Perspectives

Current issues

Adichie’s TED talk was presented in 2009, but prejudice against non-white people is still a current issue in the US. This issue has been most recently brought to public attention through the Black Lives Matter movement. The activist movement speaks against violence and racism and protests against police brutality and police killings of African Americans.

Recent political events also suggest that Westerners can still be influenced by single stories. This is often the case when it comes to immigrants, who are often portrayed in a one-sided way and are, therefore, stereotyped and faced with prejudice. For example, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the US was built on a strong anti-immigrant rhetoric. Furthermore, one of the reasons why British citizens voted in favour of Brexit was to limit immigrat...