Detroit vs. Everybody

The second sentence of the article “Rembert Explains America: Detroit vs. Everybody,” truly explains my previous thoughts on Detroit. Even when I was younger, I knew it was a big city and bad things happened in a big city. The fear of Detroit didn’t become real for me until my competitive cheer team decided to attend a competition held there. I remember my mom conversing with her cheer mom friends about how she was shocked we were coming here, how it was not really the safest place to go. My gym even sat us down and told us to stick together and never go anywhere alone. After these multiple conversations, I was even more scared than before. However, after traveling to Detroit twice and receiving a partial bid to cheer worlds, it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

I believe Rembert is exactly right. Everyone says Detroit is dangerous, and Detroit is in a funk, but no one is doing anything about the situation. I was a victim to the gossip about Detroit, fearing it to the point where I didn’t want to go. Yeah, it was a little rough around the edges; however, there was that beauty about it that could not be explained. Rembert uses his own personal experiences to provide examples of how America’s perspective of Detroit. At first, he was hesitant. But once he looked beneath the surface, he realized that Detroit wasn’t as bad as he thought and in desperate need of our help.

I thought the best example Rembert presented was the Heidelberg Project example. I had never heard about the Heidelberg Project until after reading this article. If the author wouldn’t have put those pictures in the article I would have never imagined something as bizarre as that. When Rembert states that it was beautiful and sad at the same time, it reminded me of my thoughts on Detroit as a whole. The fact that this artist is using these run down houses to explain his or her vision is crazy to me. Too many, these houses aren’t beauty, they’re run down. But this artist wanted the world to look past the exterior walls and see the light that is actually there. It’s kind of like don’t judge a book by its cover. That is pretty much exactly what America is doing to Detroit. It looks bad, people say it’s bad, and it has no money, so it must have no chance. However, America is wrong, we are wrong.