Reflection - America is in the Heart

In Bulosan’s book, I have seen what Allos had experienced in his life. From his early days as a young boy working in a farm in the Philippines to his experiences of working and travelling all over America and eventually to his education through reading during his stay in a hospital. But the for the most part of Allos’ journey, he had experienced racial discrimination, poverty, and abuse. During that time, freedom was something more of a right for the privileged and superior. It was something that was kept from the so-called lower class and as a consequence, they often organized strikes and unions to fight for their right. It was a right that was supposed to be meant for everyone. However, most of the Caucasians that were native to the U.S thought otherwise. These people thought themselves to be superior to any other races that they came upon. In the book, one can see that it seemed like being anything other than a white person could be considered a crime. The police would either shoot a Filipino they would randomly see or kidnap and beat him in a jail. It was only later on after the Second World War that tensions eased and the native white Americans saw other races as equals, as human beings too. In the light of this, one can say that freedom is not actually just a right but rather something a person would need to fight for in order to attain it. In class, I watched a video about the single story. The speaker basically defined it as judging something or someone based on one story that he or she may have heard about that certain person or thing. This could also apply to a country and a race. Such is what was mentioned in the video. Other people would expect Africans to be extremely primitive and tribal because of a story or stories that they have heard. In reality, each individual has their own stories that could be told and it would most likely vary in comparison to any stereotype that might have been created. In a sense, the single story generalizes things and people. It makes these simple and maybe even straightforward assumptions that can actually rob people of their dignity and identity. It could also limit the freedom and capability of a person to become even better than he or she may be at a certain point in time because it is as if they have already been predetermined to live in a certain way. That, however, is not so. There is never just one single story for everyone and everything. We all have these differences that make us unique and of course, different. As they say, we are all different and what we need to do is to, as much as possible, stop creating a single story about a person or thing but rather look at the different stories and maybe even the same story but at a different angle.