Discrimination In Black Men And Public Space, By Firoozeh Dumas

There have been many stories about discrimination. It has affected people of color. Those stories explained how uneasy it can be for outsiders. Stories like that have had an impact on society. Two stories that are an example of that are “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples and “The F Word” by Firoozeh Dumas. The stories, “Black Men and Public Space” and “The F Word” are similar because both characters were discriminated against themselves, were not the only ones harassed, and each went through a tough moment. One of the ways the two essays are similar is because both characters were discriminated against themselves. For example, In Black men and Public Space Staples was discriminated against for his skin color. He lived in a part

For example, In Black men and Public Space Staples was a reporter. There was another black man who was a reporter too. The way the reporter was harassed was by being mistaken for a killer. The reporter had gone to write a story about a killer, that was born in that area. Instead because the man was black the police arrived, and held him at gunpoint. While at gunpoint, he was hauled out of his car. It was until the man showed his press credentials that police knew they had made a mistake (pg197). That also could have been Staples because he was a black man. It showed Staples that black people could easily be labeled as criminals. In the F Word Firoozeh was not the only one harassed. She had a brother named Farshid. Farshid would be harassed just like Firoozeh, and people would call him Fartshit (pg84). They knew he was an immigrant, and for that reason harassed him. Staples and Firoozeh shared the similarity of knowing people that were also

For example, In Black men and Public Space Staples continued to work as a journalist. One day Staples was headed to the office where the editor was located. Staples entered the office building a manger saw him, and the manager thought he was a burglar since he was a black man and because he walked by fast. The manager decided to call security. Since Staples was in a rush to deliver the article to the editor security thought he was running away. Staples eventually made it near the editor’s office, but needed to find someone he knew so security would not mistake him for a burglar (pg197). That was a frightening confrontation, and a tough moment for Staples since he could have been arrested. There could have been a moment there when security thought he was the burglar, and decided to hurt him. In the F word Firoozeh suffered a tough moment too. It started when she had just graduated from UC- Berkeley with a humanities major. Firoozeh was looking for jobs, but she kept getting rejected for three months. Eventually she knew it could not have been her résumé. It was tough since she had worked hard to graduate. Firoozeh was an honors student at UC- Berkeley. After getting rejected for so long she figured out the problem. It was because she did not have an American name, and it showed she was a foreigner (pg86). She changed her name from Firoozeh to Julie a more