This chapter starts off in a 7-11 store during the late hours of the night. Here a problem arises as the character in this chapter goes into this store, the cashier becomes visibly frightened of the customer. This moment in the chapter shows us a glimpse of racial profiling. A dark-skinned man walks in late at night and the white male cashier of the 7-11 establishment is fearful. The fear of the cashier is understandable because when you're working in a store by yourself during the late hours of the night you can start to fear every customer regardless of how they are perceived. The fear of being robbed and possibly held at gunpoint, that is an understandable fear. But this takes place in Seattle, a very different setting off of the Indian
In the article “Just Walk On By”, Brent Staples describes his experience when he was young and was discriminatory treated because he is not “white”. His first shock experience that is at one late night, a white woman ran away from him when she saw him walking close to her. That woman’s reaction created a serious fear and deep anxious on him about his race from then on. Then, he shows several essays whose arguments fight against black people, and he asserts that black people are always be thought as the prime suspects in criminal cases. Due to his race, he used to be mistaken for burglar during his work and be checked by a dog when he came to a jewelry store. After that, he developed some strategies to make him less threatening.
In Brent Staples’ article, “Black Men in Public Spaces”, provoked by racism against him, and other black men on the streets, he gives many personal examples in high hopes people will understand how he, and many other black men, face prejudice from regular encounters simply because of their race. With a Ph.D in psychology, Staples’ writes to his strongly feminist audience in the Ms. Magazine and Harper's publication in 1986. Although staples’ addresses the fact that women have reasonable cause to fear black men on the streets, he comes back to the idea that racial profiling is a serious issue. Throughout his article, Staples’ uses personal anecdotes, an accepting tone, and strong diction in order to further develop his argument.
What would it feel like to walk into a room and be mistaken for a criminal based solely on race? This is a normal occurrence for Brent Staples, an African American author and journalist who has experienced various forms of prejudice throughout his life. In the essay, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Ability to Alter Public Space,” Staples’s diction, irony, and examples help him to explain that, although he is an innocent man, racial stereotypes make people think differently about who he really is. Staples’s powerful diction helps him to explain how much of an impact his race has on his life. As a “youngish black man” with a “beard and billowing hair,” Staples has the ability to “alter space in ugly ways.”
In today’s world, the majority of society still get uneasy and nervous around colored people at vacant locations, mostly due to the overrepresentation of black citizens being connected with violence. Written by Brent Staples, “Black Men and Public Space” explains life from a colored man’s perspective on how he is perceived by others and treated differently as compared to a random white man in a dark alley. Staples elaborates that his impression from others was “of a mugger, a rapist, or worse,” making him feel humiliated and gloom because apparently nobody could recognize the difference between him and a real crook. In reality, Staples is an educated, musically-inclined person who is not looking for rambles, but working a job, living life,
Since the time of slavery, racism has become a systematically integrated into the subconscious of nearly all Americans, and this subconscious bias can often go undetected by even the people who reside in it. In “The Good, Racist People,” Ta-Nehisi Coates shines a light on American on these social norms and lifestyles which many “good Americans” might not necessarily consider racism. Going beyond what most readers consider obvious, such as lynching and segregation policies, Coates brings up the real example of a deli employee falsely accusing an African-American man of shoplifting. On the basis of a mere assumption. When that African-American man was identified as Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker, the incident caught national attention. The
In the article Black Men and Public Space, the author uses personal experiences to express the idea of racism and judgement based on appearance. One of the worst experiences Staples talked about on page 15 was when he scared a white women when he turned the corner at night, and she ran off. He exclaimed “It was clear that she thought to herself the quarry of a mugger, rapist, or worse” (page 15). By using personal experiences, it helps the reader become more connected to the topic and it also makes people side with the author's opinions because he/she is experienced. In my opinion this article is very sad but true at the same time. People fear what they do know know whether it is race, religion or a certain way of life.
