‘‘The Seat Not Taken’’ by John Edgar Wideman, is an article that was published in "The New York Times Newspaper" in 2010. He is a memoirist, novelist, and professor at Brown University. He is an African American man who takes the subway train from his home to work. For the past four years, he conducted an informal experiment which he noticed that people would ignore the empty seat beside him, because of his skin color. He uses his own experience, metaphors, and statistics to support his claim that even in this era racism still exist.
The author makes a connection between the election of Barack Obama and his experiences on the train. Stating he finds it hard that the citizens of America show disapproval of blacks, even though they have a
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If he included black women with his color the results might have been different. For example, more people like sitting next to women than a man.The article is a little bias because it is seen through his own eyes. But, the thesis statement introduces the topic well and gets the interest of the reader. The article impacted me as a reader because I started thinking about if something needs to be done, considering the situation and the authors view on racial division. For example, the end of the article the author mentions a poster that says see something, say something in the subway. As if to say something needs to change.
To conclude, this article is a cause and effect essay with an intended audience of middle class working people, like himself. The cause is that the author concluded that color explains a lot about his experiences. And the effect was that even with an African-American present, he would have a vacant seat beside him. He ruled out all the possibilities and reasons someone wouldn’t want to sit next to him and it turned into no other reason, other than his skin color in his mind. Although he didn’t mind the extra space the reason why the seat stayed empty was
The bus was full of people with only one black person and he was smiling and polite he was still viewed as an outsider “I was embarrassed by him” (Andre Levy 691) she was just like him but felt embarrassed by him because he was like an alien to the others. The author talks about how she came to london from the caribbean “that made my family very odd. We were immigrants. Outsiders.” (Andrea Levy 692) living in london at that time and not being white instantly made you an outsider. “On one occasion my mom did not have enough money to buy food for our dinner. None at all. She worried that she might be forced into the humiliation of asking someone…..” (Andrea Levy 693) in the caribbean there family was middle class but in london they were poor. The effect the british colonization even made her family be ashamed of other caribbeans and isolated themselves from other black caribbeans and wanted nothing to do with them. This brainwashed the author she even says “in my efforts to be as british as i could be, i was completely indifferent to jamaica. None of my friends knew anything about the caribbean. They didn't know where it was, or who lived there, or why. And they had no curiosity about it beyond asking why black people were in this country. It was too foreign and therefore not worth knowing.” (Andrea Levy 694) the author grew up thinking that white people were superior and wanted to fit in which meant abandoning her true self and dropping her cultures and beliefs just to be accepted. The author later gets a wakeup call when she was working part time for a sex-education project for young people “one day the staff had to take part in a racism awareness course. We were asked to split into two groups, black and white. I walked over to the white side the room. It was, ironically where i felt most at
During the train trip from Washington D.C. to Savannah, Georgia, it was difficult for Marian Anderson and her mother because they had to put up with racism, discrimination, and segregation while on that single train ride. Since they were segregated from the whites and the "white folk" had the more luxurious train car, the colored people were expected to ride inside the more dilapidated train car. The car that they were riding in was "dirty inside and out" and had "windows [that] were badly in need of washing, and the ventilation and lighting were poor." This means that the conditions that the colored people were expected to reside in were of extremely low quality. Not only that, but it can be inferred that people can get sick while on the train ride. The line, "...the air became stuffy and the windows were raised, smoke and soot from the engine directly ahead poured into the car." shows that people were unable to breathe properly while in the train car. The people riding the "lower class and colored car" would have to make a choice of either feeling cramped inside the "stuffy car" or feel less cramped but not be able to breathe properly.
This allowed readers to experience horrible acts of white people and to empathize with the innocent victims. However, Rankine criticizes the people of the United States for their attitudes and behaviors towards African-Americans. Particularly, the author claimed that “as citizens, we are all involved in society’s indignities and injustices, whether as perpetrator or bystander consciously or unthinkingly” (Evaristo 1). Thus, the book challenges people’s perceptions and beliefs, compelling them to reevaluate their actions. The readers begin to understand that their tolerance of violence and lack of actions to prevent racism contributes to injustices in the United States. Rankine even implied that “freedom of expression, something which the accumulative stresses of racial violence would seem to attempt to limit” blocks and alters “his or her experience of citizenship” (Day 3). Therefore, the citizens need to get involved in supporting and protecting African-Americans’ lives, who are loyal residents of the nation as
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.
