American Creed

“We can’t forget where we come from” (Prevett). We all have our ideas of the American Creed. In other words it is connected to the American Dream which includes for some liberty, equality, justice, and humanity. But in the film American Creed, Condoleezza Rice, Joe Maddon, and Deidre Prevett value education and community in America. Most of the people in this film have the same idea of the American Creed. That's because their experience has taught them to value that.

Condoleeza Rice says that people coming here to the United states is to have a better life for themselves. But what stood out the most was when she said, “You can be and do anything you want, you just can't leave others behind.” Wise words from her grandpa. Just that gives a sense of careness about other people that are around her, which is the community, where the individual achievement can lift up communities. Maybe once someone in your community sees that someone around them is able to achieve something for themselves then they will be motivated to do something for themselves; they lead by example. There is a point where education became the holy grail; I personally believe that education is the Holy Grail, mainly because of what I have experienced in my life. Even my parents think that. Coming from a poor country, we see education as a way to come out of poverty and better ourselves. 

The idea of having a community where you feel, number 1 welcomed and number 2 safe sounds really nice, right? Joe Maddon is trying to achieve this in his hometown Hazleton, Pennsylvania. In this town there is a mix of Anglo and Hispanic families where there's a lot of discrimination against immigrants. Maddon comes from grandparents that migrated here to the United States from Europe. The sad reality is that it's hard to include everyone in something because there is always discrimination against different people, and sometimes people make fun of other people’s culture. 

Since community is important to Maddon, he created the Hazleton Integration Project, which is based on a variety of educational, athletic, and cultural activities. This brought kids together, which also meant that it would bring their parents together so they would be forced to talk to each other. That's why he says “The moment we trust each other, that's when we can build something.” He wanted for everyone to trust each other so they could build a community where everyone feels welcome and safe.  

Lastly we have Deidre Prevett. She is a Native American from Creek Nation in Oklahoma. She is also the principal of an elementary school, but most importantly she is an educator. For her being an educator is her American Dream. She wants every kid to have an education, giving education builds a community. The reason she believes education is important is because it’s the key to success; education is to better yourself. She comes from a 5th generation of family members that were educators. This was possible because there was oil in their native land. That's why her family was able to pay for education. I love when she states, “What I'm doing now is kinda paying it forward.”  It’s inspiring because it shows that she wants a better future for these kids and so that hopefully they too will pay it forward like she did. 

Overall, all of these perspectives are significant because not everyone thinks about community the way they do. In a sense what you are working on right now is not only for yourself but for the people around you too. All of them in a way struggle or they grew up in an environment where it wasn't right. So now that they are older they want to help their community. They do that by becoming role models in their communities and creating opportunities, so the younger generations could be able to dream and become what they want, and to make sure that communities continue to be together.