Stereotyping Brent Staples

This essay is written by Brent Staples, and in his essay he discusses racial profiling that black people go through in public spaces. In the mid-1970’s, Brent Staples discovered such prejudice toward black men for merely being present in public. Staples describes how he could not even walk down the street normally, people, especially women, would stay away from him out of terror.

The way Staples structures this essay emphasizes his awareness of the problem he faces. The essay’s framework consists mostly of Staples informing the reader of a scenario in which he was discriminated against and then following it with a discussion or elaboration on the situation. For example, Staples describes women “fearing the worst of him” on the streets of Brooklyn.

Personally speaking there isn 't such a clear line between being cautious from harm by black people based on statistical information or clearly staying away from the likeliness of simple difference in race. The world we live in today is profoundly mixed up with controversial opinions, racists and bigots. It is difficult to assess what are the true intentions for why we choose to disconnect ourselves from an ethnic group. For example, if a defenseless white female is walking down a street alone late at night she will most likely look around and survey her surroundings. If she is alone then she has nothing to worry about because there isn’t

Stereotyping has been around forever and will continue to stay, but there are things that can be done which would stop it from being used so often. By informing the public about stereotyping and the problems associated with it people can decide whether they want to participate in something that is looked down on. First and foremost the leaders of the black communities, such as musicians and professional athletes need to spread the word about stereotyping because they have the greatest impact on society. Educating blacks on the stereotypes regarding their lifestyles would allow them to make a conscious effort to behave in a way that would eliminate the stereotypes.

In my experiences I have found that my role models have a huge impact on what I do and how I think. These people influence me to be who I am and add wisdom where I would normally be clueless. The black community is not the only group who needs to be educated about stereotyping, whites need to be educated as well. White people are often the ones using the stereotypes and for that reason they need to be informed of what they are doing. Once the white community realizes what they are doing they can make an effort, just like the blacks, to