In “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power To Alter Public Space‚” Brent Staples discusses the development of standard stereotypes that can not just affect the actions of the victim‚ but the suspect. Throughout the essay‚ Staples describes himself in a sequence of events‚ and proceeds to tell the readers how people around him react. Brent Staples was a tall black man and always faced the same reaction when walking the streets during his late night strolls. People that were walking late as
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20 September 2012 Black Men and Public Space In Brent Staples’s “Black Men and Public Space‚” he describes his ability to alter space. Being a broad‚ tall African American‚ Staples is often feared by others and confused with danger. Staples says‚ “As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken - let alone hold one to a person’s throat - I was surprised‚ embarrassed‚ and dismayed all at once. Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny” (226). Staples is a friendly guy
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Mayo ENG 101-1035 30 October 2012 Just Walk on By In Brent Staples’ essay‚ “Just Walk on By” the author describes his experiences‚ feelings‚ and reactions towards the discrimination he has faced throughout his life as a black man. Staples describes several different personal experiences of when he felt that he had been judged or discriminated against by other people based on the color of his skin and how that contributed to his overall appearance. Staples has continuously been perceived as a
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Smith English 3 20 February 2013 Just Walk on By: Black Man in Public Space Brent Staples‚ author of “Just Walk on By: Black Man in Public Space.” discusses when the white woman he comes across one day late at night was constantly turning back as if she feared him for the way he looked. Brent highlights racism that has occurred to him during the 1970s. This encounter happened in an impoverished part of Chicago; he describes himself as a “youngish black man--a broad six feet two inches with
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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 and
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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(Staples 34).” 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 he gets judged like this because he’s
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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 he gets judged like this because he’s not the
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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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“Alter public space” means the thinking way of human brains about the public place and changes the reality of what it meant to what is in their thoughts. In the essay “Black men and Public Space” Brent Staples shared his personal experiences and feelings about how people react and feel when they met him in public places. He explained that when people met black men in public places people (mostly women) were scared of them and looked for ways and means to escape from them. Stereotyping of black
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Just Walk on By 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
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