Harlem trip...#5

Neal Shoemaker said in the beginning of the tour, Harlem has been through major change. Everything in Harlem is changing for the better. I went online and researched how people were viewing the change and this website links to different people who have different opinions on how change has impacted their lives and what they think of it. Although Neal viewed the change as good, other's had different thoughts and the subject.

Walking around the streets of Harlem were a lot more exciting than i thought they would be. Every step i took i said to myself, "so many heroic black people walked these same streets i am walking; so many heroic black people have stepped in the same places i am stepping". Then when we stepped into the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, i really got a sense of the struggle black people have been put through. In one part of the Schomburg Center, there was a section focused mainly on Barack Obama. This section opened my eye's and it showed me how far African American's and blacks have really come.

Yesterday's field trip to Harlem really opened my eye's especially when we walked into the mosque. I think it was the first thing that Brother Tyreak said that really got me thinking and wondering 'what if'? He said that Muslim's don't have a set idea of what God himself looks like. They do not need to know what he looks like because he is in their mind and that is all they need to know who he is and what he is there for. This differs from my religion greatly because i always grew up with a set image of what God looks like. God to me is a man with long brown hair, milk white skin, and is very tall. But maybe that's the problem. Maybe it's that a majority of people have this set image of what he appears to be. Ever since i was a little girl, there were always pictures to lead me to believe what God looks like. But that's the thing. They were all just pictures and paintings. It surprises me how much you can take away from a religion that is not your own. To this day, the beliefs of Brother Tyreak linger in my head, and they always come up at random but useful times. What the Brother spoke about really made me change the way i view God. Is it wrong of me to view him as this white man? Should i not have this set image of him? Because all he really is is someone a person can turn to, someone a person can trust with all their secrets, and a person to turn to when life gets tough. I believe that Everything Brother Tyreak said really touched my heart.

The Apollo Theatre was gorgeous! i didn't want to leave. It was one experience i will never forget. So many famous singers have stepped into that stage and there is so much history located in the theatre. Billy, the man who showed us around, was so funny and he made the experience that much better. Having him explain the history behind the theatre really impacted how i viewed it. To think that the Apollo Theatre was one a hooker house really blew my mind because how can something that low get built up into something magnificent? I think the Apollo Theatre is significant to Harlem because it is a symbol of what can be built when someone strives for something.

I believe everything we saw, observed, and even ate, has so much symbolism in it. The buildings, i couldn't stop looking at them. Almost every building we passed was exquisite. People always think of Harlem as the dirty, dangerous area of the city. But if people would take the time to drive through, get a bite to eat, and look at all the gorgeous building structures, they would really get a better sense of what Harlem is. There is so much to Harlem that doesn't meet the eye. And if people would open their minds to new things, they would see that Harlem isn't just a place, it's a place filled with years of history.