Vince Staples : An Analysis Of Hands Up By Vince Staples

When used in print or as the battle cry in a black power rally, police brutality can by implication cover a number of practices, from calling a citizen by his or her first name to a death by a policeman 's bullet. What the average citizen thinks of when he hears the term, however, is something midway between these two occurrences, something more akin to what the police profession knows as "alley court"—the wanton vicious beating of a person in custody, usually while handcuffed, and usually taking place somewhere between the scene of the arrest and the station house.[7]

Staples argues that race, gender, and class within the United States are unfair, and his use of imagery throughout his writing helps dictate his opinions. Much of his writing uses specific descriptions that help the reader feel as if he/she were in his shoes. His use of imagery helps set a convincing tone and elicit empathy from the reader as the story continues. The more descriptions he uses in his writing help illustrate the setting to show the reader his environment. As the audience grows closer to piece, and creates an emotional attachment to Staples himself, they begin to understand his perspective on racial tensions and how they continue to be prevalent in our society today. Toward the middle of his story, as he explains the different places he could be discriminated against, he says “elsewhere - in SoHo, for example, where sidewalks are narrow and tightly spaced buildings shut out the sky- things can get very taunt indeed” (Staples 1). This gives the reader the ability to visualize the specific story he is sharing. The words “narrow” and “tightly spaced” help the reader picture an alley. The

Throughout the story Staples tells us that he walks the street at night to observe peoples reaction towards him. Staples gives us examples of people locking their vehicles when he walks passed them. Other pedestrians would cross the street before to avoid walking pass Staples. Staples demonstrate the people’s behaviors about his race.

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

Staples explained what he went through when he was in Chicago, New York, and Pennsylvania. He tells us a story about why people looked at him in a different way and how they acted towards him because of his skin color. Staple’s voice showed strong emotions of frustration and anger in his story. His tone is very serious and calm. In his essay “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power To Alter Public Space” He uses diction, figures of speech, and syntax. He wants everyone that is reading to feel and try to get the reader to see what he went through and how bad it was to get around town.

Paula Austin, addresses police brutality and their relationship with guns. She opens up her discussion by providing us with images of newspaper articles that demonstrate the image of police brutality. She then goes further in depth and illustrates the increase in gun kills demonstrated by the police force. She provides us with statistical data on the increase in deaths caused by police through guns. Moreover, she then draws the connection between police and race. She addresses to us on how African Americans are way more targeted against by police than any other race. She provides us with the most recent example of “ Stephon Clark” an unarmed black man who was killed by police on the notion that he was “armed”. She then examines this event and illustrates the further connection towards guns and

Brent Staples use of pathos though invoking a sad emotion that is invoked through me due to the situations he is put through with police, and people in general. “I could cross in front of a car stopped a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver – black, white, male, or female- hammering down the door locks” (174). This also invokes some anger at those people who are simply rude. “Then there were the standard unpleasantries with policemen, doormen, bouncers, cabdrivers, and others whose business it is to screen out troublesome individuals before there is any nastiness” (174). These instances not only show how only Staples was treated but how all of the black community was being treated in a dark era in American history. “The fearsomeness mistakenly attributed to me in public places often has a perilous flavor.”

“ Police brutality refers to force used by law enforcement officers that is excessive and/or unnecessary in dealing with civilians. Excessive use of force means more than is needed in a given situation. It may include physical injury…” ( "Police Brutality and Race."). In the book. through pages 19-23, describes an incident that happened between a police officer and a young black male. Rashad was wrongfully accused of shoplifting and assulting a white woman. The white lady stubbles over rashad which causes him to drop his bag of chips next to his bag, this caused the owner of the shop to think that rashad was shoplifting. So, the local police officer took action and handcuffed him. The police officer was hurting Rashad and he moved, Guzzo (the police officer) believes that rashad was resisting and throw him on the ground which results in a broken nose and cracked ribs. The authors purpose is to show the readers about a fictional situation that often occurs in real life. This can cause an effect on readers by showing them how racist some police officers can be. Along with that how stereotypes can often ruin and harm many lives. Many readers can relate to seeing something, that they wished they didn’t, and not knowing what to do after. “.... but i spent most of the night still stuck on the sidewalk outside Jerry’s, me heart pumping fiercely in my throat, and when someone

