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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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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1 11 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
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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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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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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 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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4‚ Prompt 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(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
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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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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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