Dear Ms. Adichie,
I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Nicolle Carela, I’m currently a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College and this is my last semester. I come from a middle class family in the Dominican Republic, just like you and I recall my mom saying to me and my siblings“Finish your food, there are people that do not have what to eat right now” as when we were little and would play with what was on our plate. I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, it was not until I was nineteen years old that I came to live in the United States. This is another thing we have in common. Before coming for the first time, I had my ideas and expectations of what the experience was going to be, in regards to the structure, people and other things but as soon as I stepped foot in the country I knew that everything that I thought that the United States was, was not true, or at least not everything. Especially when it comes to New York City since this was the very first state I visited and where I currently live.
The story that I heard over the years was missing so many details, and as a lot of it was true, a very significant part was all lies and stereotypes made by a group that lack so much but still find their way to give us misinformation. I enjoy your presentation as I can relate to so many things that you mentioned. I completely agree with the way that you describe the “stereotypes” surrounding cultures, countries, societies and others. When you mentioned that these are “Not completely false, but incomplete” I couldn’t agree more. I see myself how one history can become a whole point of view about something for us when that’s all we have seen or heard in our lives.
One topic from the class that this relates to is definitely on week five when we spoke about “African + American indian and alaska native perspective” we can see how different the same culture can look depending on where on the world you stand. While this is not an advantage of any kind when it narrows down to misunderstanding being mainly spread around. While watching your speech I noticed that the date is back to 2009 more than 14 years ago. These “single stories” are still around and people keep on sharing them over and over because that is all they know. But if this were to be different, if there were more opportunities to know both sides of the stories; to see both sides of the coins we definitely will be better off.
The way that I believe is right in order to apply your lessons would be to always be aware of how the stories are being presented to us and to always look for what is missing so we have a whole perspective on what it’s going on. I believe understanding comes with knowledge. The way to gain that knowledge is to look for more than just a “Single story”. We have to always judge for ourselves, fill ourselves with knowledge so we are critics of our surroundings and our lives. Read more, write more and more importantly know that we are all humans that need to be treated with respect no matter where we are coming from.
Nicolle Carela.
