Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her 2009 TED talk titled The Danger of a Single Story explains what happens when what we know of a place or a people (or even a historical event) is shaped by one perspective. What we have is an incomplete story and often an inaccurate one. If we believe that first story on face value and are not diligent in our own truth-seeking, it will settle in our brain and consciousness and claim prime real estate - squatters' rights. Any other story will have to now compete with it. Any new information is filtered through that initial imprinting. And it may take decades to supplant that initial story or add to it. Here is my personal experience with swallowing incomplete truths: I was fifteen years old when I came to the United States from Iran. My knowledge of Black people and their culture was limited to what I had seen on dubbed TV shows and athletes at Olympic games, i.e very incomplete, twisted and inaccurate. I had very little knowledge of the Civil Right
"Regard man as a mine, rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures." -Bahá'u'lláh