Welcome to the City Nobody Wants to Visit

When I first heard that we were doing this whole project on Liberty City the first thought that came to my head was "oh no I'm not driving to Homestead to do all this." That's because I could not even locate Liberty City in a map.

I honestly was excited for the project for the kind of exposure it would bring to the city and the hands on experience it would give us. Yet the way we needed to infiltrate in the community looked very unlikely. I kept thinking that being passionate about something would not really make it happen specially in one semester. All of these assumptions and doubts were based completely on Liberty City's reputation. I was scared to think I would be going there much less have to talk to the people and mingle in the crowd. I think at one point I was thankful to own a beat-up 1998 Honda, like that it would not draw attention. As a result I would not likely get mugged or robbed at gun-point.

So with these jolly thoughts I headed down for the Liberty City's Martin Luther King Parade. I went with two other classmates and it was noon. "Plenty of sunshine and backup," I thought.

Going back now through my original thoughts to write this blog it seems almost embarrassing to admit some of the paranoia I felt. These were just people having a holiday much like Calle 8 for us Hispanics. So was the jiterrs because they were black or because of the reputation? My honest answer would be both. These people are amazing, they love to laugh, they care for their city and welcome everyone with open arms. After the parade was over I do remeber thinking in the car of all the fun I had and not thinking about the color of their skin or the statistics for crime. Eventhough that does influence the reputation the city has and the opinion that people have about it. It's almost like that saying of the one bad pea that ruins the rest.

The people and their culture is very flamboyant and colorful yet they are surrounded in a way by a gloom of a city that everyone perceives almost as discarded. It's a shame because those that do care and take an active role in the community do really sparkle.

As a class we went to Jumbo's which is a historic restaurant and one of the neat things about it is that the owner is white. He was the only white business owner who staid at the city. At that meeting we got to meet with icons of the city and Florida I would say: one of the first black teachers in South FLorida, the director of their cultural center and even someone who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. These people have seen the community for decades and want to see change and progression. We learned so much from them, like programs that they are having to get people active in helping the community.

Why then with all their work are they not getting any recognition or any results? The answer, as general as it sounds, is because not enough people care. Honestly why should they if they don't even know where the city is on a map?

That's why now I'm convinced that whoever came up with this idea deserves kuddos. Not only are we as students getting the "hussle" of working in a newspaper but we are learning so much more and doing. The city gets covered for what it is good or bad and we get to practice being journalists. But honestly this whole experiment, as young as it is, has given a lot of us a new perspective on how to approach assumptions and our insecurities...try to teach that with a book.