A01
Week 9
For this week's reading, "So Our History Doesn't Become Your Future: The Local and Global Politics of Coalition Building Post September 11th" by Nadine Naber outlines the problems and successes that marginalized communities face in building coalitions after the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2011. The article started off with the reality that while 9/11 was tragedy, the United States plays a role in that due to their pursuit of imperialism abroad. In my culture's historical narrative, the United States' presence in the Philippines was an unwelcome one, combated against by the Guerillas, like my great grandfather. Because of the U.S.'s persistence in being the dominant world power and being ambitious in their global strength, political and social climates are radically changed, creating an instability in the Third World's governments. This is what Naber means when she writes about the United States' involvement in affairs abroad. A segment of the article that stood out to me was that the Bush administration used the terrorist attack in New York as an excuse for increasing military intervention in the Philippines and many other imperialistic acts, which already shows the foolishness of the government, considering that was the reason why the United States was attacked in the first place. Growing up, I never realized that Filipinos were also targets of the government post-September 11th. Reading about how the Filipinos working at the airport were mass-laid off, the deporting of Filipino immigrants due to the Philippines being labeled as an Al Qayeda harboring country, andFilipinos being handcuffed together on a 16-hour flight to the Philippines opened my eyes to the seemingly invisible injustices that we face as a people. It makes me wonder what other atrocities fall upon the Filipinos that is not in mainstream media.
Question: What are tangible ways we can advocate for our community while building up and supporting and standing in solidarity with other communities of color?
Reference:
Naber, N. (n.d.). So Our History Doesn't Become Your Future: The Local and Global Politics of Coalition Building Post September 11th. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
APIs for Black Lives. Image. Retrieved May 28, 2017 from http://apis4blacklives.tumblr.com/.
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