I consider Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s speech; "The danger of a single story" as an eye-opener in as far as the perspectives I have of other people are concerned. Adichie makes it clear that it is unfair to make conclusions about a person or a place based on a single story that we have heard over and over again. I have held particular negative perceptions about people of certain ethnic groups due to the single-story problem.
For instance, I grew up in a staunch Christian family that insisted on Christianity being the true divine calling. My parents believe that Islam is a radical religion that tolerates violence. Given that the terrorists who blew up the twin world trade centers were Muslims, my parents made me fear Muslims or anyone who wears Muslims’ religious attire. I could even start sweating profusely when I sat next to a Muslim woman wearing a hijab in the bus. However, I later overcame my fear of Muslims after getting to know them better. In the same breath, I always believed that all Chinese and Japanese nationals are excellent mathematicians. I could therefore not understand why my Japanese schoolmate in 10th grade could not solve simple algebraic equations. However, I later came to understand that even though Asians may come across as workaholics, they are just similar to all of us.
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As elaborated in Adichie’s presentation, we should seek to know more about people instead of sticking with one story that paints the people in a negative light. In Adichie’s own words, “stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize” (TED, 2009). For this reason, I want to do my best to learn more about people from different ethnic groups to avoid using single stories to form opinions about other people or places.
References
TED (Director). (2009). The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [Motion Picture]. Retrieved January 25, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg
