Rhetorical Analysis Of Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples

A wise man named Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” In other words, the color of a person’s skin should not be judged on how we treat each other. The color of a person’s skin should not be a bother in public. However, there has been many histories where the blacks were treated unnormal because of their skin color. Brent Staples strongly proved something mystical about the world on how many people react to black people in public spaces. He proved it by using ethos, pathos, and logos on his essay he wrote called, “Black Men and Public Space.” Staples who is six feet two inches with a beard approached that several people, especially women, sees him as a mugger, a rapist, or worse. Staples begins his essay with “My first victim…” this shows that Staples sees himself as a threat to others because

It also shows that he is not the only one who has to deal with these kinds of issues. However, he did not let any of those affect his life. He is educated enough to find other ways to prevent these situations. He whistles, “melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers” (Staples). In this statement, Staples uses pathos by telling his readers that whistling melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi reduce the tension between him and the people that sees him in the street. In the end of his essay, Staples backed up his claims with sufficient evidence. He utilize logos when he mentioned, “variation of the cowbell that hikers wear in bear country” (Staples). In other words, Staples is basically targeting the white people community. He made his way out into becoming someone else rather than himself. It was the only way to prevent causing