Preview

Rhetorical Analysis Of Brent Staples 'Black Men In Public Spaces'

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1512 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Rhetorical Analysis Of Brent Staples 'Black Men In Public Spaces'
Jiacong Pan
English
Feb.16, 2016
Ms. Sierra

Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Among all the emotions people have, the most multifarious is fear because fear can be spread much faster than most emotions. Literally, people define fear “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat ”. However, the delusion of endangerment can cause racism of misunderstanding. Particularly, Most people identify fear based on their stereotyping, prejudice and bias. In “Black Men in Public Spaces”, Brent Staples describes how skin color could cause bias in people and how he, a black man , had to moderate his behavior to accommodate them. He uses vivid illustration about the prejudices and unfair judgement
…show more content…
He also is the founder of Canadian Samaritans for Africa. According to his resume, he is a reliable writer of racial issue. He convinces people that black man is actually the group of people who lack of sense of safety in U.S. llo’s use an example of his friend, a black professor at a black professor at Chicago university, is constantly being hounded by police officers. Emotionally, people feel sorry for the circumstance that blackman faces currently in this nation. logically, llo sets the point that those who protect people should not become threats to the lives of those they are meant to be protecting. What the black people need is a fair judgement and attitudes not only from the police but also from the communities. What’s more Stan shares his personal experience that “a white Canadian colleague of mine...expressed fear about my safety this way: "you are a big black guy with an imposing frame and a potential suspect in the eyes of U.S. police officers. I really worry about your safety in the U.S.” His language is very compelling and he engages the reader as through it they can more easily understanding the strict situation that African American faced. Worry from his friend is persuasive to the readers that black people had not get true respect and fair treatment in U.S. Racial stereotyping and biases make black people in a difficult position. It not only enhances the …show more content…
Since Police officers are legally allowed to use force based on their perception of a threat, a fair treatment to all races is essential. Police officers might be more likely to use deadly force against black people if they have racial prejudices. Black man should not be a representative of violence and force. Indeed, if a small percent of a race does something bad; The influence provides by social media set black males a tough situation which they were labeled as criminals. According to Stan llo’s opinions, Racism is a learned behavior. Logically, “No one is born with a racist attitude or disposition in their human genome.” People learned negative thinking or prejudice basically from other racial group. Racism In America is due to the white social construction of identity and the narrow mind of traditional racial views.Actually, “It is never wrong to be black in this country ”. Civilization is defined logically as a society provides equal opportunity for varieties of people who has different identities. He makes it clear that these occurrences are continuous and common, and he has had to make changes to accommodate for this unfair and terrified white people. “What a nation will turn black eye to this vicious cycle of police violence against a particular racial group and the poverty of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The purpose of this story is to let everyone know about the stereotypes and opinions made about black men. I had no idea that people really were so scared by black people at night so often. I can understand being scared if you’re walking alone at night. I even get scared when I’m walking alone at night, but I don’t discriminate on who I’m scared of. If I see a White, Hispanic, Japanese, or Chinese creep man I’m going to be just as scared of them as if I saw a black creepy man. Creepiness is truly universal.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the essay “Black Men and Public Spaces,” written by Brent Staples, reflects the experiences, beliefs, and understandings of the reader through the use of chronological sense of organization, tone, and detail to prove how racial stereotypes force a change in one's behavior, that can end up altering society's perception of an individual.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The thesis of Brent Staples written piece, “ Black Men And Public Space” to me states that in America for a long time, we as black men had to deal with racial issues for a long time in this nations most disgraceful time period, slavery. Feeling like a criminal all the time is not a good feeling, as he stated, a white woman made him feel as if he was a mugger or a rapist and “that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself”. This is a chapter in America’s history I know they wished never happened.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are more than seven billion people that live in this world; therefore, you have more than 7 billion different types of culture. The diversity-religion, language, race, politics, etc- greatly vary amongst us all. Say a girl grew up in family that had everything work out well for her and she had life pretty good. Now place her in a different family situation. The things that go on in her life and the way she turns out to be can be completely different than right now. Her education she received and economic class she is in easily could have changed. The tradition she carries and the food, including the way she eats, could have been unlike the way it is today. She could have grown up speaking differently and dressing differently than she…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In "Black Men and Public Spaces" Brent Staples writes about his experiences with racism and how it changes his life. He also helps people who have not been victims of racism understand the effects of their actions whether intentional or not.…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As I am reading the book Outcast United by Warren St. James, he talks about many prevalent issues in our society. There is one particular chapter in the book that sticks out to me in my mind whenever I think back to the book. In chapter eight titled “they’re in America now not Africa” we learn of a well to do man named Chime. Chime has come to Clarkston from Nigeria and has made a great living with his insurance company. Not only had Chime done well for himself. He was well known and well liked in the community as well. In this chapter we also meet Timothy Jordan, a troubled cop with a past. He was fired from his old police duties for excessive use of force. Chime is pulled over for no reason and as Jordan approaches his car, he begins to become flustered and starts to accuse Chime of not taking his orders even though Chime has done everything he asked and is being respectful. Jordan uses excessive force and takes Chime down to the ground. We come to find out Jordan only pulled him over because of Chimes skin color. Because Chime is an immigrant, Jordan feels more rage towards him (because of his discrimination) and acts irrationally. As I was looking through CNN.com I came across an article that reminded me of this same situation. Recently a college freshman at University of Southern Alabama was shot dead by a campus police. Another article I came across on the Missouri State website was an article about anger management in men. As I have read both of these articles, they totally reminded me of chapter 8.…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We live in a judgmental world; believe it or not that’s just how it is. People are going to judge you before even knowing you and what your intentions are. Brent Staples, who is an African American, experiences the moment of feeling like a threat to women and people based on his color of skin and the way he is dressed. Almost all black men in today’s generation are likely to be suspects or looked at as a criminals or dangers to people. This is due to the fact that colored people are usually the race that’s being placed under arrest. It is correct that colored men have the highest criminal rate, but not all colored men should be distinguished as criminals for the actions of their race. In the essay “Black Men and Public Space,” by author Brent Staples, he uses ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade his of the prejudiced nature of our society.…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This reflective essay “Black Men and Public Spaces” by Brent Staples, argues about the author’s personal struggles for being a black man, in his twenties, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Brent Staples was born and raised in Chester, Pennsylvania but he finished his studies and began working as a journalist in Chicago and New York City. Staples writes about some stories that gradually led him to realize over the fear of being judged by his race. In “Black Men and Public Spaces”, Staples let us become aware of his attitude and the way he perceive the situations he presents.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In John Hollitz book, he uses evidence from the cases of the Detroit Race Riot and found the the police handled they chaos by, “Beating and arresting Negroes while using more persuasion on whites,” (196). African Americans had a higher arrest rate than that of the white people. African Americans complained to the police department for the police brutality to stop, but nothing was ever done about it. During the riots, African Americans were beat and stopped, while most white people were let go with a talk and a slap on their wrist. The African Americans kept rioting and looting because they felt the way they were treated by the police was unfair. They did not stop rioting just because the police were arresting them. There were 17 African Americans killed by police and 216 arrested in all. These numbers are not comparable to the number of white people killed or arrested by police during the…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There has been many events where police officers are hurting unarmed innocent black people. It's been a topic of discussion for a long time now and relates to the system of justice and inequality that Bryan Stevenson brings up. People will treat you…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The article “Mapping Police Violence” says that “Police killed at least 102 unarmed black people in 2015”. And “37% of unarmed people killed by police in 2015’. Despite of being only 13% of the U.S population. Police brutality connects to racism, But it’s towards African Americans, Racism has always been an issue for blacks. It causes a dramatic impact on Black communities and lives because Our leaders fought for our rights such as, Martin luther king Jr. , Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman and etc.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Police Brutality

