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Noah Geist Professor Antos English 1100 6 November 2016 Racism is Still Alive and Well As children we were taught that racism started over 150 years ago and ended in 1968 when the civil rights movement ended. However, the reality is that racism is still a very large issue in today's society. Brent Staples, author of Black Men and Public Space, proved that a well educated African American still faces racism whilst living his life normally. Staples discusses how other people are afraid of him and he is mistaken for a criminal by security and police while Staples is trying to live his life as anyone else, who does not face racism would. This new wave of modern day racism is not what it use to be in the 1960’s where African Americans had …show more content…
to drink from separate drinking fountains and being segregated. Instead, modern day racism is founded on stereotypes that all African Americans are criminals and dangerous individuals. This stereotype has lead to many innocent people being shot who aren’t wielding any sort of weapon. For instance, in Miami, Florida a man with his hands up was shot. Staples essay dovetails well with this present day issue of stereotyping individuals leading to violence and occasionally resulting in murder. Stereotyping can be the consequence from lack of knowledge, primary lacking knowledge in the individual's background.
Staples experienced stereotyping, modern day racism, while he was a “graduate student newly arrived in Chicago” (Staples 267). Police don’t normally take time to find out the background of people who are suspected to have weapons or who are wanted. Background information of people shouldn’t always matter to police but occasionally it should. Staples was a “graduate student” who was not a criminal (that Staples told us) but simply walking down streets and stereotyped as a mugger, rapist, and more based only on the color of his skin. Unfortunately, stereotyping men of color has resulted in them being shot. In the incident of Miami resident and therapist, Charles Kinsley, was shot with his hands up and not carrying a single weapon. The Miami police department came out after the shooting occurred with the following statement, “We only learned later that Kinsley worked at a care facility and the man sitting near him was autistic” (Washington post). If the police had known that Kinsley was a therapist and was of no harm to the police then the outcome would most likely have been much different. However, because the police did not know that Kinsley was a therapist they stereotyped him as another run of the mill African American …show more content…
criminal. When stereotyping occurs it can cause people to become blind to the truth.
This blindness to truth has the potential to result in violence against the victim of stereotyping. In Staples essay he speaks of how, “There were the standard unpleasantries with policemen, whose business is to screen out troublesome individuals before there is any nastiness” (Staples 267). Staples doesn’t blame police for stereotyping he and countless other African Americans. Instead, Staples accepts that the police are just doing their job and keeping people safe from violence before it happens, in Mr. Kinsley’s case he wasn’t as understanding. In an interview with the Washington Post Mr. Kinsley speaks about the incident that happened, “The officer who fired the shots seemed confused by what happened. “‘Sir, why did you shoot me?'” Kinsey recalled asking the officer. “He said, ‘I don’t know.'” (Washington Post). Police are taught to shoot first and deal with questions later, in the case of Mr. Kinsley the officer shot first based on the color of his skin and didn’t bother to ask questions before shooting. Police can become blind to the truth of the suspect when they see the color of the skin. In recent cases, including Mr. Kinsley’s, the truth about the victims do not play a role in whether or not police shoot them. The only thing that matters to police is the color of the suspects skin and if they have the potential to be carrying a
weapon. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/21/fla-police-shoot-black-man-with-his-hands-up-as-he-tries-to-help-autistic-patient/
Brent Staples’ “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” is about how racial profiling has affected his life and made him think of himself as a perilous person. He supports this argument by allowing the readers to see things from his point of view during the times when he was treated like an outsider because of the color of his skin, followed by sharing how the situation made him feel confused and foreign. Staples’ wrote this essay in order to make readers become aware of how often racial profiling actually happens among men. His intended audience is primarily people of color because that is what his essay focuses on, but the intended audience is also those who are not of color because the author is trying to convince them about the
Despite the passing of the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action, racism evolved from the blatant discrimination of the 1960s like segregation, to the slightly more passive racism of the 1990s such as unfair arrests/jail time (Taylor). Curtis’ writes three decades after the aforementioned progress and yet, looking back on the 90s, there is an alarming amount of similarities between the two.
