In South Florida High School Pride fuels our community connection and engagement, especially in Black Miami. With high school football being one of the main drivers for that pride, many people love to represent their schools. And in Miami we rep for LIFE!
With that school pride comes school rivalries and that’s all apart of the fun. In the 1960s and 1970s the huge Hugh School rivalry was between Miami Northwestern and Booker T Washington High Schools, two historic schools in Miami that Black students could only attend. In the 1980s that rivalry shifted to Miami Jackson High School and Miami Northwestern, and in the 1990s and early 2000s it shifted to Miami Northwestern, Miami Carol City, and Miami Central schools. And throughout the years whoever is on top will be the top dog every school is gunning for with Miami Norland HS, Miami Southridge HS, Miami Killian HS and many others being the one who everyone wants to beat in football.
With the social media being a way for high school alumni to connect with their classmates, Alumni Picnics have grown from those groups connecting people to other alumni. The alumni picnics have grown in organic popularity in Miami in a way that no other area in the United States can even touch. High School pride has taken on a new life with the Alumni Picnics, where classes from across the decades all come together to celebrate their school and reminisce on the good ole days. The Alumni Picnics were made popular by the Miami Carol City Alumni with their Chief Hall Picnic back in 2016. It was born from their Alumni Facebook Group that bears the name of their beloved hallway “Chief Hall” in the school’s original building. It was a place where students hung out and so to recreate that vibe, Alumni created Chief Hall and it has taken on a life of it’s own– morphing into a non-profit organization that does various community projects supporting the school and Alumni.
However, Miami Northwestern has always had a super strong, Alumni association. Being one of the oldest Schools in the urban core, being founded in 1955, their Alumni has had decades of advocacy and support for the Bull students who grace their hallways. From speaking out at school board meetings to fundraising for student groups and athletics; Miami Northwestern has set the bar for what Alumni engagement looks in Miami-Dade County, whether the rest of us rivals want to admit it or not. And when you go to a Miami Northwestern game, no matter the sport but especially football, you know their Alumni are coming strong with Blue and Gold filling the stands.
But true tea all schools, especially urban core schools do this. We all show up and support our schools and wear our colors. We talk shit, we brag, we sing, we dance and overall do the fuckin most for our schools. And even though some of us can go overboard and be annoying (coughs Miami Northwestern we looking at yall. They’re almost like the Dallas Cowboys of Miami High School Football. lol) we all have love for our schools and overall want to see any school and students from those high schools excel. When a school from Miami goes to state and win the entire Dade County gives them their props, especially when that school is in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
And let’s be clear we all know the racial undertones and overtones that exist in the political and socioeconomic structure of Miami-Dade County. People who don’t look like us control so much of what is given to our neighborhoods, leaving many of them without the resources needed to be successful and sustainable. So when we excel especially in sports we brag loud as hell. When our babies go to college and graduate we brag loud as hell. And when our athletes make it to the top level of their sport, like Teddy Bridgewater has done, we brag loud as hell! Because these examples show the world that no matter what yall throw at us we still gonna shine and be great and do the most!
So I said all of that to say when you see a Teddy Bridgewater and all the other dope young men in a skit, who are graduates of Miami Northwestern and other Miami-Dade County public schools, you should mind your business BroBible writer, Grayson Weir. The video was actually about promoting their school’s Alumni Picnic and had nothing to do with football. From your article I could tell you clearly didn’t know or even understand the culture of Black Miami to fully grasp what that skit was about, and I see the news company you write for is based in the New York tri-state area so that explains the disconnect. Grayson it was joke. It was a skit made in levity, pulling from a Black iconic movie, Boyz N the Hood, to promote the alumni picnic, West Fest, happing in August. We all Miami understood what it was. Teddy didn’t “spark a beef” as you wrote in your headline because we’ve been doing harmless stuff like this for years to poke fun at rivals. To me the article had an undertone of implicit bias that a lot of well meaning white people have when it comes to Black people. By reading the article I could immediately tell “he not like us.”
On a recent Facebook post, Teddy made a great point when he spoke on the BroBible article that was picked up by various news outlets, when he mentioned the negative attention on him performing in a Comedic Skit, which might I add was creative af lol. He mentioned that the media should be highlighting the fact that Miami Northwestern HS has produced THREE Olympic athletes that are going to Paris for the Olympic Summer Games. Mainstream media has also failed to acknowledge thee Coach Carmen Jackson who is the Head girls track coach at Miami Northwestern HS that those Olympic athletes trained under when they were in school. The Alumni association is currently raising money to send Coach Carmen to Paris so she fan root her athletes on in person. But that doesn’t get covered in white led media. A harmless skit gets picked up.
The media also failed to cover the fact that Miami Carol City alumni not only throws major Alumni Picnics with superstar performers, but they give thousands in scholarships, fundraise for their school, support the principal in her initiatives and they are gearing up for a “Get Out the Vote” event on July 20th. But that doesn’t get covered by mainstream media. If a shooting happened in Miami Gardens, the city where Miami Carol City HS is located, that would be everywhere on all the local media outlets. But positive images of us, they skip over it because that’s not “news” to them.
But Grayson Weir the next time you decide to speak on our shit, do us a favor do some research or shut up. Because we don’t need you spreading inflammatory information about how we show our school pride. Stick to the rivers and lakes that you’re use.
This article was written to Honor all of the Miami-Dade County urban core High Schools and their alumni. Hy-Lo News sees you, we love you and we won’t stop celebrating you.
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Excellent article..!! we gotta call out the ppl who stick their nose in our Culture… but don’t do their research.