Growing up in an African American household and neighborhood, most of the children's movies and books were mainly centered on white children. As a Black girl, my hair could not form a ponytail or flawlessly lay on my shoulders as described in the books. My eyes were not blue, nor was my skin the color represented in these books. Therefore, I grew up basing my beauty and perceptions of attractiveness on long silky hair, fair skin, and blue or green eyes. The early learning experiences had a long-lasting effect on my view and ambitions from childhood. Young et al. (2018) recognizes the enduring impact of single stories in literature, especially for Black female students and children. Literature, mainly the classics, fairy tales, lacked Black representation (Young et al., 2018). Most literature stories I read are based on a white female or male adherent or, in some cases, depict cultural practices of the majority group (white). Lack of Black female representation in literature has shaped most of my opinions and perceptions about life in my adulthood.
In the TED talk given by Adichie (2009), she remembers how most of the books she read growing up were only based on foreigners and foreign experiences. Like me, her literacy experience affected her creative writing because she mostly wrote about foreigners, not knowing there could be books that talked about her world. When I first joined Harvard University, among the few Black Americans in the institutions, there were many stereotypes. My roommate, for instance, after months of being acquainted, was finally able to ask me about my hair and the fact that the media perpetuates Black women as violent and aggressive. She was always careful with words or actions against me because she thought I would act “aggressively.” Fortunately, we were in the same course and on our first exam, I was the best student, which caught her by surprise because she thought I got a spot in the university because of the “diversity requirements.” Like some of her White friends, my roommate had one narrative of me, the one primarily depicted in the media and movies. Adichie (2009) states that the framework of a single story can only be understood through the "nkali", which means “being greater than another.” Just like my perception of beauty was restricted to one dimension, my roommates were also the same. I was being exposed to so much negativity against Black women on media, which is the only narrative.
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The global commensurate of literacy practices, development and conceptualization, is based on a single story. Addey (2018) argues that the framework of “a single story” has been selected, explained, organized, regulated, validated, and interpreted differently in various perspectives. Adichie (2009) described this phenomenon as presenting the notion of international literacy as fabricated and single. The feature of fabrication helps us understand melting pot philosophy. The similarity between global literacy and the narrative of Adichie’s single story is an example of the limitations in the single perspective.
Young et al. (2018) describe the single story about me and my entire existence held by my roommate best. The authors argue about the criminalization of black girls and their progressive extinction from classrooms. The education institution has for a long time championed the racial killing of Black Americans. Hence, Black girls experience state-endorsed brutality and interdiction. Laws such as the 1864 Black Codes and the 2017 severe punishment policing and police brutality are examples of evidence indicating Blacks live in a society that has detested their existence for a long time. Probably, this is all my roommate knows about Black women or African Americans. The system has actively rendered black women disposable by confining them in juvenile institutions where they undergo depression, painted them as inhumane and racially violent individuals.
Despite all these single narratives about Black women and me, I am very different. I come from a community that endured decades of mental and physical torture to go on top. Unlike the common perception of Black communities living in violent and drug-oriented environments, I come from DeSoto, Texas. It is probably true that most people of color still live in the "ghetto", but a good number also enjoy what is considered “standard and affluent” neighborhoods. My parents have well learned my mother is a renowned chef in America with string restaurants in better parts of the country, while my father is currently in the forefront for COVID-19 cure. This does not sound like the average African American narrative that most people are used to in the country.
My roommate and most people still using the single narrative; however, they do not know that much. Whites live in trailer parks or even living below the poverty level or engaging in drugs, and other communities are doing the same. However, unlike the Whites, Blacks have been perpetrated negatively on the mainstream media, and unfortunately, that single outlook has been applied to all African Americans. Nobody considers Whites as poor or violent, especially with the increase in white people engaging in mass shooting. That narrative is not applied to the entire White community. As human beings, we face different problems, primarily similar, but they affect us disproportionately depending on the racial or gender system. I am a Black woman, but I want people to see beyond my color and hear on the news. I have dreams and ambitions; just like many students, I want to become a medical doctor to improve how different diseases affect people of color and, most importantly, to show that African Americans also have dreams and are achievable.
The single-story perceptive can be changed if we hear and tell stories from different cultures and countries. Adichie (2009) argues that having different stories declares our "equal humanity" while maintaining a single account is a threat to the virtue of other individuals. The stories of black women and girls have been dominated by single and influential stories whose aim is to maintain the current power structure. However, Gordon et al. (2019) state that there has been an increase in narratives about Black women pervading media, society, and schools in the contemporary community. I can describe myself as a strong Black woman because of the stories I have read recently on other Black women in American history. Through their tenacity and how they persevered external difficulties so that we could be free, they have become the foundation of the Black community.
I regained my esteem and a different perspective for life and beauty through women like Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Phillis Wheatley and Maya Angelou. The change in the narrative will help many Black girls to grow into confident women with a purpose. Adichie (2009) describes an instance where she was guilty of generalizing Mexicans to abject immigration. This was her instance of a single story for a particular community. Her visit to the country showed hardworking people waking up to go to work just like regular citizens. My single story scenario happened with one of my current best friends. We met on campus, and on one occasion, her parents Facetimed her while she was with me. I am embarrassed to admit that she was from Iraq; I expected to hear sounds of gunshots and bombs thrown everywhere. The media has painted chiefly the nation as war-stricken and in war 24/7. However, the northern part of the country is peaceful with beautiful sceneries, as she showed me from her photos—the notion of a nation with derelict buildings is not valid.
This was a realization that, just like my roommate, I was also exposed to the single narrative of specific cultures and countries. Adiche (2009) argues that the “single story” is generated by constantly representing a particular group of people in a certain way. Mkhwanazi (2016) reviews the dangers of single stories, and just like Adiche, he agrees that these perceptions generate stereotypes that are not accurate and incomplete. When Adichie went to Mexico, she realized that her exposure to the single American narrative had made her judge Mexicans based on being immigrants. Her first day in Guadalajara made her realize that she had become engrossed in American media coverage that only showed Mexicans as abject immigrants. We know little about Mexicans in Mexico waking up to go work, meeting with their family or friends, and owning businesses. The single-story that we frequently hear becomes a reality, a truth the only framework for interpreting a certain group of people or culture. This is a dangerous perspective because single stories only tell the version of people with power and eradicate the merit and dignity of other narratives.
We are prone to create single narratives because of a lack of exposure to the different stories from different cultures. What if news covered the landscapes in Iraq or reminded the world of the goals achieved by Black women and African Americans in general. The challenge of single narratives for individuals is that it creates a single outlook of life for them. In society, a single description increases the possibility of inequality and discrimination. Lack of understanding of, for instance, Black culture leaves Black women unprepared in fighting social injustices. Equipping individuals with different stories allows them to break the repressive and hegemonic structures created in the community.
References
Addey, C. (2018). Assembling literacy as global: The danger of a single story. In The Palgrave international handbook on adult and lifelong education and learning (pp. 315-335). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Adichie, C.N. (2009). The Danger of a Single Story. TEDEd . https://ed.ted.com/lessons/TXtMhXIA#review
Gordon, C. T., Council, T., Dukes, N., & Muhammad, G. E. (2019). Defying the single narrative of Black girls’ literacies: A narrative inquiry exploring an African American read-in. Multicultural Perspectives , 21 (1), 3-10.
Mkhwanazi, N. (2016). Medical anthropology in Africa: the trouble with a single story. Medical anthropology , 35 (2), 193-202.
Young, J. L., Foster, M. D., & Hines, D. E. (2018). Even Cinderella is white:(re) centering black girls’ voices as literacies of resistance.
