Professor: Cantice Greene
September 5, 2012
In Brent Staples
personal essay "Black Men and Public Space" (1986) Staples depicts
the physiological effects that determine how a person thinks and acts based on
a stereotype about black males. Staples give us evidence of his power to strike
fear in society by simply being a "rough-looking" black male in
public by citing all his unprecedented encounters with the law, women,
pedestrians, and corporate America. In an effort to stay out of trouble,
Staples restricts his normal way of carrying himself by doing things like
whistling Beethoven in public in order to be perceived as a good man or a
non-threat to society. In this narrative, Staples grabs the attention of young
adult males who been judged by the way they look.
I am baffled at
how black males became the common victims of profiling. I asked myself,
"Would I profile Staples if I were to encounter him in the wee hours of
the night like the people stated in the essay?" With my own personal
experiences, yes; I would tread consciously about suspicious looking
people. Staples give great details of
how people tend to act different when something is not normal in their
environment. I feel sorry for Staples about how he was treated. It is
unfortunate that Staples fit the profile of usual suspects of crimes, so I
agree that Staples had to do certain things to calm the public’s perception
about him.
Staples use
multiple onomatopoeias to describe the severity of prejudice around him. Words
like "thunk" "victim" and "encounter" suggests
that Staples want his audience to feel the harshness of the prejudice. The many
situations that he pointed out also show how common prejudice was against black
males. He took pride though in his ability to manipulate people when he said,
"The fearsomeness mistakenly attributed to me in public places often has a
perilous flavor." Staples want us to know of the anger he felt inside him,
yet, he teaches us how to be humble given the unfortunate circumstances of
society’s prejudice towards one another.
"He took pride though in his ability to manipulate people when he said, "The fearsomeness mistakenly attributed to me in public places often has a perilous flavor."
ReplyDeleteWhat did you mean by this line? I don't think Staples took 'pride' in his ability to create public spaces because it often 'has a perilous flavor'.
Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! יחסי ציבור אופנה
ReplyDelete