“Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” by author Brent Staples, was first published in an American Liberal feminist magazine called Ms. Magazine in 1986. In the article, Staples, an author and editorial writer for the New York Times, explains how he’s been discriminated throughout his life for the way he looks and the color of his skin. He first points out that at times he could tell that people were threatened, or frightened of him, particularly women, because of his appearance. He states
Reading Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples was hard to get through. I found myself getting a little frustrated not to what he was saying but the events that were occurring. All the events that occurred were real and happen to thousands of black men and minorities and so reading his essay made think about injustices that go on and even about the Black Lives Matter movement. I thought that Staples wrote it beautifully and he described himself and the people that were involved
reasonable fear” is not justified. In many cases, objectively fear is not based on the overall situation but rather on a specific race. This can be seen In “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” by Brent staples. One of the anecdotes presented talks about the author’s experience with discrimination in a magazine company. Close to the deadline, Staples rushed through the office, only to be stopped by the security for trespassing. The workers at the office had limited knowledge of this random man walking
Further develop the concept of discrimination and stereotyping “Just Walk On By: Predicaments of Black Men in Public Spaces” More often than not, discriminating others by appearance leads to stereotyping, creating a fallacy that people genuinely begin to believe. These stereotypes create barriers that prevent us from truly understanding one another as people. Brent Staple’s essay, “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space,” allows us to ascertain the deleterious effects of stereotyping
scared when they see a black man and think about them trying to harm them. Actually, that isn’t always the case and isn’t the case a lot of the time. Brent Staples in his writing Black Men in Public Spaces shows some of the societies stereotype issues. Americans should stop stereotyping blacks, not purposely go around them at night, and he shouldn’t have to whistle to make people comfortable around him. Americans put stereotypes on different ethnicities. Americans stereotype blacks to be murderers, rapists
In “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” author Brent Staples addresses the racial profiling issues that we have in our country and the things that cause them. He discusses how it feels to be a black man in society and how people, especially black males, should carry out their daily lives. Staples implies that racial profiling is caused by both black males that commit crimes and our society because the media portrays the majority of criminals as being black males
When you read the essays “on Compassion” and “ Just walk on by: Black Men and public space” you get a sense of the issues that are happening. In “On Compassion” Barbara Ascher talks about the experience she had while witnessing an interaction between a woman and a homeless man while in the essay “Just walk on by: Black Men and public space” Brent Staples talks about the experiences he’s had when coming in contact with other people on the street. Barbra uses specific details to describe the homeless
In “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space”, Brent Staples explains the impact he has on other people just for being an African American man. Writing for an audience of black men who have experienced discrimination. With a wise, inoffensive voice, but somewhat of a neutral tone, the author uses figurative language, writing techniques and diction to explain his purpose of writing this essay to explain to his readers of his past experience of being a black man in public
In Brent Staple’s essay, Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space, he discusses how the black are stereotyped and not in a nice way. The whites’ believe black people are dangerous to their community, that the blacks commit wrong doings and create violence everywhere they go. The author goes through many struggles in his lifetime, for example, people thinking he is a mugger or even worse. Staples writes about his “first victim” to begin his essay, the victim is a white women who is so scared that
In Brent Staples “Black Men and Public Space” and “From Parallel Time”, Staples describes the encounters and stereotyping he went through in his life. In each essay he references several events in which complete strangers judged him because of the color of his skin. Although both essays discus how he was discriminated against and stereotyped Staples actions change drastically from one essay to the next. In the first essay by Brent Staples, “Black Men and Public Space” Staples has very passive actions
“Black Men and Public Spaces” Diagnostic Essay 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
Analysis of “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples The essay “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space '' by Brent Staples is an essay (within the 50 Essays 5th edition by Cohen) describing the author’s experience with people perceiving him as a criminal or at least a likely one throughout his life. The first paragraph starts off with him describing his “first victim,” a young white woman in 1973 who ran from a twenty-two year old Staples who was out for a night walk. He paints
Black Men and Public Space Brent Staples has had several experiences that have made him come to a conclusion that the black male body inspires fear in public spaces. In my opinion he is right to feel that way. Unfortunately, it is something that comes naturally to some people. This is due to the media exposure with black males, the lack of diversity in their upbringing and demographics. These examples all play a part in why someone may
“Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples Read to Summarize Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples is about how Brent realizes how people perceive him in public because of his race. He is seen as a scary man whom people often run away from or react very strongly to. Read to Respond I personally am a big believer in not changing yourself for the sake of others. I believe that censoring yourself and molding yourself to fit other peoples expectations or insecurities is stupid and harmful
Brent Staples’s essay, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man and Public Space”, is about the “ability” that a black man holds; which as Staples puts it, is the “ability to alter public space in ugly ways.” African American men, or people for that matter, have stated (even in present day) that they feel the same way. This, among other factors has contributed to the fact that this essay has become very popular among different communities. As the writing prompt states, the essay has been anthologized, and obviously
In the essay “Just Walk on By” by Brent Staples he uses compelling anecdotes of experiences in his life in order to create an emotional appeal that makes us empathize with the endangered black man. Staples opens up the essay with an experience of his. He says “My first victim was a woman- white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties.” He then goes on to explain when he was walking at night in Chicago that same young woman ran away from him. It is his word choice within the first sentence
acceptance or just a change in society and in heart, the difference is there. In the essay "Black Men and Public Space" written by Brent Staples,' he tells of the times he has been racially profiled. He tells of how he has been falsely accused of being a threat to society, only because of his race. That there is a stereotype, discrimination, racism all in one. People were frightened by him and saw him as a threat only because he was African American. They were frightened because of black men having
Interpretive Essay Prejudices of Society “Walk On By” by Brent Staples is an essay that was published in 1986. It addresses the racial prejudices that were and still are present within society. Staples was born and raised in Pennsylvania, then later moved to Chicago to get his college education. Staples was a psychology professor at multiple colleges in Chicago, but later, in 1983, went on to pursue journalism. It is shown through his firsthand experiences that a black man is typically perceived as dangerous
from slavery to this current era. Black males were historically perceived as slaves, criminals, and rebels by other races. Regardless of what other races perceive of black males, there are some that act opposite of those perceptions, and Brent Staples proves this in his essay "Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space" by listing the stereotypical perceptions of black males, actual behaviors of black males, and stating what he, a black male himself, feels and does in response
Black Men in Public Page: 2 In Brent Staples’ short story “Black Men and Public Space”, he paints a picture for the readers of the early years of black men in an urban environment. He identified that people often stereotype one another because of their skin color, their race, their gender, their culture or their appearance. Furthermore, it is expressed to us, the reader, that he, the author