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 …show more content…
He makes anecdotes of all the times when people would suspect that he or his peers were going to cause trouble in a public area when all they were doing was going to a job or just simply communicating with a police officer. Because of these anecdotes, he is creating a lot of pathos in his writing. Especially halfway through the essay his tone changes to a more nonchalant response to being profiled. He gives off that nonchalant feeling when he states “...I was to become thoroughly familiar with the language of fear… On less traveled streets after dark, I grew accustomed to but never comfortable with people crossing to the other side of the street rather than pass me.” It makes the reader question why is behavior like this even acceptable as the victim of behavior like this is feeling as though this is becoming normalized. His essay also has ethos as well, as since he his writing in first person, thus giving off the impression that he is an authority figure over what he is talking about when he hits on the subject of racial profiling, as he has lived through
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 article “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, originally published in Ms. Magazine in 1986, under the title “Just Walk on by,” depicts the existence of racism within the unconscious prejudice of people. The main idea of this article is the fact that blacks are perceived as a violent and disastrous people, and this, in turn, puts them in danger. Staples uses a detailed imagery to illustrate the stereotype of individuals based on black people. In the article, the author portrays the poignant events that black people face and uses pathos to describe his melancholy of people judging him by his skin color. He attracts the focus of audience towards the main idea of this article by using onomatopoeia as well as diction. The usage of such rhetorical strategy has successfully clarified the main idea of the article and widened the approach of this article towards public.
It gives the reader a feeling of sympathy for the African American male, while also educating them on how to handle a situation if they are put in one similar to any of these scenarios. The reader is also able to comprehend that he knows why white people fear him and that he does not think it is an irrational fear. Although this essay is a little biased, it gives the reader a view from both sides of the fence. Staples essay was one that every white male and female should read. Maybe then, the readers would not be so scared of African American
Throughout the years, the black community has been looked down upon as community of criminals and community lesser educated and poor and have a lesser purpose in life. Journalist Brent Staples the author of Black Men And Public Spaces takes us into his own thoughts as a young black man growing up in Chester, Pennsylvania to becoming a journalist in New York City. He tells us his own challenge that he face on a daily basis along with challenges that many black men his own age faced and the way he changed in order to minimize the tension between himself and the common white person.
In the writing “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, located on www.learning.hccs.edu and published in 1986, the writing tells of a black man at the age of twenty-two who is viewed as a convict due to the prejudice wave consuming the United States. The publication opens with the young man walking the streets of Chicago during the dusk hours. A panicked woman walking ahead of him ran away. He was a black man with a beard, standing about six-two. His appearance made people nervous. He was seen as a rapist, mugger, criminal, and much worse due to how he was seen. Through this event, the author explains how the man was viewed during this period of time. Then, the man moved to New York City. Here, he felt the same discrimination. He was
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.
Controversial author and Professor, Anthea Butler, strongly signalled in one of her very edgy pieces the obvious weight racial labelling and stereotypes have in mass media based on a string of mass shootings and similar crimes around the United States. Her piece explicitly uncovers the underlying racism in the media clearly proving the strong influence names and labels have inside a society affecting it in a positive or negative way whether it’s in fictional literature, or in real life events.
As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Brent Staples never realized before the strong stereotype against black men has he had the one late night walk. When on a late night walk, Staples, a young black man realized the stereotype that most Americans have of the young black male. As a young white woman was walking that night in front of him and caught a glimpse of Staples approaching her. She became uncomfortable in the situation and responded by running away from Staples. Not until this incident did Staples realize the negative impact of the young black male on other people, often resulting in being intimidated. He was not seen as a young bright adult with a prominent future, rather he was seen as a mugger, or worse yet a rapist. He did not ask to be seen as a misconception of what others may believe him to be. People were often quick to judge him based solely on the color of his skin and nothing else. He was a twenty-two year old black male that stood over six feet with a broad frame. Brent had experienced many instances where people would see him as a person he is not. For example, one time he walked into a jewelry store and instantly the cashier assumed he was about to rob the store. She replied to her false premonition by going to the back of the store and coming out with a Doberman Pincher to chase him away. It is instances like this that can scar an individual and make him doubt oneself, but Brent did not and he found that he could fix the situation. His solution to the problem was whistling. He found that when he would whistle people saw him as less threatening, even thought most low-lifes did not know Beethoven or Mozart. Still, he found ways to deal with his problems and so can everyone else who is judged only on their physical appearance. Similarly to
In this story, a white lawyer in 1930s Alabama must defend an African-American man accused of raping a white woman. At first, the black man’s case doesn’t seem to stand a chance against the word of a white woman. However, as the trial goes on, it appears that Tom Robinson, the defendant, has solid evidence that he is innocent. But at the end of the trial, Tom Robinson is found guilty of a crime he did not commit, simply because of the fact that he is black. The blatant racial discrimination expressed by the jury is shocking, but unfortunately not at all unexpected. Every single trial that involved a white person against a black person in that time period was ruled in favor of the white person. It is obvious that even though the events of the novel are fictional, they are extremely realistic, and the quote by Barbara Jordan ties directly into the novel To Kill a
His use of humor and irony once again make the reader stop and think about what society imposed upon him. Furthermore, his persona also shows him as a forgiving man and even shows his understanding for why things are like they are. He states that “Black men have a firm place in New York mugging literature.” He goes on to site authors like Norman Podhoretz who wrote pieces such as “My Negro Problem -- And Ours,” a piece that recounts the fear that he felt, growing up in terror of black
Victimhood is socially constructed by a dominant culture wherein racism precedes in state procedures, and the liberal principles fail to acknowledge it. Cord Jefferson highlights in “The Zimmerman Jury Told Young Black Men What We Already Knew” the discrimination against people of color specifically the injustice that occurs towards black men in America by public and state officials. Being apologetic for public fear, afraid of getting into a fight and tolerating the indignity of strangers are a few of the racist actions that black men have tolerated for years to avoid being arbitrarily beaten, arrested, or worse being shot to death. The courts and state agencies have been established on the liberal principles and due process rules. As a result,
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).
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...
degree in Behavioral Science. Staples also receive two doctoral award and later from graduated University of Chicago with his Ph.D. Degree in Psychology. In a society, black men are being discriminate because of their appearance, the way GOD created them by refereeing them by the hair texture, huge lips, dark skin and gigantic buttock and also the way they dress them self or the way they live they life, on the other hand some white see them a s criminal or rapist, and this occurs as a result of Misrecognition and Criminalization. In the article “Black Men and Public Space,” Staples deliberate about how black men of to give space to white women in public space, if not they are criminalize as
Staples starts off his articles with a very strong hyperbole, “My first victim was a woman- white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties.” (Staples 309) that is referring to the first person that ever used stereotypes to judge him. The woman showed a worried glance towards Staples, she picks up her pace and disappears to avoid him. This happened to him more than a decade ago by the time he writes this article, a bad flashback affecting him. He says the way that woman thought of him was a “…mugger, a rapist, or worse.” (Staples 339). This can get to a person, being judged this hardly based off the color of your skin. This incident left him feeling “surprised, embarrassed and dismayed all at once.” (Staples 340). It can mess up a person trying to find himself. Staples makes adjustments on his day to day life in order to make other people more comfortable in her presence “ On less traveled streets after dark, I grew accustomed to but never comfortable with people crossing to the other side of the other side of the street rather than pass me” (Staples 340). Once again the author is not comfortable in his own shoes as He tries his best to avoid one-on-one confrontations on the street. He tells a story of another black male journalist “Mistaking the reporter for the killer, police officers hauled him from his car nearly at gunpoint and but for his press credentials would have tried to book