Brent Staples analyzes racial inequalities and misconceptions that still exist in American society today. Slavery poisoned the minds of white Americans to view black men as inferior, and this ideology has been passed down through generations. However, there have been many attempts to overcome this problem and promote the realization that all people are similar, through figures like Frederick Douglass and Brent Staples himself who worked to earn equality. Staples uses his own experiences of being discriminated against as a large black man to show how racism still impacts people's lives and behaviors.

1. Brent Staple Analysis
Although these racial inequalities are said to be forgotten and against the law, the misconceptions
have not been erased from American people's minds. There were many attempts to fix this problem,
to finally realize and notice the similarities between all people. An additional factor into why this
problem is still relevant today is because slavery poisoned the mind of white American people
especially the ones born in slavery who grew up knowing white people superior to Black men and
then passing this on and on to generations after them. However, the attempts of turning this ideology
around are numerous from Fredrick Douglass to Brent Staples and to many others who realized that
earning this equality will benefit both sides. Brent Staple use
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2. Brent Staples
Have you ever been discriminated or treating someone differently because of the way you looked
In society today people discriminate both intentionally and unintentionally. These experiences
have been put into stories to show the world we need to change in "The Fourth of July" Audre
Lorde writes about how when a black family visited the capitol they were treated differently than
the white families. In "On Being a Cripple" Nancy Mairs writes about how people treat her
different because she is medically a cripple. In "Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space"
Brent Staples writes about how because how being a big black man makes people treat him
differently. In all these stories it showsdiscrimination of different kind. In the "The...show more
content...
Throughout this story it tell us about how being a big black man can make people scared of you
without knowing you or having another reason to be scared of you. Staples tell us about the first
time he realized someone feared him. It was late one night, and they were the only two people in
a lonely street, and he was walking behind her. He notice that she kept looking behind, and
eventually started to pick up her speed until he couldn't see her anymore. Due to this experience
and many other he has o at different when he's in public areas so people don't find him threatening.
Staples say "I now take precaution to make myself seem less threatening. I move about with care,
particularly late in the evening."this is one of the few ways he had to act to make people treat him
like a normal citizen. Throughout all three of these stories they have one constant and that's
discrimination. In both "The Fourth of July", and "Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space"
they are discriminated based on race the reasoning behind the discrimination is completely
different. In "The Fourth of July" the family gets treated like a second hand citizen because they
are a black family, and many restaurants, and hotels think they are lesser people, and would give the
pale a bad reputation to the white people if they allowed black people in their. However in "Just
Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space" this man gets treated like a criminal just because he's a
big black man, and people in New York believe that all big black men have to be
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3. Brent Staples
The essay "Just Walk on by: Black Men and Public Places" by Brent Staples, and "The Myth of the
Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria" by Judith Ortiz Cofer illustrate the prejudices some
people have. They both describe how the way they look gets them discriminated by others. Brent
Staples, because he is African American is perceived as a criminal; Judith Cofer is a Latina and is
mistaken for a waitress while she waits in a restaurant. Both stories give numerous examples of
prejudice. Also, each of these writers have a larger purpose, different reasons for writing their
story: Staples' reason for writing his essay is mainly to express to the reader how these prejudices
affected him as well as other black men all over the country and how...show more content...
Cofer clearly establishes ethos in paragraph 11 when she talks about being proficient and even
successful with the English language and her ability to cope with the anger she experiences due
to the stereotypes. This is a clear call to ethos because she is establishes the fact that she has
authority as a Hispanic woman who has to deal with the stereotypes given to her. By establishing
ethos, readers are more likely to observe the problems she is facing. This helps get her point
across the readers and prove that what she is saying is much more legitimate than someone without
ethos. Staples uses ethos by showing his own personal accounts of people feeling uncomfortable
around him just because he is black. He feels the woman in the beginning "thought herself the
quarry of a mugger, a rapist, or worse." Also, he believes he was "indistinguishable from the
muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto". Even though Staples
had to deal with people inferring racist insults towards him, he didn't let that affect his life. Instead,
he felt he needed to "take precautions to make [himself] less threatening." Staple's use of ethos
persuades the audience that people feel intimidated by a black man just because he is of different skin
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4. Brent Staples
In Just Walk on By by Brent Staples, the ideology that racism was still a major problem. By using
ethos and logos, Staples shows how blacks were living through so much fear to where they felt the
need to alter their lives. Brent Staples clearly argues that racism was a factor in his society that was
an issue. By using ethos, Staples creates his credibility through personal examples. For example,
"My first victim was a woman–white...As I swung onto the avenue behind her,, there seemed to be a
discreet, uninflammatory distance between us" (Staples 542). This supports the message by
displaying the distance between whites and blacks. This distance Brent Staples felt was through that
he was black; she was white. The gap between races was not...show more content...
This corresponds to the theme by having the barrier between blacks and whites, standing
strongly. During this time period, blacks started receiving more equality. However this was
through laws, not the society. By being lawfully accepted but not publicly accepted, the barrier
between races was not broken. To become accepted into society, blacks began to change
themselves. Blacks grew custom to living through fear. For example, "I was to become
thoroughly familiar with the language of fear" (Staples 542). This quote relates to the message
by showing how blacks had to change their character to become accepted. Instead of living freely
like the whites, blacks changed their lives by living in fear. Since they were not socially accepted,
blacks began to become shadows due to fear. Another example on how blacks had to alter their
lives is shown through these words, "I began to take precautions to make myself less threatening."
(Staples 544). This is beneficial to the argument by showing how blacks had to change their lives,
just to be accepted. To not be mistaken or felt threaten upon, blacks had to alter their lives. They
began to live through fear and altered their lives so society felt better with them being present.
Overall,
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5. Brent Staples Article
The Streets The article, "Just Walk on by" by Brent Staples talks about the struggles faced being an
African– American male in today's time. Honestly, what African Americans deal with nowadays
is excessive and uncalled for. Staples goes over everything he endured throughout most of his life
in the reading. The worst things Staples had to deal with included his insomnia, other people's
confusion, and the fact he was born into a tough inheritance with conditioned expectations to go
along with it. Not being able to sleep at night causes him to walk around late at night. Staples
states, "Suffering a bout of insomnia, however, I was stalking sleep, not defenseless wayfarers"
(181). Staples clearly states that the only reason he walks around at night is because he has a
sleeping disorder, insomnia. At times his insomnia caused him to see things he didn't particularly
want to see late at night, which are mostly crimes. As an effect to this, he doesn't want anything to
do with any kind of violence whatsoever. For being who he is, occasionally he would be mistaken
for someone he was not. Staples went on to say, "One day, rushing into the office of a magazine I
was writing for with a deadline story in hand, I was mistaken for a burglar" (184). This confusion
happened...show more content...
For example, crossing the crosswalk late at night means you get to hear the fluent sound of car
doors locking because the driver is frightened. Another thing is that people assume what you're up
to or what kind of a person you are. This happens because people go by and believe everything
thing they hear without experiencing it themselves. Staples was walking one night and just so
happened to be behind a well–dressed, white woman. He went on and said, "After a few more quick
glimpses, she picked up her pace and was running in earnest" (181). The sad thing is that this
happens every single
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