Brent Staples and Richard Rodriguez’s autobiographical essays both start out with a problem, but they deal with it in different ways. Brent Staples’ “Just Walk on By” deals with the issue of racism and social judgment he faces because he is African-American, while Rodriguez’s essay “Complexion,” details the self-hatred and shame he felt in his childhood because of his skin color. Both of these essays deal with race, appearance, and self-acceptance, but the authors write about them in different ways. When looking at the similarities and differences together, the points of these essays have a much stronger message about how to deal with discrimination.
In Brent Staples’ "Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space," Staples describes the issues, stereotypes, and criticisms he faces being a black man in public surroundings. Staples initiates his perspective by introducing the audience in to thinking he is committing a crime, but eventually reveals how the actions taken towards him are because of the fear linked to his labelled stereotypes of being rapists, gangsters and muggers. Staples continues to unfold the audience from a 20 year old experience and sheds light onto how regardless of proving his survival compared to the other stereotypical blacks with his education levels and work ethics being in the modern era, he is still in the same plight. Although Staples relates such burdens through his personal experiences rather than directly revealing the psychological impacts such actions have upon African Americans with research, he effectively uses emotion to explain the social effects and challenges they have faced to avoid causing a ruckus with the “white American” world while keeping his reference up to date and accordingly to his history.
In the videos all over the news and internet we have seen numerous cases of innocent lives of black people in the United States being taken. It was found that “nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in 2015 were identified as unarmed, though the actual number is likely higher due to underreporting” (“Police Killed More”). While about 33% of victims have been unarmed, for some reason these officers’ first instincts were to pull out their guns and shoot. These instincts are likely attributed to these officers’ past experience with violent black criminals; yet, what about their experiences with violent white criminals? Why don’t we hear about innocent, unarmed white lives being taken by the police force? It’s because it’s much less likely to happen. According to 2015 reports, unarmed blacks were killed five times faster than whites (“Police Killed More”). Also, based on a project by The Guardian, “black males between the ages of 15 and 34 are nine times more likely to be killed by police than any other demographic” (Craven). This evidence shows that safe to say that because there aren’t really any stereotypes on white people to be violent, the officers don’t initially think to pull out their guns and shoot. Stereotypes attached to young black males such as being violent thugs and criminals are the only logical explanation or excuse for
Racism still exists today in this day and age. African American men are particularly stereotyped to be drug dealers, criminals, and gangsters. People have there on opinion about black men, if someone is sitting in their car, and a black man walks by they’re going to lock their door, because they’re scared there going to get robed. The stereotypes about African American men are not true. There are educated African American men just like any other race. Two articles “Black Men in Public Space” and “Right Place, Wrong Face” deal with the issue of two educated African American men that get treated differently, because of the color of their skin. The articles are focused on times when both
We still consider a black person as a bad individual in today’s society. In his essay, “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Staples describes why he had to alter his behavior in order for the public to feel safe around him. Staples uses different examples in order for the reader to comprehend as to why he needed to do this. Staples further gives us details how he is being discriminated throughout all his life. Moreover, Staples tells us his emotions and frustration in how society is prejudice towards black people. I agree he had alter his behavior because of the way society was treating him and how he lived day by day the injustices of society.
Throughout the last couple of years, tensions between the African American community and police departments across America have been at an all-time high. According to Alex Piquero’s Race, Punishment, and the Michael Vick Experience, “Blacks are generally less trustworthy of police and have been or know someone who has been mistreated by them” (537). This may be because the United States’ criminal justice system, as described by Rachel Feinstein, can be seen as a white-dominated institution, functioning in the interests of white people (“White Privilege, Juvenile Justice, Criminal Identities” 315). If the criminal justice system is operated mostly by whites, then they have little to no consciousness of the negative and dangerous effects its
In “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, he explain in the short story that the presence of black people in public spaces scare white people. It scares while people because they could not differentiate between a black person from a mugger. The time when this was happening, there was a lot of racism going in the United States. I still see this in today’s society but only racism but also sexism.
