Alice Goffman's On The Run: The Interpretation Of Cultures

“Black Men and Public Space” is a short story about racism. This story is interesting because it is told by the point of view of a black male and his life experiences. ‘Black Men in Public Space” shows how racisms is a never ending drain on society. Racism is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “a belief that race is the primary of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”. There are always two sides to every story, in this case, a black boy and white people. “Black Men and Public Space” explores how black people cope with racism and how they are so easily judged no matter what they are doing or wearing.

In Living for the City, Donna Murch argues that the Black Panther Party started with a study group in Oakland, California. She explains how a small city with a recent history of African American settlement produced such compelling and influential forms of Black Power politics. During the time of historical and political struggle in California 's system of public college, black southern traveling workers formed the BPP. In “Jim Crow’s Counterculture”, Lawson argues that the Great Migration and World War II changed the blues music from the thinking and behavior of younger people who want to be different from the rest of society to one that celebrated the work attitude and the war effort as ways to claim “American citizenship”.

In “Are ethnographies ‘just so” stories?” by E. Paul Durrenberger, in this article he makes an argument about the form of culture being an artifact, and even science is a form of culture. He first points out the development of how culture came to term of being an artifact. Durrenberger says, “If we want to learn about a culture, we study its artifacts, especially the ones that say something about social relations and the culture itself” (60). This is significant because we can’t just have someone make up a story if they never studied or seen with their own two eyes to prove of what is real or not. The second point that he made is that science is a form of culture. Many individuals would ask him if a scientific knowledge must be “culture-free”

In Goffman’s book, these themes are represented in her chapter titles. First, in “The 6th Street Boys and Their Legal Entanglements,” Goffman describes the types of legal troubles the men are frequently involved in. The most common offenses were outstanding warrants for small reasons such as “failure to appear for a court date” or delinquent “court fines and fees” (Goffman, 2014, p. 18). The more serious technical warrants were issued for probation or parole violations such as drinking or breaking curfew. Most of Goffman’s legal analysis focused on outstanding warrants and the men’s reaction, or desire, to stay out of jail. To accomplish this, the men are forced to participate and train others in “The Art of Running.” In this chapter, Goffman depicts the constant cat and mouse game of running for freedom as a community interaction. A successful run is the accomplishment of many, not just the wanted man. From the neighbor who notifies him, to the church friend that hides him in her closet three blocks away, the community does what it can to protect their young men. Not all men are successful, some are caught and for most, running is only one form of

Narratives can teach readers how to connect different stories by discovering the themes of each one. Each author has a different argument and message their trying to tell but however the similar themes can connect. In Brent Staples “Just a walk on by: Black men in public space” and Dave Barry “Turkeys in the kitchen” each author tries to prove their argument of why certain stereotypes affect them and how they feel about it. Brent staples discusses the stereotype of black men being profiled as criminals. Within his narrative, Staples talks about accounts where he would be walking down the street just like a normal person and a white woman ahead of him would run away and cross the street to escape from him. Not because Staples did something to

Every day we use our culture. Whether it be to argue claims, express opinions, or make decisions, culture plays a part in each area. Culture is who we are, one’s identity, its extent is enormous over our views and actions.

Brent Staples in “Black Men and Public Spaces,” illustrates the inescapable prejudices and stereotyping that African-American men face in America. He does this by relating to his audience through his personal experiences with stereotyping, and sharing his malcontent on how these events have made him alter his way of living. From “victimizing” woman, watching people lock themselves away, and having to whistle classical music to calm the nerves of people around him; Staples builds a picture to help people better sympathize and understand his frustration.

Everyday growing up as a young black male we have a target on our back. Society was set out for black males not to succeed in life. I would always hear my dad talk about how police in his younger days would roam around the town looking for people to arrest or get into an altercation with. As a young boy growing up I couldn’t believe some of the things he said was happening. However as I got older I would frequently hear about someone getting killed by the police force. It still didn’t click but I knew what was happening. Growing up police brutality wasn’t broadcasted as much as it should’ve have been. This then made me think about how to improve police brutality not only dealing with African Americans but also with other colored skinned people.

