Stereotypes In Adichie's 'Some Thoughts On Mercy'?

To live in a world where there is no such thing as racism or stereotypes is a world that is imaginative. In Chimamanda Adichie’s transcript, “The Danger of a Single Story,” she writes about the ways in which people become single minded about races through the experiences they go through in life, as well as how people are misguided about cultural behaviors in reality versus what they see or hear. Ross Gay, author of the article, “Some Thoughts on Mercy,” focuses on the struggles black men go experience, as well as addresses the stereotypes that occur in this world. Both Adichie and Gay use childhood anecdotes to explain their first encounters with racism, include different perspectives to show the struggles of black people, and make assertions

Such stereotypes taint the true image of Nigeria and of Africa. This shows how reinforcing ignorance has dismissive effects. Gay explains the perspective of black men 's feelings towards police when he writes, “ For a black man any encounter with the police is tense, and that tension had found its way into my muscles, if not my mind” (1). When Gay writes about the perspective of being a black man and having encounters with the police, he strengthens the stereotype that black men and police do not get along, hence they instill fear into them. Although this may be true for some black men who have had negative encounters with the police, that is not the case for every black man. However by reinforcing this sudden fear of police, black minds can grow anxious towards authority and create distrust in their

She states, “ The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar” (Adichie 4). For Adichie, stereotypes are the reason why humans are not being recognized as equal and it takes away people 's honor because they are judged based off things that are not true about them. Thus people of color become dehumanized and often criminalized due to stereotypes that reinforce fear and ignorance. To further illustrate the effects of conventionalization Gay writes, “When they appear behind us or in line of sight, our heart rate accelerates, our breathing quickens, our muscles contract. We become acutely aware not only of what we are doing but also of what the cop might think we were doing” (1). His attitude towards the police displays the breakdowns of the body and emotional state in black men, and how this creates distress. In most cases of black men being harassed via the police, the men are often innocent, yet people stereotype black men and automatically assume they are associated with crime because they are black.Through these assertions, Adichie and Gay make it evident that stereotypes harm people and they do not make people