So I went to a Mosque...

Masjid Miami Gardens Mosque 

I've never been inside a temple that worships someone other than my God. So a Mosque seemed an ideal place to experience something new. When it comes to my visit to the mosque, I'll say one thing; I felt like I was in another part of the world.

I went to a mosque in Miami Gardens. Although I was a little lost, I realized it was a mosque immediately because of its arquitecture. It's not what I expected here is the US but I thought it looked fantastic, like an Aladdin movie.

However, I was very worried. I didn't know if people would look at me and feel offended by my casual apperance. I hadn't spoken to anyone before going there, and although I tried to call several times beforehand, no one ever answered. So I went by clothing suggestions on the internet. I only have one pair of pants that don't show my legs, and they are tight jeans; so I went with those. I found a huge black scarf somewhere and covered as much of my yellow hair as I could, put on some high platform shoes so as to not step on my jeans and headed for the door.

As you can see from the picture above, I was welcomed. As I drove into the parking lot, I noticed dozens of children and parents dressed in very middle eastern clothing running out of the temple. When I got out of my car, I saw an elderly man walking towards his vehicle. I stopped him to ask if it was OK for me to enter the mosque with my attire. He looked a little confused and asked me why I was there. I explained to him that I wanted to learn about the religion and culture. He looked at my car, noticed the FIU decal and license plate and asked me if it was an assignment from school. I couldn't lie in a church!

Nonetheless Muhammed Hasain, who happens to be a volunteer at the mosque, led me to the front entrance and introduced me to one of the workers, who despite our lack of communication, due to the fact that he didn't speak english, was more than happy to have his picture taken.

Left: Muhammed Hasain, Right: mosque leader

So I learned a few things about how Muslims pray. The Imam, or the equivalent to a priest, stands in the front center of the room, while the men pray above the lines on the green carpet. Women pray seperately behind the white division boards. Once inside, everyone must be barefoot.

Hasain led me back outside and surprised me with a neat souvenir; an english-language Kuran. He taught me about the most important chapters and what the entire book is based on. I was invited to attend their most important prayer ceremony that takes placed on Friday. Needless to say, my experience was nothing short of positive.

On our last group conversation...

Muslims become a heavy topic this time of year. This year it seems that the tragedy from 2001 that we have just started to heal from almost a decade later, has come back to haunt us with all the media broadcasting the events of 9/11 again and again. I even came across a Facebook group invite to demand that September 11 become a national holiday. I couldn't agree less right now, but that's another topic.

I want to discuss the topic of muslims in America. We read and listened to some reports of muslims enduring Ramadan here. Maybe the term enduring doesn't apply because they actually look forward to their fasting season. Although like I've mentioned before, I have befriended muslims in the past, I was still surprised to learn more in our last class. I was amazed by the 14-year-old muslim athlete who had to (yes) endure fasting for the first time while continuing his arduous football practice.

I don't think muslims get the respect they deserve as real people. Our nation has almost entirely demonized the term muslim, which is so far from what they stand for. For some reason the more I read and learn about Ramadan, the more I understand muslims and the more I respect them.

PLEASE WATCH VIDEO, YOU'LL BE SHOCKED

This just in... Fla. minister cancels burning of Quran

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/09/1815893/fla-governor-worries-about-safety.html

 Personally my biggest reactions are happily surprised and greatly relieved. Ever since 9/11 I've been more than ever critical agaisn't muslim discrimination in America. My biggest reason is because I had a muslim best friend for several years during my childhood. When she first came over my house, her parents came with her to meet my parents, who are catholic. They immediately got along and for many years I would stay over her house every friday. I participated in Ramadan with them a few times and really learned a lot about their religion and culture, and for these reasons I feel connected to muslims.

Years later when I was 18, I worked for a telemaketing company and both my supervisors were from Pakistan. Naturally being muslims, they practiced their religion faithfully but were always social and we have remained good friends until this day.

I feel as though people who feel hate for muslims, like Reverend Terry Jones, base it all on that 9/11 incident and probably have never met a muslim. It's easy to hate and fear what you don't know. And it's no surprise that now that he's met non other than the president of Islamic Society of Central Florida, Muhammad Musri, he's had a big change of heart. He knows a muslim now, and they got along.

