Kiese Laymon's How to Slowly Kill Yourselves and Others in America and Brent Staples' Black Men and Public Spaces

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In Kiese Laymon “How to Slowly Kill yourselves and others in America” and Brent Staples “Black Men and Public Spaces” both essays deal with being an African American man but the authors respond in a different ways. At one point in history being an African American wasn’t always the easiest but two Authors shared their stories about the experiences they had which were very different. Although the color of their skin is the same and how they treated was as well both authors take different precaution’s to handle the situations they were in to persuade the audience on how to deal with the effects of racism. Both authors show their hidden message through the actions presented throughout the essays. Laymon`s casual tone and will to fight make him more relatable Both authors have some of the same experience when it comes to racism and they don`t understand. Staples says “I was to become thoroughly familiar with the language of fear. At dark. Shadowy intersections. “I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver— black, white, male, or female — hammering down the door locks.” Laymon has a similar experience when “we got close to Shonda`s Saturn and one of the men says. “Kiese write about this!” Then another voice calls me a “Nigger” and Shonda a “nigger bitch” I think and feel a lot but mostly I feel that I can’t do anything to make the boys feel like they`ve made us feel like right there.” After reading these experiences both authors have a sense of fear from the side effects of racisms. Laymon goes on to tell you to stand up for what you believe in contrary to Staples. Laymon comes off very high strung, not afraid to speak his mind. “Fuck you” I tell him and suck my... ... middle of paper ... ...ach essay I would say that authors do an amazing job of telling their stories. I do think it would be nice is Brent Staples tell more of how he really felt when dealing with these situation instead of giving just a brief example. Laymon essay was well writing and very understandable I love that he doesn’t tell you what you are supposed to learn from this essay but you make of it what you will. While each author has shared experiences they handle these situations differently. A difference the authors had were the approach they took to the different situations they faced, and the words while writing about them. Some of them similar things these authors shared were the emotions they felt when facing these adversities. One of the biggest things they shared was there hidden message while subtle is very powerful. Peace is a very powerful tool for dealing with animosity.

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