4 “At dark‚ shadowy intersections‚ I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk‚ thunk‚ thunk‚ thunk of the driver - black‚ white‚ male‚ or female - hammering down the door locks.” Throughout the whole essay‚ Staples gives different examples of how society views him as a menace without even actually knowing him. A lot of the people he encounters are quick to judge him‚ mainly because of the color of his skin. He touches on the point that it’s a little unfair that
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In the essay Just walk on by‚ author Brent Staples shares his experiences of living with the prejudged notion that he is someone to be feared because he is different from his peers. Brent Staples grew up in the small town of Chester‚ Pennsylvania where he was an outsider. He caught on to something that most of his friends probably had never thought about before or even felt that they had the right to think about. Somewhere along the line of his child hood Staples chose to rise above the normality of
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Exemplification of Staple’s Essay The essay by Brent Staples‚ “Just Walk On By” is popular because most everyone has been exposed to a form of racism in their own lives. In today’s society‚ we are “judged” every day. Whether is it on appearance‚ our speech‚ or our standing in the social crowd‚ it is happening. Staple brings this point home when he said‚ “I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance I’d come into – the ability to alter public space in ugly ways.” (236-237). When we are young
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September 2013 Deepening the essay “Just walk on by” by Brent Staples In the front part of the essay “ Just walk on by”‚ Brent tells a few little stories which are talking about how bad racism is hurting him. He is hurting for racism as a child‚ as an adult‚ as a student and as a journalist. People are giving a mark of bad people on him. However‚ in the last paragraph‚ he “whistles melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi....” (qtd. in Brent) and “Even steely New Yorkers hunching toward nighttimes
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In “Just Walk on By” the author‚ Brent Staples‚ uses his real life experiences and gives a great explanation to how the blacks were mistreated during his lifetime. The stories that he tells in this article take place during the center of the Civil Rights Movement. He gives us several stories in this article of situations that he was put in. The first paragraph of his article really grabs the reader’s attention. He starts off with “My first victim was a woman white‚ well-dressed probably in her early
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Brent Staples’s “Just walk on by” was written to clarify how African-Americans like Staples go through stereotypes when in actually reality‚ shouldn’t be prejudged in the first place. He reminisces being perceived as dangerous just because of his skin color‚ and how this situation puts himself in endangerment. Staples arguers that people shouldn’t be so judgmentally and should get to know the person by the actions. He not only makes statements all through the text‚ but gives incidents of how his
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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
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Just Walk On By In 1986‚ a 35 year old Brent Staples published Black Men and Public Spaces in Ms. Magazine. Through several personal experiences and analysis he discusses the causes and effects of the dangerous perception of black men. Displaying both perspectives of a white peoples’ fears‚ and a black man’s reaction‚ his essay opened the discussion for greater understanding. More importantly he reveals the mutual danger when “fear and weapons meet and they often do in urban America”‚ the “possibility
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In Brent Staples story‚ "Just Walk on By"‚ the author underlines how black men are casualties of discrimination. First‚ he recalls his realization of how much his presence terrified other people‚ essentially a white woman‚ when he used to go out for strolls during the evening around the town. In spite of the fact that he understand that the world is seen to be progressively brutal and hazardous‚ he feels disappointed that African-American guys‚ particularly‚ are as yet being judged and misconstrued
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“Just Walk On By‚” by Brent Staples describes his life as an African American that is criticized and judged by the appearance the he reflects. He talks about the many different times in his life he experiences these act of racial profiling‚ and what he does to resolve these acts of discrimination. Through his passive calm tone he displays throughout his essay‚ he comes up with ways in which he changes him self in order for society to accept him. However‚ this is just one of many life stories that
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