In Brent Staples’ essay, “Just Walk on By” the author describes his experiences, feelings, and reactions towards the discrimination he has faced throughout his life as a black man. Staples describes several different personal experiences of when he felt that he had been judged or discriminated against by other people based on the color of his skin and how that contributed to his overall appearance. Staples has continuously been perceived as a danger or criminal simply because of his skin color, leading him to have to deal with many uncomfortable situations. The author has even gone so far as to take precautions when he is on the street just so that he will not be
“Nothing in this world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”-Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately, racism is now a part of human nature. The environment and living conditions people endure is constantly analyzed and evaluated by personal views and values. The articles, “FOBs” vs. “Twinkies”, written by Grace Hsiang and “Black Men and Public Space”, written by Brent Staples, both apply to the issues of interracial and intraracial conditions. Hsiang informs the reader of interracial discrimination and ethnic harassment, not only with Asian culture, but for all whose families are not originally from America, she goes into detail about how people expect her to behave exactly how her ancestors did because she is
K.J. arrives, and the gang plans to tell “the Bookkeeper” that Mei-Xing lost the hat. The Bookkeeper, who is covered by her giant sunglasses and huge hat, storms away with anger. With sudden realization, Quinby jumps up and chases “the Bookkeeper.” We don’t know what Quinby knows. They finally confront each other, and Quinby reveals that The Bookkeeper is his mom, Lizzie Digby. Lizzie has been following them for the entire trip. Lizzie’s plan was to steal the hat and teach lessons to the boys and Granville how precarious it is hanging one’s entire future on a garment.
Five o’clock, most people have got off of work and are making their commute back home. The darkness of night arises as people are arriving home. Out of the corner of their eyes, a suspicious person is behind them. Tall, big, and unable to see them in the cover of night, one begins to panic. Who is this person? Are they up to no good? Without a question, most people decide to speed up their pace or even make a run for it for their door. In “Just Walk on By”, Brent Staples is able to convey his message that society has gotten acclimated to negative perceptions of certain races, resulting in hasty assessments of one another through the use of personal anecdotes, to anger the audience and build trust, and persona, to demonstrate how the racism
“Right Place, Wrong Face” by Alton Fitzgerald White is an illustration of the racial prejudices that causes innocent citizens to suffer. This narrative describes the injustice a black man has to suffer when he is victimized because of his racial background and dermal color. His unjust arrest and police’s ignorance towards his civil rights leaves him questioning the ethics, morals, and principles his parents had taught him while he was growing up. His encounter with the dark side of society changes his perception of life.
Although written in the late 1980s with the rise of awareness of police brutality towards black males in America, it is clearly evident that black people are treated differently especially in terms of racial profiling. According to analysis by New York Civil Liberties Union, in 2013 83% of the people stopped in New York for a frisk and search were black or Hispanic with only 12% being white and of all the people stopped 81% were completely innocent. Racial profiling causing an uneasiness to those who are victims of it, for Brent Staples it resulted in him changing his behaviour to suit those around him. Selectively picking his attire, the time he walked and places he walked at the specific times. “Even steely New Yorkers hunching toward nighttime destinations seem to relax, and occasionally they even join in the tune. Virtually everybody seems to sense that a mugger wouldn’t be warbling bright, sunny selections from Vivaldi 's Four Seasons.” The writer, Brent Staples, would have to whistle to reassure others of their safety and comfort just because he was a minority, the worst was assumed of him from first impressions. In Brent’s situation the uneasiness from racial profiling lead to him altering his lifestyle and this is a reality for many young people of colour who have to selectively choose what they wear as to not appear “thuggish” while they walk the streets. Racial profiling causes individuals from minorities to change aspects of their life and can also lead to a
Similar to Dumas’ struggle in America as an Iranian, Brent Staples’ “Black Men and Public Space” details the struggle of being a black man in America. There are countless stereotypes implanted in the minds of Americans of the typical black person, aggressive, dishonest, ruthless, and overall ill intentioned. The first encounter with this racist outlook on blacks Staples had was in a wealthier area of downbeat Chicago, who began to appear worrisome and soon after proceeded to run from the author, who had done nothing intentionally to provoke fear in her. I agree that women should always place their safety as their first priority and should remove themselves from any situation in which they find themselves uncomfortable or at risk, but if blacks and whites can’t manage to walk the same streets without one race thinking the other is going to attack at any given moment due to the misconceptions floating around in their heads, then America really isn’t a land of diversity. It then becomes a land of hierarchy. As he says, Staples is too scared to even wield a knife at a chicken, let alone wield a knife at another human being, but by the color of his skin and appearance, one would never know this. Being perceived as dangerous, he writes, is a hazard in itself, and could easily land him in the back of a police car
Within essay one, Black Men in Public Spaces by Brent Staples it describes the life and experiences of a young African American man living between Chicago and New York City over about a ten year span. Due to stereotypes on his race, society assumes he compliments them resulting in being viewed as dangerous
Through manipulation of language, Staples demonstrates his comprehension of the effect this discrimination had on innocent black males. Since he has had firsthand experience in this matter, Staples discerns his situation as an “unwieldy inheritance” with “the ability to alter public space in ugly ways.” Clearly, Staples feels as if he was cursed, for he was constantly treated like a “fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact with.” This put him in an