One Side of the Die

The danger of a single story is that it only shows people one side of the die. When people only say one thing about someone, you can only associate that person with that one thing. It narrows our view to a view shrouded by leaves that we are told do not move, even though we can move them. Nkali is part of the danger because whoever has the power to tell these stories can selectively pick the negative ones to tell about others and the positive ones about themselves. The truth of stereotypes is that they can be true, but the problem is that they are “unfinished” or not the whole picture. The most important idea I am taking away from this Ted Talk is not to allow single stories to define how I see others. 

In contrast to Henderson, Jones was discouraged from going to college because of the racist view that educated black people are dangerous to white supremacy. Judge Henderson states that “it’ll make a man out of him” when referring to his son going to college but says, “too bad your mother sent him off—it’ll spoil him” when referring to John Henderson. The families of white people in the story were much more accepting of their sons going to college than the families of black people. Although Henderson and Jones attended college, Jones’ education brought him misery. It brought him misery because he became more aware of racism and how he could not escape it, which was out of his control. I think he wrote it as a fictional story rather than a real-life example because there are not enough examples to draw from. It was published in 1903, and I think that colleges rarely accepted black students during that time. Education changed how Jones saw society because he realized that no matter how educated he was, he could not avoid racism. He saw uneducated people as blissfully ignorant and missed not seeing the oppression of himself and his loved ones. Not only that, but when he arrived in his hometown, Jones worked so hard for his education only to be ridiculed for doing so. Also, after coming home from college, Jones sees himself as an outsider to his community. He feels like they do not understand him anymore like they used to. I think education can definitely change a person. Education challenges our preconceptions and opinions with different ones, and it can help people grow as a person. It can widen people’s views and push people to think outside the box. We see Nkali in this story when Judge Henderson talks about how education is terrible for black people and when John Henderson describes John Jones as “the darky that tried to force himself into a seat beside the lady I was escorting.” In both cases, the Hendersons have power over the Jones families and use that to support their racist narratives about black people. Although people of color have civil rights and more legal protection, the effects of slavery and racism are still rampant. There are still many unconscious racial biases or microaggressions that people do not even recognize. There are also just straight-up racist people, although I think there are fewer of them now. The lack of generational wealth brought about by slavery, and Jim Crow laws affect people of color today. 

On February 3rd of this year, Alonzo Bagley was shot by a police officer named Alexander Tyler. Officers came to Bagley’s apartment complex because of a domestic disturbance call by Bagley’s wife. When the police arrived, Bagley attempted to flee by jumping off the balcony and running away. Although Bagley was unarmed, Tyler shot Bagley in the chest, and he died. The bodycam footage shows Bagley with his arms up before Tyler shoots him. Not only that, but after shooting Bagley, Tyler started to beg Bagley to stay alive. In addition, Tyler “inadvertently” turned off his body camera and coincidentally turned the camera back on “within one second” after he shot Bagley. Officer Tyler is facing a negligent homicide charge. In 2018, Bagley filed a federal lawsuit against the Shreveport police department a year after an arrest. The arrest started with a domestic dispute between Bagley and his wife, and he ended up being charged with domestic abuse battery and resisting an officer. Then his domestic abuse charge was dismissed, and he pleaded guilty to resisting an officer. Despite the charges and Bagley trying to flee the scene, that does not justify his death. I do not think it is the police officer’s job to decide whether someone deserves to die, but I do not think Tyler intended to kill Bagley. Either way, Tyler unjustly killed Bagley and should be charged with a negligent homicide charge.