While in Jamaica, a young Caucasian American woman stood by the bus stop waiting for her transport to arrive. During this time, she notices a “black and slinking” shadow amidst the darkness. When the shadow came into eyesight, she saw that it was a man, a black man. She watched him cautiously as he walked up to her slowly and silently in his canvas shoes. She thought that it was uncommon to see a black man approach a white woman. Then, he asked her for a light for his cigarette. This was the beginning of their very interesting discussion. She replied by saying she did not have a match. It was inferred that the man asked how she lit her cigarette, as she did not have any matches left. The truth was indeed that, she had lit that match from the …show more content…
After the man’s cigarette was lit, he apologizes for making her waste a whole cigarette. An assumption can be made that he is actually apologizing for being a man of color, because if he were not black she would have never thrown away her cigarette. The woman thought that there was something indecent about talking to a black man on a street corner. This then made it clear that it did not matter what his actions were, she would still judge him based on his …show more content…
If the man were white, the woman would have been more comfortable talking to him and vice versa. Her reasons for being suspicious were valid as she was concerned with the man being a hooligan that preys on women. In America, it was very abnormal for a man of color to approach a Caucasian woman, but in Jamaica, it seemed quite normal. The man explains to the woman that everyone gets along in Jamaica without the use of violence. As he is Jamaican, he says to her that both men and women are equal there but it sounds very strange to her because of her background. After contemplating on what he said, she thinks about her return to America and about the many stories, she would have been able to tell. She then became more intrigued than suspicious or scared. Many people are like this woman, even today. They believe in the stereotypes against black people or any other race of color. The author, Roger Mais, used those stereotypes that people believed to make this story full of tension and suspense...Attention was mainly drawn to the stereotype against black people where “every black man is dangerous” and that “every black man is up to no good” which is certainly not true. This made the woman become more and more suspicious of the man as his movements were quite questionable to
The black women’s interaction with her oppressive environment during Revolutionary period or the antebellum America was the only way of her survival. Playing her role, and being part of her community that is not always pleasant takes a lot of courage, and optimism for better tomorrow. The autonomy of a slave women still existed even if most of her natural rights were taken. As opposed to her counterparts
...out all these different shifts was less than the black man’s self image. The more politics, economics, and also social began to open it was easier for black men to show their manhood where in previous years, they would have been punished.
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
The other ladies in the short film talk about how they thought that she had a “ real problem with [her] ethnicity like [she] had a problem with the fact that [she] was born African-American (Reynolds). This, along with the documentary on Lacey Schwartz, shows that a person’s sense of blackness is very much a product of what others around them define blackness as.
This essay was written in the mindset of an African American male as he examines how his skin color affects how people react to him when he is in public spaces. He feels as if the sidewalks get narrower the closer he gets to others. He knows that the by passers fear him due to the stereotypical views society
In his essay “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Staples discusses his personal experiences of being an African American male, while coming to the realization of the harsh realities of the stereotypes it carries. Through his anger and frustration, he learned to alter himself in public spaces by making others around him feel less threatened. Not always would it work, such as the occasional double glances he’d get from the person in front of him or a click when walking past someone in their car. Seeing first-hand the effects of being an African American male made me think twice about how they had to present themselves in public due to the decade long stereotypes that the color of someone’s skin can carry. Seeing this happen through my eyes made
While in attendance at University of Georgia, Mary Frances Early, endured many blatant hardships and dehumanizing attitudes from her white counterparts. While attempting to enter the library a few Caucasian students created a “human barricade” in an attempt to block the entrance of the library. Mary Frances being the strong African American woman that she is stormed “full speed ahead” through the “human barricade” into the library to study.
In the next few chapters she discusses how they were brought up to fear white people. The children in her family were always told that black people who resembled white people would live better in the world. Through her childhood she would learn that some of the benefits or being light in skin would be given to her.
Namely, he gets his message across to his audience with the use of imagery. Even so, he says that when he’s out walking the streets of Brooklyn at night, he finds that women “set their faces on neutral”, place their purses “across their chest bandolier style”, and “forge ahead as though bracing themselves from being talked” (Staples 543). With this use of imagery, Staples is able to place an image in the reader’s head of a young women walking the streets- alone, tense, and skittish- all because of man who, unbeknownst, means no harm to her. This denotes the theme of racial profiling in society because it shows the woman’s fear of an African American walking the streets, whom of which has not made one advance or threatening move towards the woman. The woman’s ability to assume the worst in the blink of an eye shows how society has been drilled with the influence of stereotypes and racial profiling. This leads to the fact that an innocent man is being ridiculed for the color of his skin while he had done nothing to cause such actions. Moreover, the description of the woman’s reaction to Staples makes the audience pity him because of his innocence in the cruel and unfair situation and unwillingness to be anybody other than an innocent bystander. Additionally, Staples’ use
Fueled by fear and ignorance, racism has corrupted the hearts of mankind throughout history. In the mid-1970’s, Brent Staples discovered such prejudice toward black men for merely being present in public. Staples wrote an essay describing how he could not even walk down the street normally, people, especially women, would stray away from him out of terror. Staples demonstrates his understanding of this fearful discrimination through his narrative structure, selection of detail, and manipulation of language.
Not only does White discuss those instances of racial prejudice, she also talks about how racism affected her in her adult life. She is unsure if her being black was the reason her group of faculty members were denied a boat to explore the river. However, finally at the end of her essay, White explains how she overcame her fear and connected with a part of her identity that allowed her to find peace and strength in nature. She talks about how her ancestors from Africa were not afraid of the world around them and how they embraced it and how she
Some of her points are, “13”. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my face on trial” she also points out that people of minority will not experience never being “ asked to speak for all the people of my social group” (McIntosh 99). No matter how one may try to analyze a situation, white people are privileged bottom line. Some are more privileged than others by way of money or reputation and others are privileged just by skin alone. In conclusion, everyday people experience racism in some type of way regardless of their skin color.
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...
This was especially evident when they were being pulled over by a racist white cop. She felt that he could have done more to defend their rights instead of accepting injustice. There is also a Persian store owner, who feels that he is getting the short end of the stick in American society because his store was robbed multiple times. Then the Hispanic locksmith encounters racial slurs and discrimination, although he just wanted to keep his family safe. The partnered detectives and lovers of different races, one is a Hispanic woman and the other is a black male, who are dealing with his drug addicted mother who feels that he does not care enough about taking care of his family. In this movie, discrimination and prejudice are the cause of all kinds of collisions. We easily prejudge people with stereotypes, and we are concerned with our pre-thoughts of what kind of person he/she should be, we forget to actually get to know them. It is human nature to have some type of prejudices in one way or another; we fear the unknown. There are stereotypes that black people are angry or tend to be violent; white people feel they are the dominant race and discriminate against all; Asians are thought to be poor or ignorant, and people with higher economic statuses are distinguished to the working class
... It should be understood that Morrison's novel is filled with many characters and many examples of racism and sexism and the foundations for such beliefs in the black community. Every character is the victim or aggressor of racism or sexism in all its forms. Morrison succeeds in shedding light on the racism and sexism the black community had to endure on top of racism and sexism outside of the community. She shows that racism and sexism affect everyone's preconceived notions regarding race and gender and how powerful and prevalent the notions are.