Kadijah Webster; Blog 6: Threaten Communities

This week, we viewed Amigo and witnesses how American troops invaded  communities during the Filipino-American War.  Soldiers came in and stripped these communities of their resources, leaving them destined to failure after the troops were to leave.  They were no longer able to self-sustain and left to depend on the Americans for their basic needs.  In the film, we also witnessed that because the people were different from Americans, there was also an heavy influence of racism.  The fact that they were a darker than the soldiers and spoke a different language created a barrier between the groups and seemed to make it easier for these men to ruin the homes that people that spent their entire lives creating.
Traveling overseas or across borders isn't necessarily the only way that a community can be "invaded."  Last semester, I studied the plays of August Wilson.  The final play we read, Radio Gulf, gives a clear example of how communities can be destroyed by their own neighbors.  Harmond Wilkes, who was running for mayor, was also preparing for the Hill District to be completely renovated.  The people around this part of town looked down upon it because it was not as wealthy the members of this community were struggling to get by on a day to day basis.  Going into tearing down the Hill District, Wilkes did not understand the significance of what he was planning to do.  Because his family was able to get out of the district and live successful lives, he paid no attention to how the actual members of this community would be affected.
I believe that this is why people can be so ignorant and disrespectful of interrupting another's community.  No one takes the time to consider how it would affect anyone but themselves.  They should understand that just because someone may be different from them, this doesn't mean that they don't deserve to live peacefully just as they have done in their homes before.  It is so easy for a group to destroy another's harmony because they are selfish.  Not until everyone can understand that different people, regardless of their practices, live their lives just a they do within their homes, will they all understand that they are in every way wrong.  They must ask themselves, how would they feel if the tables were turned.