THE SINGLE STORY

PICTURE SHOWING A STACK OF BOOKS
Courtesy: duluth.lib.mn.us


Former President of Liberia Mr. Charles Taylor,
This man was no saint,
He was a savage and very callous,
How do I know this?
Because I read it in books
Heard it on the news
And on my radio.


I have never met Mr. Taylor before in my life,
Neither have I met anyone who
Claims to know him or have met him.
I have never shook his hand before
Neither have I walked past him on my street at home.


Had it not been for television,
The internet
Radio
And newspapers
The name Charles Taylor would mean nothing to me.


He currently stands trial at the International Court in The Hague,
Accused of committing war crimes,
Dealing in blood diamonds
Among a host of other colourful accomplishments.
He truly might be a bad man,
But there is no way of verifying this,
All I know of him are stories others have told,
Those told by the foreign media.


I do not claim these stories untrue,
Neither do I claim them true,
But there’s one thing I can say for a fact,
I only have a single story on Charles Taylor,
Stories told me through the eyes of the foreign media,
I can only tell stories on what I have been told,
My single story on Mr. Charles Taylor.


President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan,
I have not the slightest idea what this
Man may look like,
Probably he has a goatee,
Probably he has shifty eyes,
Maybe he wears a turban but only on Sundays
Or even goes to bed in a pair of Levis Strauss jeans.


He is no friend of mine,
Not even an acquaintance,
Probably he does not speak English
Maybe he speaks fluent Spanish,
I cannot quite tell for I do not know this man.


All I know about him,
I have read in newspapers
Watched on television
Heard on my radio
And read on the internet.


He is wanted by the International court in The Hague,
They say he is a very bad man,
His crimes seem to grow in number everyday,
I’m sure the folder that has the name
Omar Al-Bashir
Written boldly on it is bulging at the seams
Threatening to spill its contents.


Two arrest warrants have been issued for him so far,
I do not know if all these stories about this man are true,
I have no way of verifying them,
All I know is what the western media have fed me.


I do not claim these stories untrue,
Neither do I claim them true,
But there’s one thing I can say for a fact,
I only have a single story on Omar Al-Bashir,
Stories told me through the eyes of the foreign media,
I can only tell stories on what I have been told,
My single story on Omar Al-Bashir.


President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe,
The man above is no friend of mine,
I have never sat at table with him,
Neither have I had the chance to ask him a question.


I have seen him on my television on numerous occasions,
Most of the times I saw him,
He wore spectacles
A black suit
And black shoes.


Probably he hates black shoes,
Maybe he prefers pink instead.
Maybe given the chance he would wear raffia skirts
Over a white t-shirt
But I can never quite tell for sure
For he is no friend of mine.


I have a single story on this man,
That told to me through the eyes of others,
I hear he’s singlehandedly brought a nation to its knees,
I hear people live in fear under his leadership,
I hear he’s quite a feisty character
And oversees a starving population.


I have heard so many things about this man,
All I have heard I cannot verify
I’ve never been to Zimbabwe before,
I probably never might,
He might be as bad as they say he is,
Or he might be good.
All I can tell you is my single story,
The story told me through the eyes of others,
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is a very bad man.


Charles Taylor,
Omar Al-Bashir,
Robert Mugabe,
All total strangers to me.


All I know about these men above are
Single stories told to me by others,
I wish I had more than my single stories,
I wish I had other stories that give me a bigger picture
For deep underneath the ruins of a building lies a hidden truth
Buried treasures
And untold stories.
Till the day I am able to unearth these untold stories,
And buried treasure troves,
I will take my single stories with a pinch of salt,
I will not doubt them,
But I’m uncomfortable that African stories are
Being told to Africans through foreign eyes.


Even reportage on my own country is skewed,
I once read that 97% of Ghanaians use firewood
For cooking,
This story has been widely circulated
Through a video game.


Therefore I was not surprised,
When a friend who had never visited Ghana before
Asked me this question,
Have you heard of global warming?
Yes, I replied, though with a slight hint of annoyance,
He went on to ask,
Why do you all continue depleting the ozone layer?
By burning firewood,
Surely you can adopt a much greener way.


Till this very day,
All my attempts to give an actual picture
Of my country Ghana have been met by fierce
Resistance from my friend.
I do not blame him,
For he only speaks based on what he’s been told,
He speaks from his single story on my country Ghana.


A friend of mine gained a scholarship to go study abroad,
A classmate of his once asked him,
I hear you all live on trees back there in Africa,
Is that really true?
Visibly annoyed, he replied,
Yes!!! That is very true,
My father occupies the highest branch
Followed by my mom
And the rest of my siblings in that order.
I really do not blame his classmate
And neither do I fault my friend for not trying to put him right.
It is next to impossible to disprove a single story,
Especially those on Africa.


I have nothing against the foreign media
Or any other kind of media for that matter,
I have strong reservations about single stories,
Single stories create stereotypes,
They only give aspects of a story
Portraying them as the whole.
Single stories speak as though representative of all.


So the next time you hear a story,
Especially one on the developing world,
Take it with a pinch of salt,
Africa is not a country as portrayed
Day in day out by the foreign media,
Africa is a continent comprised of many countries.


There’s more to Africa than
War,
Disease,
Poverty
And burning of firewood to aid global warming.
There’s more to Africa than endemic rape in Congo,
Skewed democracies
And Presidents who rule for eternity,
Please discard your single stories on Africa
And other people,
There just might be more to it than you are being told,
Single stories only make you myopic,
They belittle your intellect
And only give enough rope so you can hang yourself.
Beware of the single stories,
For they almost always never give a clear picture.