"FROM ONE STORY TO MANY STORIES"

 “FROM ONE STORY TO MANY STORIES”

In 2009, Nigerian-born author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave a TED Talk entitled “The Danger of One Story.”  I was still doing a lot of anti-racism workshops at the time, and we sometimes used her TED Talk as an entry point into the danger of one story coming to dominate all others.  Her point was that the white, Western sense of racial superiority was born of one story:  the story of the system of race, which tells all that those classified as “white” are superior to all other racial classifications, and “white” people should be in control of all things.  Her TED Talk is quite remarkable – if you are not familiar with it, check it out at https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?subtitle=en.

Today is Indigenous Peoples Day, and it comes at the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, with Native American History Month beginning soon in November.  Why all these different months?  Why recognize Hispanic Heritage, Black History (February), Women’s History Month (March), Asian American Heritage (May), along with many others?  They serve as reminders that there are many stories about the many branches of humanity – a truth that white, American culture has long sought to deny.  Today is also known as “Columbus Day,” celebrating Italian-American heritage, but also celebrating the European who “discovered” America.  It took me a long time in my journey to recognize that the lands that came to be known as “America” were already populated with many different tribes of people, clumped together as “Indians,” as “Native Americans,” as “Indigenous People” – in Canada known as “First Nations.”  So, Columbus did not discover America – rather he was the vessel for the transfer of many Europeans, who would come to the Americas.  In so doing, those of us of “white” heritage would annihilate the native peoples living here, import enslaved people from Africa to work the land, then grow immense wealth from these activities.

Growing up, I was proud of my Scotch-Irish ancestors who were the tip of the spear for the movement of white people westward across the South.  Killing or removing Cherokee people, Muscogee people, Creek people, Choctaw people, Seminole people and others – we marched relentlessly across the South to establish a “white haven.” And, yes, there is a suburb in Memphis known as “Whitehaven,” populated ironically now by mostly Black people.  As I have learned more about my heritage and my history, I am not so proud now.  Yet, that story must be told.  We “whites” must know about the Trail of Tears and the “Indian Removal Act,” not to make us feel guilty but to help us to understand our history and to understand  that there are many stories.  Many Native American peoples have struggled long and hard to recover their cultures, to celebrate themselves, and to thank their gods that they have survived.

In these days, we are invited to consider that there are many stories, and that we can all learn from one another’s stories.  The hegemony of white culture and expansionism has made this a difficult task, but we may be at the inflection point of needing to hear the power and truth of other cultures’ stories.  For many years now, I have been impressed with the Native American idea that the ancestors can be found in the living beings on the earth.  Our “white” approach has been to see beings like trees in a utilitarian way:  we see trees, and we think of the houses that can be built from them.  When Native Americans see trees, they see the locale of their ancestors.  This does not mean that we don’t cut down trees to make houses and firewood, but it does mean that we should shift from our utilitarian view of nature to a more wholistic view of us and nature.  The recent monster hurricanes remind us that the time for making this shift is over, that nature is now seeing us as we have seen nature:  something in the way, something to be torn down.  Yet, we always have an opportunity to shift our perspective from one of exploitation to one of partnership.  

Lest we think that this is only an outdated, tortuous exercise, let us recall that it is at the heart of the division in America in these days.  Donald Trump helped bring the “one story” idea back to the surface of American life, but it has long been there.  I have it in my own consciousness, breathed in through the air of white, male supremacy.  “Make America Great Again” is a call to return to the days of one story: the white, male story.  If Donald Trump wins the election, we will see a much more concerted effort to re-establish firmly the power of white patriarchy.  Yet, even if Kamala Harris wins the election, the power of “one story” will continue to resonate and have political power.  Harris represents a small but significant step to expand the American narrative from one story to many stories.  Her election would be an opportunity to begin to have a different narrative about ourselves and to begin to celebrate the multicultural nature of American history.  Many of us who are classified as “white” feel anxious and afraid, because we know that the demographics are not in our favor.  Trump has brought this brooding sense of grievance to the surface, and this election has now taken on much more importance than it might have.  So, make it your point to vote and to make sure that at least ten of your friends, neighbors and colleagues vote.