Mrs.Klinginsmith
English 102
August 30, 2012 Black Men and Public Space Reading Response
In the short story, “Black Men and Public Space” it talks about one man account on how people treat and view him as a criminal. When the reader reads throughout the story you find out that he really isn’t a criminal at all, but an educated black man who’s going to the University of Chicago to get his Ph.D. The shocking thing in the story revealed he didn’t even grow up a violent person in the story he even stated that “He is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken, let alone a person throat.”(3) In the story, the author gives the reader many accounts to which he was a victim of stereotyping and racism. Some examples he gave in the story was that he was walking on the side walk behind a Caucasian women in her late twenties she took a glance at him and started to run. Another story he told was that he was in a jewelry store to pass time before an interview one of the employees brought a dog at him which forced him to leave the store. This story is not just about the author’s being treated in such a horrible way, but how he reacted to each situation that he encountered. The author was always seemed peaceful and relaxed even when things got worse in some situations. The author did things like whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vividali, gave space, or even walk pass a place to try to change people’s attitudes. Most people would get angry and try to retaliate when things get very uncommon for them. In order to get a change in this world a person have to show people ways to make them believe the opposite of what been already put in their minds.
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