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Racism In America America is known as a freedom heaven, a civilized and equal country that everyone wishes they were here. However, there are many social problems that still exist in the United States and one of them is racism, which effects not only black people but also other racial groups. In "Black Men and Public Space" was first published in Ms.Magazine in 1986 written by Brent Staples who is an African-American author. He narrates his personal experiences as a victim of racism. Based on Staples’s experience, it seems like a wake-up call to everyone that racism has had a big impact on society for hundreds of years and it is still happening today. Brent Staples, who is "the youngish black man" is misunderstood as a criminal. People think …show more content…
He also shares some other situations women have feared the worst from him, but he does not blame them for being careful from the street when watching violence. Moreover, he is mistaken for a burglar when he run to his newspaper office in a late night with a deadline story in his hand or the story of black male journalist is convinced as the killer, and a woman lets her dogs out when he was at a jewelry store. After all problem above, Staples is trying to get the message across to the reader about how people have some misconceptions about African-Americans. He shows the perspective of himself who encounters public racism on a daily basis, and the prejudice based on the appearance. Staple is a victim who was under a white society that both feared him based on the color of his skin. In the early 17th century, African slaves were treated like animals, in the article Black History Milestones, some historians have approximated that six to seven million slaves were imported to the New World during the 18th century, …show more content…
In his case, he also feels upset when people avoid or take precautions with African-Americans. Although, racism has been a big thing since the beginning of America and still happening today, our society will end racism when it stops being racist. After all, people cannot be treated based on their skin or their appearance. In other words, do not judge a book by its cover, we are all human and so are African-Americans, they deserve the same rights as any other
Ghettos, low-riders, hip-hop, rap, drugs and crime, it has got to be a Black man right? Saggy pants, unintelligible language, lazy, and the lists continue to both stereotype and describe Blacks. Do Black Americans perpetuate their own discrimination? Are Black Americans creating their own low status in society? Black people around the world have been hypnotized into believing all their failures in life are due to discrimination, but are they correct? Blacks are often their own worst enemies, often the cause of their own disasters, and many don’t see that until it’s too late, if ever. Discrimination and prejudice are imposed upon Blacks, often because the culture they live in is not “acceptable” to the dominant society. On the other hand, an understandable reason for Blacks actions is often due to unattainable opportunities towards the American Dream.
For as long as I can remember, racial injustice has been the topic of discussion amongst the American nation. A nation commercializing itself as being free and having equality for all, however, one questions how this is true when every other day on the news we hear about the injustices and discriminations of one race over another. Eula Biss published an essay called “White Debt” which unveils her thoughts on discrimination and what she believes white Americans owe, the debt they owe, to a dark past that essentially provided what is out there today. Ta-Nehisi Coates published “Between the World and Me,” offering his perspective about “the Dream” that Americans want, the fear that he faced being black growing up and that black bodies are what
In this essay, Dr. Brent Staples recounts his first time unintentionally scaring a young white women located in Hyde Park, Chicago. He recounts her worried posture, her hurried steps, and her repeated glances before she took off down the road. Dr. Staples, being a person of color, took slight offense to this. Before he had never really thought much about his skin color being a factor of intimidation, but rather just a piece of “normal” discrimination. It was the mid 1970’s after all, and it was no secret to anybody
Staples successfully begins by not only admitting the possible faults in his practiced race but also by understanding the perspective of the one who fear them. Black males being opened to more violence because of the environment they're raised in are labeled to be more likely to cause harm or committing crime towards women but Staples asks why that issue changes the outlook of everyday face to face contact and questions the simple actions of a black man? Staples admits, "women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence," (Staples 384) however...
America have a long history of black’s relationship with their fellow white citizens, there’s two authors that dedicated their whole life, fighting for equality for blacks in America. – Audre Lorde and Brent Staples. They both devoted their professional careers outlying their opinions, on how to reduce the hatred towards blacks and other colored. From their contributions they left a huge impression on many academic studies and Americans about the lack of awareness, on race issues that are towards African-American. There’s been countless, of critical evidence that these two prolific writers will always be synonymous to writing great academic papers, after reading and learning about their life experience, from their memoirs.
Based on the title of the book alone, it is easy to say that racism is one of the many social issues this book will address. Unlike the normal racism of Caucasians versus African Americans, this book focuses on racism of the black elite versus African Americans, also known as colorism. Colorism is the discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically by others of the same racial group. Margo Jefferson says, “Negroland is my name for a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty” (p. 1).
Staples was taken a gander at as a black man who needed to take or hurt somebody each time he was within the sight of a white person. Staples likewise clarified how as a young man he saw extreme folks going to prison and how he lost his sibling, high school cousin, and dear companion. He was practically expelled from an occupational building because the director had confused him with a thief. Following quite a while of being mixed up for a criminal, Staples discovered that on the off chance that he would avoid potential risk to make himself less undermining. He does that by changing his physical conduct.
The timeline of racism is as old as time. Racism, over the years, has thrived and has created a divide between people of different ethnicity and race. It breeds an aura where one race feels superior over another because of skin color, or background. It has even gone to the extent of creating an hierarchy that even makes men of a particular race inferior to women of another. In the book, A Gathering Of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines, Gaines takes time and effort to discuss the pain, fear and shame the characters felt in being black.
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
Staples had it rough starting off as a new student in the University in Chicago. He was very uncomfortable in this new place which is completely understandable. Although being this young of a student he did not realize how he presents himself to people on his early night walks matters. On the nights he couldn't sleep he would go on walks around the park and around a few blocks. He always wore sweats and a hoodie. This made him very sketchy. A six foot black man slumping around a park sometimes walking behind a woman sets off the wrong idea. How you present yourself in every situation matters. He could have possibly had less confrontations with the police. Although the fact that people of a different race are criticized by their looks is awful, it is the truth. When you see a black man wearing a suit you perceive him as successful. Although when you see a black man wearing sweats and a hoodie you assume he lives in the ghetto. Although when Mr. Staples follows another person it does seem creepy. I do not understand why he would not just take another avenue. If it was me walking around in the middle of the night I would stay away from other people as much as I could. I believe that some of those women over reacted when he was walking behind them. Running away was not necessary. As a woman myself I would have been scared but I believe the situation is what you make it. When it came to the confrontations with the police I do not understand why he would have been so rude
Brent Staples uses his own personal anecdotes in his essay that help support his claim that he is an innocent black man in America that has been a victim of racial profiling. At the beginning of his essay to pull the reader in and uses diction to create this suspenseful tone, only to end of the essay off with him fearing more of what is America’s perception of him than his “victims” fear of him. At the beginning of the essay, Staples it off by saying “My first victim was a woman - white…” This first sentence hooks the reader in and to some degree paints what the victim’s perception of him was especially when Staples describes himself as “a broad six feet two inches with a beard… seemed menacingly close.” He creates this suspenseful scene to build a false
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.
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
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).