Little Haiti History Honored With Street Naming

Miami FL

19 May, 2022

8:21 AM

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By Philippe Henold Buteau, Miami Times Contributor (Juste Family Photo), the Miami Times May 17, 2022 The contributions of Viter and Maria Juste, known as the father and mother of Little Haiti, were memorialized on Saturday with a street naming in the community they loved. Elected officials and 16 members of the Juste family unveiled the street sign in the Little Haiti Cultural Center. Viter and Maria Juste Way is designated for NE 59th Street from North Miami Avenue to NE Fourth Court. Miami Herald photojournalist Carl Juste, 58, the couple's youngest child, compared the street naming process to a relay race. "And none of y'all dropped the baton," he said, referring to the elected officials. When speaking about his parents, Juste, referred to a Haitian proverb about a great community being planted by elders who know they will never sit under the shade of what they plant. An undated photo of Viter and Maria Juste with their children. (Juste Family Photo) "It means they plant something that they would never ever enjoy; that is public service," Juste said. "A lot of times they talk about politicians or community. It seems abstract. Look around you, this building was built because people cared about this community." Viter and Maria Juste left Haiti in the early 1970s, 17 years into the dictatorship of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, first emigrating to New York and then Miami in 1973. Tens of thousands of Haitians did the same during various migration waves. Viter's Les Cousins record and book store operated for more than 20 years on NE Second Avenue, and the pair owned and operated the Observateur newspaper, which kept Haitians informed about the local community, the nation and the world. U.S. immigration policy was always a focus. In the 1980s, Viter objected to local school board policy that prohibited undocumented children from attending school, resulting in a policy change still in effect to this day. Winnick Blain, a grandson of Viter and Maria Juste, who advocated before the Miami City Commission to secure recognition of his family's contributions to the community. "People who are not Haitian benefitted the most," Juste said. "People who are from Venezuela, people from Honduras. Any migrant. It wasn't us against them. It was we against a system that hadn't lived up to its promise. No child should go unlearned." To further help refugees, Viter created the Haitian American Community Association of Dade with Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh of the Roman Catholic Church. The association was founded to cater to the needs of Miami's Haitian community. The Juste family's advocacy for Viter and Maria's recognition started years ago with former Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, but stalled until Jeffrey Watson became commissioner of District 5. His successor, Commission Chairwoman Christine King, gave Watson credit for taking on the street naming and said she wanted to see it through. "Our purpose is to serve our community and listen to the wishes of the people," said King, who had learned about how Maria helped and fed people, that she worked in the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital, and that she encouraged girls to get nursing degrees. Since before Maria and Viter's deaths in December 2008 and November 2012, respectively, Little Haiti residents have been fighting back against gentrification that has been encroaching on their neighborhood and displacing residents and businesses. Viter and Maria Juste family members stand with elected officials, who have recognized the couple's contributions to the Little Haiti community by naming a part of NE 59th Street after the duo. King said her response to gentrification is "laying seeds" with a first-time homeownership program that she started, "allowing people to be stakeholders in our community." "I hope you all continue to dine here, shop here, live here, find love here, make love here and continue to populate this place that we love so very much," said District 3 Miami-Dade County Commissioner Keon Hardemon, who represents Little Haiti. His comment about "making love" was intentional and not in jest, due to the number of Haitians who are leaving Little Haiti. "We have to populate this community so more people want to live the legacy of this community," said Hardemon, the street naming's prime sponsor at the county level. Juste grandson Winnick Blain also spoke about gentrification, which he said was "eliminating" the community. "Little Haiti is not just a name, it's not just a brand. It's a community in which many Haitians bled, died and sacrificed. What we want is equality," said Blain. District 108 FL House Rep. Dotie Joseph reenforced Blain's message. "You are the hope and the dream of the slave and don't you ever forget it. Times may be tough but you plant seeds, whether here in Little Haiti or elsewhere. And everything you do is the manifestation of the dream of someone who fought for that right for you to do it," she told the crowd. Florida's District 35 Sen. Shevrin Jones said the Juste family's advocacy leading to the street naming is a continuation of Viter and Maria's work. "I hope that this day reminds you all that you come from a line and legacy of leadership, love and fighters," Jones said. Load comments The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.