As a young african american male, I’ve encountered many challenges and obstacles that has been tough to overcome for any male; especially male of color. Novelist Jennifer Gonnerman shared one forth of what African American males go through on a day to day basis, in her article, “Before the Law,” that sheds light on a particular incident about a kid from Bronx named Kalief Browder; who was falsely accused of taking a backpack from a New York resident on the day of Saturday, May 15, 2010. Kalief Browder spent the next two to three years confined in Rikers Island (Correctional Facility), which is a four-hundred-acre island in the EastRiver, between Queens and the Bronx. Kalief Browder was being charged with many charges such as robbery, grand

Assurance in equal justice remains as an overwhelming political principle of American culture. Yet withstanding unbelief exists among numerous racial and ethnic minorities. Their doubt comes as no surprise, given a past filled with differential treatment in the arrangement of criminal equity, an issue particularly clear in police misconduct. Researchers have investigated police responses to racial and ethnic minorities for quite some time, offering sufficient confirmation of minority burden on account of police. These examinations raise doubt about different police techniques of coercive control, maybe none more so than police brutality. Its use exemplifies the pressures between police and minorities that exist in America today.

Though Brent Staples writes “Black Men in Public Space” in essay form, and Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” is a short story, both authors explore similar ideas about race, the power of racial stereotypes, and the harmful effect of them. Staples use of irony, and Morrison’s symbolic use of metaphor shows that every situation has multiple perspectives and to not look outside of one individual experience can often induce one to accept stereotypes as full truths. As Staples discusses the stereotypes attached to black males, he writes about “the alienation that comes of being ever the suspect”(2). The word suspect literally means a person thought to be guilty of a crime or offense, but here it is used in an ironic perspective. Staples really wasn’t

The book On the Run by Alice Goffman narrates six years Goffman spent hanging out in a black poor neighborhood of West Philadelphia that she calls 6th Street. During her stay there, she became friends with a group of resident young men, and got to know their surroundings such as girlfriends and family members. This experience in this disadvantaged neighborhood pushed her to write this book where she describes the neighborhood’s conditions, the violence encountered by the police and the residents, and the injustices of the criminal justice system. The book’s primary argument is that the continuous threat of surveillance and continuous investigations that lead to the arrest and imprisonment of young people did great harm to 6th Street, turning many of its residents into

Will society ever view African-Americans as people and not as less than? In “Chokehold” Paul Butler will discuss this very idea depth. Butler provides history on why and how society sees African-American men as violent thugs. Butler goes on to explain in detail how the chokehold plays a part in oppressing African-American men and how to avoid the ramifications of the Chokehold, if possible. In the last chapter, Butler provides various ideals in effort to rid the Chokehold in its entirety.

We live in a society where ethnic minorities are target for every minimal action and/or crimes, which is a cause to be sentenced up to 50 years in jail. African Americans and Latinos are the ethnic minorities with highest policing crimes. In chapter two of Michelle Alexander’s book, The Lockdown, we are exposed to the different “crimes” that affects African American and Latino minorities. The criminal justice system is a topic discussed in this chapter that argues the inequality that people of color as well as other Americans are exposed to not knowing their rights. Incarceration rates, unreasonable suspicions, and pre-texts used by officers are things that play a huge role in encountering the criminal justice system, which affects the way

If someone was to ask me what anthropology was, prior to this assignment, I would have probably taken an educated guess such as “the study of life”. In a sense that is correct but not entirely accurate. Anthropology is defined as, “The study of human kind in all times and places” (Haviland, Prins, McBride, & Walrath, 2017). After an extensive analyzation of my experiences, I concluded that I don’t practice anthropology in my life enough. In addition, I discovered that my life doesn’t have much diversity in it. With that said, I am moving forward with an open mind towards new cultures and am eager to learn more about the people that make up this planet.