Uh Oh, Racism!

    The danger of a single story is that it reduces a people down to one thing (oftentimes negative) which influences the real life perceptions of that group by others. Nkali (to be greater than another) is a part of the issue because those who wield that power are able to dictate how an entire people or culture is viewed by controlling the story. As Adichie says: "The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story."

    Overwhelmingly, what I believe we should all take away from this speech, is that it really IS a shame that all young Americans are serial killers... and if there's a second thing to take away, it's that diversity in stories is vitally important to a better understanding of people, and therefore, vitally important to world-peace.

    To be honest, I found the story quite hard to follow in the first half. I barely registered that there were two Johns until about the section with the train-station. Them both sharing the same name probably led to some of my confusion. They grew up together as friends. Henderson was white and Jones was black, like the Cartoon Network logo. Whereas Jones became disillusioned with the world around him, Henderson seemed to remain very illusioned, right up until his death (side note, who dies from being punched once?)

    I think the reason for this being fictional is simple: it's easier to tell a story when it's not real, you know what every person is thinking, what every person is planning, everything at all times. A story is much more able to fit themes when it is expressly molded around them.

    I think the narrative is pretty clear with how Jones is changed by education: he loses his innocence, and sees the oppression around him for what it really is. Though he only really realizes how much he changed when he comes back home, and sees how everyone else has stayed the same. Though fictional, this aspect doesn't seem too far fetched. A person's worldview changing because of education is something that not only does happen, but happens quite a lot.

    The thing I think I can most compare Adichie's TEDtalk to is how the judge believed that black people couldn't/shouldn't try to go above where they were at, that their place was to be servile. He thinks that to go against this is to go against being black itself, somewhat like how Adichie's professor didn't believe her story was "authentically African" because the people drove cars and were educated. Of course, I highly doubt that Adichie's professor was as racist as the judge. If he was, he might've died from an aneurysm at the mere thought of a Nigerian woman attending college.

    I can't exactly get into all the troubles faced by black people during the Jim Crow era, I have a deadline on this thing. So I'll only focus on one part: Sundown Towns (or Sundown Counties, an entire Sundown State in Oregon's case, etc.) Sundown Towns were/are areas in which, put simply, It is illegal to be black. Sometimes it was after a certain time (which is why they're called sundown towns, black people had to be out by sundown) but other times it was 24/7, like the previously mentioned Oregon, which banned black people from being within it (though, this was repealed only a year later.) The intent was clear: to keep black communities and white communities separated.