Cashier Chapter Summaries

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

In "Black Men and Public Space," Brent Staples writes about how he was treated differently throughout his life due to his race by using connotative diction that invites ethos and pathos. Staples describes the problems, discrimination, and disapprovals he faces being a black man in public places. Staples explains how through his lifetime, people have discriminated against him because he is an African American man who works as a writer in a primarily Caucasian field. Brent Staples explains, the first time he understood how much his presence startled or concerned others was after an experience he had when he used to take late night walks as a graduate student. In addition to his first experience Staples describes countless other different occurrences of when he felt he had been discriminated against by other people based on his race. Staples has constantly been seen as a threat or criminal solely because of the color of his skin, leading him to have to deal with many distressing situations.

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

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

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.

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.

Brent Staples wrote “Black Men in Public Spaces” to educate readers on racial profiling and how it may affect innocent people. The message Staples created in his story involves prejudice towards African American men. He recalls many experiences as an adult which involved how people perceived him. As he talks about his experiences Staples discusses his mental development as an African American male living in Chicago. In the past decades many issues have arised due to racial profiling and many innocent people are no longer afraid to stand up to these unjust situations.

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

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

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.

“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

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

Brent Staples, college graduate turned journalist, has written several passages on his experiences with culture growing up as an African American man. His use of loaded language throughout his writing is a compelling way to depict his personal experiences with being stereotyping such as: “I was stalking sleep, not defenseless wayfarers.” And referring to himself “As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken” (Paragraph 2). He utilizes loaded language like this along with anecdotes to give us a glimpse into his life growing up as an intimidating tall black man being discriminated for traits he had no control over. Staples elaborates on how he first realized his ability to alter public space for the worse in his encounter

In his article “Just Walk on By”, Brent Staples, an African American man, shares his views on the injustice he faces against him. In the beginning, he recalls a moments where his appearance frightens others. He completely understands that we live in a society where sometimes can be dangerous. His frustration focuses that African American men are commonly misjudged solely on their appearance. For instance, he recalls a moment when he was mistaken for a robber at a jewelry store and was threatened by a vicious Doberman. Another example is a black male journalist he was working on a story about a murder who was born in Illinois. He was mistaken for a killer and was held at gunpoint. Staples’ claims that this kind of incident are not rare but happen quite often. Finally, he tells us how he changes his approach on others by whistling melodic tunes like Beethoven and Vivaldi to seem less threatening. Staples brings pathos and ethos to persuade his readers that racial discrimination is from misjudgment.

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.