the Arab world full of western hate and oppression, the violence and gangs of Mexico and South America. While these conditions do exist, the problem is that


when we use the same types of images over and over and tell the same story, we exclude the many other stories that need to be told. There can be real consequences and real dangers brought about because we are incessantly hearing similar stories on a loop. If we see the whole continent of Africa with its many diverse countries as simply hungry, our answer will be satisfied when we donate food. If we see the Arab world as oppressed and hateful, we may be quicker to support western government interventions. If you take a moment and think of Ethiopia, what


are the first images that comes to mind? Be honest. It is probably famine, war, vast deserts, maybe images of starving babies and passive mothers waiting for donors to save them with ‘a dollar a day’. These are very real, very difficult situations East Africa has faced. The region does face a very serious food shortage right now and it is important to understand the situation and compassionately address the need. But my dad was born in Eritrea and raised in Ethiopia.


When I compare my experiences, what I know about my family and friends and their lives in Ethiopia with the prismatic perceptions held by many of my friends here at home in Toronto, the difference is really frustrating. What I have seen in Ethiopia is personal engagement, passion, commitment and intelligence of those who are changing their difficult circumstances and leading their communities. I witnessed exciting community- driven events that were hopeful and as storyteller and as a second-generation immigrant living in Toronto, I desperately wanted to share those alternative experiences. I wanted to supplement the knowledge of my friends. Empowering misrepresented or ‘racialised’ comm- unities to represent themselves however they see fit


is an important step in addressing this missing gap of knowledge and stories. So is intentionally creating new media that directly challenges the more simplistic and common perceptions many people in our own community hold. Storytellers have the power to shape public opinion and even public policy. As our world grows more interconnected, feels smaller and our neighbors become more diverse, it is vital that we are ever more careful about how we choose to represent communities, and that we are aware of how that representation fits into the broader catalogue of narratives. It is integral to our mutual understanding, openness and future with one another that we challenge the dominant narratives and the resonance of their rhetoric. As storytellers, filmmakers and organizations we can all be more committed to thinking through the ethics surrounding how we represent communities. Signed ‘releases’ of a participant’s likeness and person aside, we can also try to check back with them to see if they are okay with how they are being presented. We can be better at purposefully conveying the context that surrounds our representation choices. We can also commit to always find a way to communicate our respect for the individuals featured in our pieces. It sounds simple and obvious, and some storytellers may think our respect for the participants should be obvious. But quite often it is not. As viewers, we can consume news and media conscientiously in much the same way we conscientiously consume ads. With every story or image or video we can ask questions like: Who is telling this story? What is the storyteller’s position, what power do they hold in relation to the person(s) they are speaking of? What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message? Who is represented as active and who is inactive? How might different people understand this message differently? What creative


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