fit into this distinct land.
By understanding this idea, I believe that Institutional Racism is able to take place.
Institutional Racism, unlike Individualized Racism, happens when Racism occurs to a group of people. In this case, the groups are the Haitians and Cubans. Meaning, even though the Americans were so to say letting the Haitians and Cubans in, there is still that sense of them not being the typical American. With this in mind, there will always be that concept of these groups never actually fitting in. This is done because every human will always have prejudgments for anything that is different than what they are used to. These prejudgments are sitting in their unconscious mind without the American even realizing it. This is understandable, because no one is perfect. They can try to accept others whole-heartedly, but there will always be something inside that will cause this Institutional Racism to eventually take place.
All in all, I think the migration of the Haitians and Cubans was a definite step up towards lessening the Racism that occurs in society today. However, I believe that no matter how hard we try, there will still always be that iffy feeling of the group of people being different than what the Americans are used to.