What Chimamanda Adichie means when she talks of a “single story” in her TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story” is when a group of people are shown as only one thing in life over and over again, they become this singular thing in the minds of others, leading this single story to become the only story of this group of people. When viewed thereafter people will only see and think of this single story and will not embrace anything that may alter this single story. Adichie attributes the creation of any single story to a people being shown as one thing across multiple platforms, like film and music and literature, for a considerable length of time, allowing a stereotypes to form in result of this single story. Also, by people accepting and applying
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The single story of Mexicans, especially in this current political climate, is that we are all lazy, illegal immigrants; there may be some Mexicans who fit this umbrella description, sure, but it does not apply to us all. Western culture, particularly the United States, has up until recent years been accepting of immigrant populations but when you add in a limited job market and limited resources, there will be fighting and scapegoating in regard to current issues. Once a hardworking people in the eyes of Americans, Mexicans are now seen as a nuisance and burden to the country’s people and economic systems. We are blamed for crime rates, unemployment rates, and seen as government leeches by angry people who refuse to get to know us. These views of Mexicans were created through biased media outlets such as films, television, and literature and in these we are painted as stereotypes stemming from the single story and treated as such. Two negative consequences we have experienced from this single story is harsh public backlash and forced assimilation. Public backlash comes in the form of being told to “go back to Mexico” even if you were born in the states and may have never even visited Mexico. Forced assimilation is when parents attempt to raise their Mexican children to blend into American society and essentially strip them of some of their heritage by not teaching them Spanish and no longer celebrating Mexican traditions. Unfortunately, assimilation can create language barriers and issues within extended families and should not feel like an obligation when people immigrate to a
The single story of Mexicans, especially in this current political climate, is that we are all lazy, illegal immigrants; there may be some Mexicans who fit this umbrella description, sure, but it does not apply to us all. Western culture, particularly the United States, has up until recent years been accepting of immigrant populations but when you add in a limited job market and limited resources, there will be fighting and scapegoating in regard to current issues. Once a hardworking people in the eyes of Americans, Mexicans are now seen as a nuisance and burden to the country’s people and economic systems. We are blamed for crime rates, unemployment rates, and seen as government leeches by angry people who refuse to get to know us. These views of Mexicans were created through biased media outlets such as films, television, and literature and in these we are painted as stereotypes stemming from the single story and treated as such. Two negative consequences we have experienced from this single story is harsh public backlash and forced assimilation. Public backlash comes in the form of being told to “go back to Mexico” even if you were born in the states and may have never even visited Mexico. Forced assimilation is when parents attempt to raise their Mexican children to blend into American society and essentially strip them of some of their heritage by not teaching them Spanish and no longer celebrating Mexican traditions. Unfortunately, assimilation can create language barriers and issues within extended families and should not feel like an obligation when people immigrate to a