Catholics are conscious of the terrorism caused by the religion during the spanish inquisition. I don't see other religions burning bibles on Christmas.

And on a side note, 9/11 was an awful ocurrence; I more than anyone would know since my mother worked in the World Trade Center at the time. But I know that people like my friend Jamila weren't responsible and I can actually tell the difference between the terms muslim and terrorist. I hope the rest of the population will someday know the distinction too.

So I got my test results...

Real life Profect Implicit test results, received on Sept. 1, 2010 by Natalie Alvarez.

To make a long story short, Project Implicit seems to think I have a moderate preference for whites over blacks and a slight preference for everyone over arabs. 

Needless to say, I loath these results. Not because I think they're true, but because I know the aren't. 

Someone mentioned in our class yesterday Sept. 1st, that our prejudices have a lot to do with our upbringing. Well, if that's the case, I have no doubt that the results are wrong.

I was born in Washington Heights, NY. Very colorful but humble (and that's an understatement) neighborhood. When I was five years old we moved to Bronx, NY and sometime after that to Yonkers, NY, where I remember most of my upbringing.

Unlike many other places around the world, New York was the opposite when it came to what we wanted to be. I wanted to be black. We all did. Whites, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans and Arabs alike. All the boys I liked in school were black. 50% of my friends were black, the other Hispanics and whites trying to be them. Anyone who was different and didn't listen to rap music or get their hair braided was an outcast. Yes, I got my hair braided regularly. 

Obviously, I'm worlds away from that girl I just described. Fast forward ten years and almost everyone I know is Cuban. Nowadays I hear racist remarks that bother me to the core because I still identify with blacks.

So how can those results be accurate?

I mentioned in class that my father probably wouldn't want me to marry a black person. I still feel awful and wish I would've bit my tongue because I feel as though I made him sound like an ogre in a room full of people that don't know him. 

Let me start off by explaining the reason for my guilt. My father is mulato. He's a mix of German, Spanish and somewhere along the lines African. He is a high school teacher and part-time college professor in Bronx, NY where he maintains daily contact with blacks. What he sees on a daily basis, especially in his high school students, are poor black kids from guettos that pride themselves in doing drugs, joining gangs and throwing away their education.

That is why he is overjoyed when he has a black student that does his/her work and doesn't get in trouble. He will drop everything to help them. 

He was overjoyed when Tiger Woods kept winning golf championships, or when the Williams sisters made it to the top of the Wimbledon tournaments or when President Barack Obama was elected.

But when he's made negative comments about black people, he didn't make them in regards to race alone, but a specific culture of blacks that he's surrounded with and witnesses destroy themselves everyday. Who would want that for their daughter?

Black Jews in America - Are they invisible?

In our last class on Monday, Aug. 30, an interesting subject came up that I hadn't thought about in the past. Black Jews. Who are they? How did they become Jews? Are there black Jews born into judaism?

So many questions popped up in my mind that I didn't even bother to mention them in the class. It would have taken all day to answer them to my satisfaction, let alone an hour and a half.

So starting from the top. What have I researched so far has answered some of my questions and left me with even more unanswered ones. First website that caught my eye as I searched for some enlightenment was http://www.blackjews.org/Essays/WhoAreWe.html. It is the story of Rabbi Sholomo Levy, a black jew who shows us what it was like for him growing up as a black jew. He starts off with an interesting point of view, showing the following ad.

It's an advertisement for Jewish Rye, demonstrating a black child savoring the bread to get the point across that you don't have to be Jew to enjoy their food. Does this mean that our communities automatically assume that a black person can't be a Jew, maybe even opposite of Jew?Ads such as this one made Rabbi Sholomo Levy feel like what he describes is an "invisible Jew." Specially since his name happened to be Levy just like the brand of the product.

It's hard to determine the amount of black Jews in America since their are different types of Jews who have different denominations for what is a Jew. For example, Orthodox Jewish Law called "Halackah", believes that one can only be considered Jew if he/she is born to a Jewish mother. In my opinion, this not only makes the number of black Jews difficult to count but also all other Jews.

After some small amount of research. I believe that it is necessary for people to recognize Judaism as more of a culture and religion than a race. I think that in order to learn more about the black Jewish community I must personally speak with a black Jew. I'm inspired now to interview a black Rabbi for my interviewing project.