Page 11 - Reflections on the Danger of a Single Story

Freally loved watching the Ted Talk. I was completely engrossed in the rhythm of the story telling. It brought to mind many situations where I either experienced or witnessed this single story phenomenon take place. It made me think about all the different things about myself that would create a single story in another persons’ mind. I am Puerto Rican, I’m from the Bronx, I’m the oldest sibling, and I was raised in a single parent home, just to name a few. I always wonder which of these or other aspects of myself will create a single story about me to someone else.
I experienced and witnessed others experiencing this single story phenomenon as a young adult, but I believed that as an adult I would see it less. I guess I assumed that as adults we would know more about others and be able to move past this, unfortunately that hasn’t always been true. A few years ago at a school I worked at one of our guidance counselors needed to open a box and she asked one of our school aides if he had a knife that she could use to open it. He said no and her immediate response was, “I thought Puerto Ricans always carried a knife”. This of course led to several uncomfortable days at school. I could not believe that that was the response or that she could actually believe that about any one group of people. Our school had many Puerto Rican students, did she think that about them? I wondered if she understood what she had said, I thought it since she didn’t understand why our school aide was upset with her afterwards. Then I realized that I had a small Swiss army knife in my bookbag. I immediately began to wonder if I was part of the problem. I am Puerto Rican and I had a knife on me, technically. Since that day I have not carried that army knife with me.
I try really hard to expose my students to different things and allow the space to talk about different groups of people and share many pieces of information about them. I think it’s a little easier for me in Global history since many of these things come up regularly. One thing that I notice does keep happening, which I’m sure many of you have experienced, is that my students always ask me where I’m from. Actually, as soon as they hear me speak Spanish they want to know if I am Puerto Rican or Dominican. When it is early in the year I don’t tell them. I turn it around and ask them why they want to know and if it will affect what they do in my class. They don’t realize that they are creating single stories in their heads already. I will usually tell them if they ask again later in the year once they’ve had a chance to get to know me as their teacher. Usually they don’t ask since it is no longer important. By the end of the year they know so many other things about me that they are able to make up their minds about me based on what they have experienced.
I’m planning on sharing this video with my staff in hopes that it can lead to some rich discussions about how to work on moving away from the single story perspective and moving towards a whole person perspective.
DELACRUZ SANTIAGO