Does racism and discrimination happen everyday? In a recent article written, Brent Staples, the author of “Black men and Public Space” has written his article to inform readers how, because of racism and discrimination, he can alter public space. By being black he is able to change public space, by doing certain things and acting a specific way he is allowed to make people think he is a dangerous criminal that is up to no good. FOB’s vs Twinkies” is written by Grace Hsiang. She captures the real life scenarios that racism happens everyday between different races and most of the time, ironically, in the same race. She talks about intraracial and interracial problems, and which ones she has seen or heard of. In this essay I will be explaining the similarities and differences between two authors, who write about similar things occurring every day, we pay no attention to. In these articles, the authors show similarities of discrimination; however these articles highlight similarities using tone, diction and audiences. Racism and discrimination are both discussed in these articles. And in my opinion I feel like it would be the main topic throughout both …show more content…
In Black men and Public Space, Staples uses his diction to come off as sarcastic, to add humor to his text. Hsiang, on the other hand, uses her word choice to demonstrate the fear and pessimism her race endures everyday. Although their diction used is a difference, the other difference is who their intended audiences were to be. For Staples, his targeted audience was geared towards young women who are afraid of black males. The audience he preferred to write this for was gender based, to make these young women who are frightened by him aware of unconscious prejudice and racism. In the article “FOB vs Twinkies” her preferred audience was race based; she targeted the young Asians within her
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Show More(Griffin 8). After acknowledging more about the circumstances of being a different skin color, comments about it can not “describe the withering horror and sadness” that is felt by those who experience such cold and spiteful words or actions (Griffin 46). If we do not make these changes together as a nation, our society will become ruined as those with
During his inaugural address on January 12, 1971, Jimmy Carter said, “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.” It has been forty-five years since that quote, and racial discrimination still has not come to an end. There are many different examples of racial discrimination, such as discrimination within single race communities, or discrimination consisting of one race against another. The articles “FOBs vs Twinkies” by Grace Hsiang and “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples portray both of these examples of racial discrimination. “FOB’s vs Twinkies” addresses the intraracial discrimination that occurs within Asian-American communities and the difficulties that result from this.
In Patricia Williams' book Seeing a Colorblind Future: The Paradox of Race there was an instance of everyday racism that took place on a train. The incident she spoke of was that she was on a train heading from New York to Washington D.C. with two of her black colleagues. They were heading to a lawyers convention and when the train stopped in Philadelphia, PA a young white female entered the train and sat in the same row as them. She was a heading to the same convention as them. Not long after the conductor came and saw the four people but only three ticket stubs.
Racial discrimination is a significant problem still in today’s day. In fact there was an article published in April 2015 called “ The Skin I’m In”. It's about an African American man who had been discriminated not only by classmates and strangers but by authority figures also. He started off in Kingston attending Queen’s University. He noticed the police following him in his car.
Philippe writes "I am not here to discuss, massage, understand, or grant absolution for your interest in “race play” [...] I cannot be the racial representative of what you thrill yourself to." (Philippe 16). This quote illustrates the pressure that Philippe felt to serve as a representative of his race for white people and the way in which his perspectives were often dismissed later on. Through Philippe's personal experiences, the book highlights the importance of empathy and understanding in building genuine connections with people of different
In this paper, I will be critiquing these articles and films in order to evaluate the purpose of these readings and how they have helped further develop race in America. But most importantly, whether the author has achieved its purpose to inform readers about CRT, whiteness, and racial inequality. First article, I will be analyzing is Critical Race Theory: An Introduction by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic. Both authors explore Critical Race Theory in detail. As I previously mentioned, CRT is one of the most important developments mainly in the legal studies department.
“Twinkies” share the same main idea of racism. The two authors explain the discrimination and judgment that they receive for being different. Staples states in his article, “It is not altogether clear to me how I reached the ripe old age of twenty-two without being conscious of the lethality nighttime pedestrian attributed to me” (Eschholz 348).This quote appears in Staples’ article after explaining the reactions given to him by the people he encounters while walking the streets fighting off sleeplessness. In Hsiang’s article, she writes, “...we cannot completely embody one culture when we are living in another.” Hsiang here is explaining the struggle of adapting to the American society with having a rich Asian background.
In the article, The Resegregation of Jefferson County, a wide variety of different sociological aspects are portrayed under the fight to separate the school, Gardendale, from the rest of the Jefferson County school system. Multiple different inequalities are discussed in different forms throughout this article specifically including income, institutional racism, and neo-racism. All of these forms of social stratification are still alive today. Social stratification is described as “inequalities among individuals and groups within human societies. (Giddens, Duneier, Applebaum, Carr, p. 194)”
In his essay “Black Men and Public Spaces,” Brent Staples explains that people often find him intimidating because he is tall and black. Staples shares his account of a number of personal encounters, arguing that in each situation, he was misinterpreted as being dangerous because of his daunting physical appearance. Staples asserts that as a result of this misinterpretation, he was continually mistreated. Staples begins his article by describing the events leading up to his life-changing realization that he has inherited “the ability to alter public space in ugly ways (183).” When he was twenty-two years old, Staples found himself one evening, walking behind a well-dressed white woman on a deserted street in a rather wealthy neighborhood.
In his essay, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space”, Brent Staples uses the rhetorical strategies of anecdote and diction in order to convey his message that due to racial discrimination black people (mainly men) have to change the way they naturally conduct themselves in public for they run the risk of something terrible happening to them. Staples uses anecdotes to bring in the personal side of the message to the audience. Staples creates a persona of innocence and almost alienation in his writing. Anecdotes such as his both instances in which he accidently scared women on walks and the time in which he and another reporter were mistaken for murder suspects or robbers are used to show real life proof of his message.
The women’s racism caused her reaction of “running in earnest,” “worried glances” and her eventual getaway, exemplifying the prejudice of a black male. He further demonstrates his “ability to alter public space” when just crossing “in front of a car stopped at a traffic light.” He hears the “thunk” of the driver locking their car regardless of them being “black, white, male, or female.” Staples understands the world is dangerous and people have the right to fear those around them, however, he continues to endure discrimination. But I am the person making those judgements.
I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once,” he writes to admit that he’s harmless. Staples effectively persuades his readers to believe that not all black men are harmful. He wants to make more people comfortable around him and less of a negative stereotype. By acting the opposite of a thug that many [white] people make up the conclusion to be, Staples changes his behavior in a way to protect himself because he’s percieved as a thug that could potentially made him a target and a danger to those around him and to himself. Staples concludes in his essay that thugs wouldn’t be “whistling a bright, upbeat from Vivaldi’s Four
Racism is a topic that has been relevant for many years though our time. Brent Staples wrote "Black Men and Public Space," published in Ms. Magazine in 1986, where he discusses how he became "familiar with the language of fear" (614). Throughout his essay, Staples uses logos, ethos, and pathos to give a reader an insight into the life of a black man in society, which effectively reaches his intended audience, but not his current day audience. Brent Staples starts talking about his "first victim" (613) picking up her pace until she was no longer able to be seen.
In my daily life, one of the things that I am very conscious about is the color of my skin and my background. This is because of the different types of stereotypes that I may be associated with. In the article, “Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale” by Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones, she talks about the social construct of race and its impact on racism. Dr. Jones broke down racism into three levels: institutionalized racism, personally mediated racism, and internalized racism. She also suggested that the reason why there is inequality in the United States is due to the government not being concerned about equality.
The section of “White Woman, Black Man” further delves into his views of white women and the role that society has in shaping gender relations between black men and white women and also in influencing masculinity and femininity.