Ethnic group is a settled mannerism for many people during their lives. Both Zora Neale Hurston, author of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me; and Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” realize that their life will be influenced when they are black; however, they take it in pace and don’t reside on it. They grew up in different places which make their form differently; however, in the end, It does not matter to them as they both find ways to match the different sexes and still have productivity in their lives.. Hurston was raised in Eatonville, Florida, a quiet black town with only white passer-by from time-to-time, while Staples grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, surrounded by gang activity from the beginning. Both Hurston and Staples share similar and contrasting views about the effect of the color of their
Both authors have taken the deliberative to uncover the unconscious phenomenon that controls and affects how people interact, make perceptions, assumptions and even decisions in life. Most of these biases that people tend to have against other races are shaped and reinforced by one’s surroundings and experiences. It is therefore important expose these biases so as to grow as a society and extinguish the white privileges. Unless America is ready to face the truth about the existing biases, racial tensions and incidences will continue to
The African American male community and colorism aren’t as affected by the judgement and abused as that of a women. Our community of African Americans are supposed to live in harmony because of everything that we have been through, For example, slavery, voting, etc... The African American male community to judge women on their skin shade, their looks, and their personality has my interiors aching. It has always been the male's job to raise a family by supplying the money to put food on the table not whether they're being mistreated by a shade of color. A woman is the one that is being put down by their shade of color and judged by how black they are compared to the rest of the world. It’s supposed to be the male's job to help the women out, but they’re the ones that judge and ridicule them the most.
Like the article “African American Women in the Workplace: Relationships Between Job Conditions, Racial Bias at Work, and Perceived Job Quality” Dina is being restricted from the opportunity to work in the modeling industry. The modeling workforce is plagued with institutionalized racism, which therefore hinders Dina from finding a job. Since institutionalized racism is dominant when Dina tries to find a job, this causes segregation amongst individuals of different races in the modeling workforce.
The subway passengers would not take a stand against an injustice right before their eyes. Injustices were in their lives everyday and what was another one? The subway passengers seemed to be desensitized toward the pain. Clay lived out the lyrics in Bessie Smiths song, Downhearted Blues,“Trouble, Trouble, I’ve had it all my days. It seems that trouble’s going to follow me to my grave,” (Bessie Smith, Downhearted
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 is due to what we have been spoon fed by the media, I don 't agree or like how people of color and gender are stereotyped but this article made me much more aware of how the media still has such an enormous impact on our racial decision. Whites were portrayed in a positive way just due to color and were provided so much more then blacks, such as schooling, reading, treatment and so much
In Campus Racism 101 Nikki Giovanni states that, “this world cannot allow white students to go through college without interacting with Blacks in authoritative figures.” (Writing on the River 12) The Atlantic Online states that in 1994, the same year Nikki Giovanni published Campus Racism 101, only 11 percent of black people make up the College student body. (Andrew Mcgill) All of these things considering, 1994 was the perfect time to write this article. Giovanni’s personal essay does many brilliant things in her article. She effectively ties in actual questions black students will face, gives advice on how to succeed in college, and gives points on how to gain your instructor’s respect. All of these things she states in the article will help any student in College. The only thing it does not do well is the length of the article. As a whole the article feels like it could have touched on a few more points such as going in a little deeper on the positives of a College
The sympathetic humanist might bristle at first, but would eventually concur. For it's hard to argue with poverty. At the time the novel was published (1912), America held very few opportunities for the Negro population. Some of the more successful black men, men with money and street savvy, were often porters for the railroads. In other words the best a young black man might hope for was a position serving whites on trains. Our protagonist--while not adverse to hard work, as evidenced by his cigar rolling apprenticeship in Jacksonville--is an artist and a scholar. His ambitions are immense considering the situation. And thanks to his fair skinned complexion, he is able to realize many, if not all, of them.
"Social Forces." The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order. Oxfordjournals,org, 2007. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
This short story was written during the apartheid system. The bench at the railway station symbolises South African society at that time. Karlie refuses to move from the " whites only " bench and is therefore pulled away by the police. Under apartheid even mixed marriages were not allowed. Schools, restaurants and hotels were segregated. " Bantu education" was enforced for black people in South Africa in 1953. The blacks were taught that they were less intelligent than other races. Karlie`s initial confusion while listening to the speech, can be linked to this form of brain washing. Many were opposed to this oppressive system. Karlie is of course alone in disobeying the police, but he represents all the black opponents of apartheid and racial discrimination. " Karlie turned to resist, to cling to the bench, to his bench." Karlie is not only holding on to a bench, but also to his own existence as an equal citizen of South Africa. " It was senseless fighting any longer. Now it was his turn to smile." Although Karlie looses his grip, he is not defeated. He smiles as he`s taken away. Karlie wins the battle with himself and is proud of showing his