We’re still dealing with making sure all’s cool with the kid, so just a quick check-in regarding the 30th anniversary of the Mariel Boatlift. The clip above comes from a local station in northern New Jersey, home to the largest Cuban-American community outside South Florida. Make it to the back half and you’ll see that the denizens of Union City greeted the immigrants with something less than open arms. Nothing says “I hate and fear you” like a bomb threat at an emergency shelter.
The Miami Herald has a whole Web project devoted to the Mariel anniversary. And if you have a spare moment, check out David Card’s famous paper debunking the notion that the Mariel Boatlift adversely affected the Miami labor market.
Jordan // Apr 20, 2010 at 3:03 pm
And without it, we wouldn’t have gotten cultural masterpieces like “Scarface”.
Brendan I. Koerner // Apr 20, 2010 at 6:33 pm
@Jordan: Indeed. I love that first scene where the immigration officials discover Tony Montana’s prison tattoo.I’m sure that DePalma et. al. didn’t foresee that Tony himself would become tattoo fodder:
http://tonymontana83.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/263282812_5eea17bd52.jpg