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Brent Staples Essay Is Still Relevant Today

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Brent Staples’s essay is still relevant today because of the fear that lives inside people who don’t understand or accept others, which often leads to authorities abusing their power so that they can feel safe while others live their lives cautiously. This relates to how both African Americans and the police live their lives in fear and with caution. The police fear African Americans due to their own prejudice reasons which causes them to abuse their authority by acting more aggressive which helps themselves feel safer and stronger. This forces African Americans to live their lives with caution and patience because if they don’t, they put themselves at a higher risk of endangering themselves. Brent Staples wrote the article “Black Men in Public …show more content…

For example, in December of 2014, twelve-years-old Tamir Rice (Black skinned) was playing with a toy gun in his neighborhood when a police patrol car came and shot the kid without reasoning with him first. This was a very shocking case, as seen in video surveillance the cop shot the kid within seconds of pulling up on him. This shows the fear that was inside of the cop took over, and he acted on instinct and killed the boy. A statistic was posted on May of 2017 by German Lopez (a writer for Vox) which shows the ratio of races who have been killed by the police per million people, and Blacks and Native Americans are shown to hold the highest death ratios by double the amount of other races. The statistic shows that Black people are heavily discriminated on as the police are shown from time and time to be heavily prejudiced against black people, as they abuse their authority and feel they can get away with acting more aggressive towards them. These examples show that what Brent Staples wrote about fear and guns is still true till this day, as more and more cases are shown in the media of an police officer killing unarmed, non-aggressive African

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Black Men In Public Places Summary

248 Words | 1 Pages

In the article, “Black Men in Public Places,” Brent Staples first grabs the reader by telling them about his first victim. This, “victim,” was not harmed by Staples at all, he only walked passed her at night, which made her incredibly uncomfortable and she was not the only person that had felt this way. Staples describes how people would lock their car doors when he would walk by, just because of his appearance, to them he looked the same as a mugger or rapist. Staples moved to New York, and faced the same racial profiling he did back in his hometown. Staples describes himself as shy and timid, while the people where he grew up were gang affiliated and were dying at young ages.

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Summary Of Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples

1134 Words | 5 Pages

In Brent Staples “Black Men and Public Space” a firsthand insight is offered about life as an average educated black man, and the common misconception that he is dangerous. Staples realizes his power to alter public space and subsequently adjusts his behavior to strengthen self-presentation, relieve anticipated tension and stay safe; in the face situations reflecting societal expectations and discrimination based on physical appearance. Though he rationalizes that attempts to ease tension is for the benefit for others and his own physical safety, with each one on one interaction experienced, it becomes evident through progressively desperate behavior that he is attempting to soothe the emotional tension he feels within. Staples opens with

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Summary Of Black Men And Public Space By Staples

1806 Words | 8 Pages

He got used to people avoiding him or even officials pulling him over just because of his skin color. By writing this essay, not only is Staples informing us on the hardships and misconceptions of black males in public areas but he is also sharing his personal experiences

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Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples Summary

640 Words | 3 Pages

In the article “Black Men and Public Spaces,” Brent Staples talks about black men being stereotyped as dangerous people in the society. When there is a crime a black man was always the ones that committed the crimes. Some people see all black men as the muggers, the rapist, or the murderer. When he was headed into work with a deadline story, someone mistaken him as a burglar. He didn’t have any I.D on him, so he didn’t have any way to prove who he was.

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Summary Of Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples

692 Words | 3 Pages

I think it is safe to say that racism and discrimination dating back to, well the beginning of time. Racism has always been prevalent, though seeming to lessen as the years go by. We're living in the 21st century and racism is still here today. We even have laws to ensure everyone's equal rights, regardless of race. People are far more accepting nowadays as well, despite the laws.

