Blog Post #3: Comparing Damascus and Chinese cities to cities in America

As I read this article, I saw several similarities between the description of Yarmouk of Demascus and several major cities of the United States. While there were definitely less similarities regarding Chinese cities and American cities, I saw a lot of qualities that Yarmouk had in common. For one thing, Yarmouk does have poverty and crime among the citizens that live there.The camp Yarmouk is a Palestinian refugee camp located in Syria, and the camp has a substantial amount of poverty considering the harsh conditions that the refugees have faced. Major cities in America also struggle with poverty. Something I saw in particular that resonated with America was how outsiders view the camps. Syrians who don’t live in Yarmouk fear the camp because of crime and poverty, and obviously their unfamiliarity with Palestinians. While Yarmouk still has some crime, it definitely isn’t dangerous enough to not be able to live in and go about your everyday life. I thought this connected with how outsiders in America view cities and the people who live in them. People who are unfamiliar with American cities tend to perceive them as dangerous and impoverished, when in reality, plenty of people go about their lives in cities with little to no trouble in most cases. Although income may be lower and crime rates may be higher in cities, American cities are home to hundreds of thousands of people who lead peaceful lives. Something that the Demascus camps and American cities have in common are the negative stereotypes of Palestinian refugees and African American citizens of cities, respectively. Nell Gabiam discusses how some Syrian informants told her that Palestinians who live in refugee camps are violent and pugnacious, when this is nothing but a negative stereotype. The same applies to how certain Americans with racial prejudices view African Americans who live in cities. They perceive African Americans as violent and pugnacious based off racial stereotypes, just like how the Syrians view Palestinian refugees.