Stereotypes are born from fear and ignorance. They are used to wrongly judge an individual or group. Brent Staples, a black man, is no stranger to this. “Black Men and Public Space,” written by Staples, he discusses his experiences as a black man; often being mistaken as a criminal because of his appearance. Most people see his universal identity and not who he really is. Living in the city of Chicago as a black man, he is frequently categorized as a thug or aggressor. The purpose of his essay is to inform the readers about how it feels to be the one who is stereotyped, as well as to express his discontent of being type casted. As a result of the negative stereotypes involving black men, Staples has the capacity to negatively alter the space he is in by causing others to fear him. Equivalently, many people also fear cops because of the stigma they have. Because of this, the police negatively impact the space they are in. In the article, “What Happens When Black People Learn They Should Fear the Police”, Jesse Singal discusses how police brutality has affected the black community’s trust in the police.

The text begins by setting the scene with a description of where Staples interacted with his first victim. Staples innocently walks, “on a deserted street in ... a relatively affluent neighbourhood,” that is near an impoverished area. This may have been his first mistake, as a young black male at, “a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair,” walking in a wealthy neighbourhood alone at night can cause some trouble. A lot of the prejudice and racism towards black

Staples begins his essay with imagery and parallelism. He describes a woman as “white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties”. Then, he describes himself as a “youngish black man”. He explains how the woman quickly ran from him because she thought he was “a mugger, a rapist, or worse”. This impacted the author because it was the first time he was misjudged by his appearance. He continues to evoke imagery and parallelism when he brought up his counterargument. He states that people are “vulnerable to street violence, and youngish black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of violence”. The author understands

He starts this off by saying “my first victim was a women.” He wanted to let readers know right from the start that he has already committed something, or so it seems. All he did was walk down the streets late in the evening, and in front of him was a young women. She was hesitant for a while, but after her last look back she starts sprinting only because he was black, and she perceived him as a “mugger, rapist, or worse.” Staples is showing us that he was being characterized as one of these things right from the moment he was walking behind her.

PHD from the University of Chicago, Brent Staples in his article, “Black Men in Public Spaces”(1986), argues that people can be very quick to judge stereotype others based off of what they see. Staples supports his claim by first using anecdotes which frequently narrates his personal experiences, reinforcing the message and making the audience sympathetic to his point of view. Then he gives us some background to the character. These personal insights support the argument made by his previous anecdotes, appealing his peaceful nature with the violent society imagines him to be, and finally he ends with an analogy. He is equivalent of the cowbell that hikers wear in bear country. He means by this that hikers wear cowbells to scare off bears and let them know they are there. So he would act more calm and cautious to let people know he’s there. Staples purpose is to retell his experiences of racism and in order to educate white people on what it's like to be a black man. He creates a sympathetic tone for white people, both genders, and black people.

In Brent Staples’ life, he has had many life experiences dealing with racism and has experienced racism first hand. Relaying these personal experiences is what he chose to write about in his essay. A life experience that Brent Staples shared is, “My first victim was a woman - white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties. I came upon her late one evening on a deserted street in Hyde Park, a relatively affluent neighbourhood in an otherwise mean, impoverished section of Chicago…. She cast back a worried glance. To her, the youngish black man – a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into he pockets of a bulky military jacket-seemed menacingly close. After a few more quick glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest. Within seconds she disappeared into a cross street.” (Staples

An another example representing a character in this song would be “You don't know what it's like to mind your business,And get stopped by the cops and not know if you 'bout to die or not ,You worry 'bout your life, so you take mine”(Joyner Lucas) which represents black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people, and in 2015, 30% of black people who were shot were