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Compare And Contrast Just Walk On By And The Myth Of The Latin Woman

1047 Words | 5 Pages

Analyzing Someone Else’s Experience In Brent Staples essay “Just Walk on By: Black Men in Public Space” and in Judith Cofer’s essay “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” both authors build an argument using their own experience with being stereotyped. These two essays are very effective in proving the author’s argument with real life situations as primary evidence. In Staples essay, he uses his experience as a black male being looked at as a “thug”, “mugger”, or “rapist” and his real life problems that he went through while being stereotyped. In Cofer’s essay, she tells her story of being a Latin American girl and her issues she faced being stereotyped while growing up.

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Effects Of Just Walk On By Brent Staples

691 Words | 3 Pages

In modern society stereotypes and racism are still well and alive, and seen on a daily basis. Its seen everywhere and it greatly affects certain people more than other due to many negative connotations or saying associated by that typical race. For some its a part of everyday life, while some are not greatly affected on their day to day life , some people are greatly influenced and impacted by it. In Brent Staples;s “just walk on by : black men and public space” we are shown how Staples is being affected in his daily experiences. Staples argues how racial profiling has greatly impacted his life on a day to day basis through the use of diction, irony and Staples , using stereotypes and good diction describes his experiences with a middle age woman to show how stereotypes are presented towards him every day and the displeasure he felt.

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Rhetorical Analysis Of Just Walk On By

1164 Words | 5 Pages

His sympathetic persona along with his analogies actively connect the reader to his story, while the strong diction and depressing tone make a strong emotional impact. Unlike most essays, the anti discrimination message can be applied to multiple minority groups and other social issues. As a whole, Brent Staples essay succeeds on all levels as it makes an impactful argument describing how society's view on African Americans as being dangerous violent criminals is truly

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Police Brutality Synthesis Essay

1491 Words | 6 Pages

Synthesis Research Paper 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.

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Summary Of Just Walk On By A Black Man Ponders His Power To Alter Public Space

840 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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Short Story Of Glory

128 Words | 1 Pages

Glory 's portrayal of African Americans fighting in the Civil War for the extinction of slavery and equality of individuals is a heart warming story. However, although the Union won, and slavery was abolished, certain events occurring today question the equal treatment of all races in this country. In fact, in 2015 police have killed more than 100 unarmed black people, this is five times the rate of unarmed whites in 2015. Some of these tragic moments include the death of 18 year old Michael Brown, shot by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri, 43 year old Eric Garner, who was choked to death after he screamed"I can 't breathe," even a 12 year old Tamir Rice was shot and killed after officers mistook his toy gun for a real weapon.

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Black Men And Public Space Rhetorical Analysis

621 Words | 3 Pages

“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 around him; Staples builds a picture to help people better sympathize and understand his frustration. Although Staples describes himself as a college graduate, a journalist, and a softy in the face of violence, he details that the overall public deems him a dangerous criminal.

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Police Brutality In The Black Community

1111 Words | 5 Pages

According to “The Washington Post”, Last year 963 African Americans were shot and killed by police. Ever since the 1960s Africans has been fighting for equality; in the Eric Garner case and Michael Brown, it demonstrated how White police officers abuse and misuse their power towards African Americans. Since the increase of police brutality communities has had marches, rallies, and even the Black Lives Matters movements as a response to show that Polices’ abuse of power is unacceptable. The Black Lives Matter movement was created after radical discrimination it is a political movement to inform and protect Black Lives. (Wesley Lowery.

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Reasonable Suspicion Case Study

206 Words | 1 Pages

For that reason, an officer has the power to stop a vehicle based on reasonable suspicion/mistake of fact that a crime has been committed (Schwinn 2014). Reasonable suspicion also incorporates the ideology of a reasonable mistake of fact. Unfortunately, minorities, especially African Americans are more likely to be affected by these instances or incidents. Previous studies conclude that these attacks or incidents involving law enforcement and unarmed African-American men are possibly influenced by racial prejudice (Raasch and Perron 2014). Cases of unarmed black men are not only increasing, but they are also threatening to the public, especially the black community.

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Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples Summary

841 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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