“Personally, everyone has racially profiled another person. But when cops do it it 's worthy of a public shaming. It 's a part of the job,” said Hall-Walker. “I don 't think its law enforcement vs. African Americans. Are cops killing blacks? Hell yea! Are they killing whites too? Hell yea! If a black cop shot an unarmed white person, the nation would be overturned with rage. The reason being: that isn 't the social norm. We 're used to the white police killing black Americans. The media does a great job at showing us what they want us to see!”
In his article “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”, which first appeared in the women’s magazine Ms. Magazine and later Harpers, Brent Staples explores the discrimination he faced as a black man living in Chicago and New York. In writing this piece, Brent Staples hoped to use a combination of pathos and ethos to demonstrate to the women that read Ms. Harper’s that Staples is actually the victim when the women treat him the way they do and to get these women to view him, and other black men, differently and to make them realize that they are people too. Staples use of his ethos and pathos serve well to support his position and convince others to take a new perspective. Staples uses ethos in multiple ways
The author of Black Men and Public Space, Brent Staples, is an African American man who has a PhD in psychology from the University of Chicago and he is a member of the New York Times editorial board. Staples published an article that described several personal experiences in which he felt that the people around him were afraid of his presence. Staples’ purpose is to bring to light the prejudice that exists in everyday life for African Americans. In Black Men and Public Space, Staples appeals to pathos by using imagery and strong diction, and he uses a somber yet sarcastic tone to portray his message.
In the short essay, “Black Men in Public Space” written by Brent Staples, discusses his own experiences on how he is stereotyped because he is an African American and looks intimidated in “public places” (Staples 225). Staples, an intelligent man that is a graduate student at University of Chicago. Due to his skin complexity, he is not treated fairly and always being discriminated against. On one of his usual nightly walks he encountered a white woman. She took a couple glances at him and soon began to walk faster and avoided him that night. He decided to change his appearance so others would not be frightened by his skin color. He changed the way he looked and walked. Staples dressed sophisticated to look more professional so no one would expect him to be a mugger. Whistling classical music was referred to the “cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country”(Staples 226). The cowbell is used to protect hikers from bears. But in Staples case, it was to not be stereotyped and show that he is harmless. The general purpose of Staples essay was to inform the readers that stereotypes could affect African Americans and any other races.
In this narrative essay, Brent Staples provides a personal account of his experiences as a black man in modern society. “Black Men and Public Space” acts as a journey for the readers to follow as Staples discovers the many societal biases against him, simply because of his skin color. The essay begins when Staples was twenty-two years old, walking the streets of Chicago late in the evening, and a woman responds to his presence with fear. Being a larger black man, he learned that he would be stereotyped by others around him as a “mugger, rapist, or worse” (135).
And the worst part is: we act on them”. I start question if some police officer’s genuinely mistaken harmless object, as noted, just because an African American accompanies it. Reflecting upon this I realized I have been in a similar situation, minus the “weapon bias”. Walking in downtown Cincinnati my Fiancé and I are headed to a show at the Aronoff Center. A few minutes into the walk an African American (whose clothing was holed, covered in dirt and he carrying a large garbage bag on his back) was starting to approach us along the sidewalk. I clenched the arm of my Fiancé a little tighter fearing that something bad was going to happen. I unintentionally reacted with fear. I winced praying, “I hope we are not harmed.” Where could this have come from? Growing up in the Army (moving place to place) my family had many multicultural family-friends. Can people really say they learn these attributes from their parents like suggested in the article? The article reads, “children whose mothers had more negative implicit attitudes towards black…tended to choose white over black playmates” (p.35). I felt unsure in my experience if this was the case. Concentrating on what they called the “weapon bias” during the incident of Amadou Diallo, the police officer may have had similar “fearful” feelings (as I did) only the officer’s justified taking