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages

    There is not a day that goes by that somewhere in the United States that an innocent civilian gets beaten from a police officer for no apparent reason. Sometimes the reason is because a police officer is racist. Racism, discrimination, and police brutality all go hand in hand because police officers usually do not go around beating civilians up for no reason. Usually the motive is because they are racist. The most major race that was affected by police brutality seems to be Caucasian people but according to the “NAACP, they say that between 1976 and 1987, officers killed about 1,800 blacks and 3,000 whites. Since blacks comprise approximately 12% of the general population, the data suggest that blacks are about three times more likely to be killed by officers than whites”. These appalling numbers are probably on the rise.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    End of White America

    • 2141 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Racism and prejudice have always existed in human history. Being a taboo subject and a debated issue, many people have tried to explain and find the reason to such conduct concerning another group of people. Such researches are the hope of many to see the racial discrimination ending. Vincent N. Parillo, through his essay "Causes of Prejudice" tries to explain the reasons of racism in the U.S. Parillo divides his essay in two parts, one for the psychological causes and one for the social reasons. In the first part, Parillo cites the main psychological causes as: levels of prejudices self-justification, personality and frustration. In the second part he transactions into the social explanations, which are: socialization, economic competition and social norms. For each cause he gives strong arguments based on historical data and actual facts and statistics which made his essay reliable. Along the same lines Hua Hsu in “The End of White America?” argues that America is becoming post racial. According to him race will matter less and less and whiteness will come to an end. Hsu is positive and confident that Americans will overcome resentment stimulated up by these changes and produce a culture in which race won’t be an important factor. These feelings might have been embedded within the people over a really long time and it will take a lot of time and determination to overcome the resentement that is stirred up from within the people. Parrillo provides a great deal of emphasiz into prejudice and the potential or future problems posed by the changing power dynamic between the roles to help us understand the shift and the reason behind the shift. Will Hsu’s words come true? Will white regain their power? Or will they remain threatened about their fading culture and value in America. In my opinion white people have lost power but the only reason that happened is because now there is a…

    • 2141 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In New York, blacks are 50% of all persons stopped and frisked by the police, but only 25% of the population. Police critics look at these rates and automatically cry racial profiling. And this would indeed be cause for concern if crime rates were evenly distributed across the population. This is not the truth, however - not in New York, not anywhere. In New York, in 1998, 62% of victims of violent assault identified their assailants as black, meaning that blacks were 13 times more likely to commit a violent assault as whites. Remember: these are victims identifying the criminal, not the allegedly "racist" police. It turns out that blacks in New York are actually being under stopped, compared to their rates of violent crime. Also another part of “Are Cops Racist?” that I can totally agree with is the chapter she has on the “black cops that you never hear about”. I this chapter she talks to the black cops that no one hears. They agree with her when she says that cops are not racist and that its just the area they are in that they have so many African American arrest. Lieutenant Christian was say, “often the entire neighborhood is black, so of course we are going to be stopping blacks-based on there behavior.” This shows that it is not just the white community saying that cops are not racist, its is also the African American community too. Most don’t see that and they attack the cops by making the allegations of racial profiling. This hinders the cop because they don’t make the arrest needed because they don’t want to seem to be arresting too many…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In his article “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Staples argues that people change their behaviors due to their assumptions when a Black man is present and I agree with Brent Staples. For instance, when Brent Staples was going to work the security called on him” One day, rushing into the office of a magazine I was writing for a deadline story in hand, I was mistaken for a burglar. ”(paragraph 8) I have experienced this before, when I and my aunt went to go get some food there was an African American man walking to get some food and the people quickly rolled their windows up and seem to be really scared.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays