worried glance. To her‚ the youngish black man – a broad six feet two inches with a bear and billowing hair‚ both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket – seemed menacingly close. After a few more quick glimpses‚ she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest. Within seconds‚ she disappeared into a cross street. Passage from Black Men and Public Space (1986) by Brent Staples. Brent Staples is the writer and narrator of Black Men and Public Space‚ an essay in which he tells
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Brent Staples wrote an essay about “What Adolescents miss when we let them grow up in Cyberspace.” In the beginning Staples describes the father of his 10th grade heartthrob. He insinuates that he is a fearsome steelworker who struck terror in the hearts of 15-year old boys. Whenever they would talk on the phone‚ her father would cut the conversation short. Now he has to make a choice to give up or show up at the front door. This is the first sustained encounter with an adult outside of his family
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The night world In “Black Men and Public Space‚” Brent Staples makes the most interesting idea that‚ people look – always – to black men as a threat‚ they see every dark skinned youth as an incoming danger‚ and that is what Staples implies in his essay. He also explains when he was young‚ people looked at him as a mugger or‚ a rapist or even worse. So‚ throughout his essay we can see Staples’ realization of the fact that‚ people – rarely - change their prospective about black guys. He is trying to
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Brent Staples; Fight Against The Destiny Everyday millions of people; young and old‚ rich and poor are getting up with the sunshine glittering in their eyes and start in their days with different concerns‚ in different moods. Each of them is just living out their lives with the destiny that has been set for them. It is interesting how life starts differently for each of us. Some may be born rich‚ handsome or super intelligent‚ while the others may be born poor‚ disabled or as orphans. Some may
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relatively affluent neighborhood in an otherwise mean‚ impoverished section of Chicago. As I swung onto the avenue behind her‚ there seemed to be a discreet‚ uninflammatory distance between us. Not so. She cast back a worried glance. To her‚ the youngish black man—a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair‚ both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket—seemed menacingly close. After a few more quick glimpses‚ she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest. Within
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It is true that in Staples’ “Black Men and Public Space” an environment of fear is built by prejudice so much so that it is compared to a “bear country.” Our choices to be prejudiced to those few who are different in our community negatively affect us all. These choices have their consequences and these consequences will have to be met by the affected. Our inclinations to give into prejudices negatively impact our community because it reinforces bias‚ continues a cycle of ignorance‚ and sets a poor
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The mere presence of black men contain the power to invoke awe‚ discomfort and intimidation. This power‚ however‚ does not justify the grossly apologetic attitude and extreme behavior modification that Brent Staples exercised for the simple purpose of alleviating the fears and suspicions aroused by the presence of a black man. Brent says he smothered the rage that surely would have turned to madness‚ he kept a wide distance from people on subways who appeared to be nervous especially during the
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Through Toni Morrison’s short story “Recitatif” and Brent Staples’ essay “Black Men and Public Spaces”‚ we see the similar topics of nonverbal communication and stereotypes. Through his use of a cowbell metaphor‚ and her use of handshake imagery Staples and Morrison explore the theme that nonverbal communication and stereotypes can affect how people act and are viewed in society. After living in New York for a few years‚ Staples learned to take precautions‚ so as not to seem threatening. He would
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The Black Lives Matter movement is exceptionally justified because black people are judged by looks‚ not by personality. Black Lives Matter is a prevailing protest that has taken over everywhere. Brent Staple in “Black men and Public space”‚ he talks how he was basically trying to live a normal life but couldn’t because of his skin want like everyone else‚ he is trying to tell everyone who is or isn’t black now black people can’t really live a typical life as white people. In the story Staples talks
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shaped his behavior. The author chose to use the response approach of ignoring the views and the defending actions of the people whom he met. He writes‚ “Over the years‚ I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal” (Staples 397). He even started making some attempts of calming down the people he considered were apt to be afraid of him. He kept distance with the people and moved carefully in order to avoid being mistakenly regarded as a criminal. His strategy was implementing
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