Racial Discrimination In Staples Just Walk On By

Staples has many accurate statements in his story “Just Walk On By” that talks mainly about race or the color of one’s skin. He speaks about “current controversies surrounding racial profiling of criminals suspects” (Staples. 196). This means many people are investigated, they would stand for the color of their skin, ethnicity, and national origin. I have been put under the profiling category because of the color of my skin. Although people with black skin have a higher chance of getting profiled, I myself am a young man with brown skin, with a Hispanic appearance that is fairly profiled. Racial discrimination has proven itself to being a major con I human society. Statistics show most races that aren’t white or Caucasian are less in poverty than someone of another races. Which will lead to economic discrimination that will lead the other races to do criminal acts and end up being stereotyped and profiled a lot quicker than a Caucasian. From all three classes, lower class, middle class, and upper class, Caucasians are in least poverty.
In Staple’s story the main character tries many ways to avoid getting profiled by everyone that lays their eyes on him.
He has tried such as whistling Beethoven so he is profiled as intimidating. I’ve had times when I had to speak perfect and etiquette English so I wouldn’t be profiled as an illiterate alien, that Hispanics are considered as. Another example of a racial discrimination in Staple’s story, “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. 197). This a big slap to the face pretty much, because the fact the color of his skin isn’t welcoming, he is being categorized as a black man that is known for robbery and
assault. One thing that had bothered me about the story, is when the main character was assigned for a local paper. “I entered a Jewelry store on the city’s affluent Near North Side. The Proprietor excused herself and returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash” (Staples. 199). This is a very accurate perception of discrimination because there can be thousands of people walking in and out of the store, and just because he is a young black man there was no need for dog to come into the picture. Everything could have been resolve a much more civilized way than having to bring out the dog. It clearly shows who the ignorant racist in this situation was because he politely said goodnight and walked away. A good example that I have of me getting discriminated is when I was out with two other friends. One friend was black, and the other friend was a Caucasian. We were out playing basketball in town at 1:00am. Right when we decided to leave a cop pulls up and think it’s suspicious that we were leaving the exact moment he dropped by. He immediately began questioning my black friend and me, and not one question was asked to my Caucasian friend. He asked us very personal questions and wasn’t letting us leave until he made sure there wasn’t any record on us. I brought up my example mainly because it bothered me the fact the police officer only question two of us out of the three. I can relate so much to the story written by staples, because of my past experience and others that I am aware of. It sounds more common for the main character because he is in a city with more people to discriminate him for what he is. Also Staples speaks about blacks being compared or named thugs. “I was scarcely noticeable against a backdrop of gang warfare, street knifing, and murders” (Staples. 198). He lets the reader know that he has always grown up to be the good guy. He is probably confused about the fact that he is getting discriminating for being born black. He was obviously raised the correct way, he knew the difference between equality and racism. I actually praise him for being the adult in all his situations, because I’m sure he knew that if he was being discriminated by general people, the law wouldn’t be any easier on him. Discrimination every day, in cities and towns across the country, when law enforcement and private security target people of color for humiliating and often frightening detentions, interrogations, and searches without evidence of criminal activity and based on perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. Racial profiling is patently illegal, violating the U.S. Constitution’s core promises of equal protection under the law to all and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. There is little chance that the world overcomes something as severe as discrimination, because there are cruel people who feel to be the dominate race. The fact that everyone wants to be better than each other and everything is a competition none of this is going to be settled.