Coming Together To Make A Change As I read “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, I couldn’t help but think of how many people are fighting and protesting against the leading republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump. While Trump’s target is the Mexican immigrant, it directly affects all foreign and colored people of America. He’s setting a horrible example for his followers, letting them believe it’s okay to use racial profiling and stereotypes. Like many colored people, Staples is a victim of racial stereotyping and profiling, but uses his writing to display some of the poignant experiences he’s had in life. While no person can avoid being stereotyped, I feel that we need to work together as one to reduce the amount of racial
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If it’s never happened to you, Staples gives you a glimpse of how it feels throughout his essay. He gives us various occasions where he is racially stereotyped. The first incident he could remember was when he was 22 years old. Staples and a white woman were walking on the same street at night, when she noticed him, the women picked up her walking pace until it turned into a run. Staples mentions that, the incident happened over a decade from the day that he wrote the essay. He was able to remember vividly how the incident happened, this shows that he was internally hurt. Put yourself in Staples shoes for a moment. How would you feel if you’re walking down the street on your way home and a woman starts running away from you? I promise you’d feel horrible, angry, distraught, or maybe even a monster. Although I’m not African American, half of the time I go into Macy’s or other stores, either a security follows me around or the cashier doesn’t take their eyes off me. It makes me feel bitter, embarrassed, and outraged on the inside. Staples explains, “Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal.”(175) It’s outrageous that people have to become accustomed to being seen as a criminal by people who don’t know anything about them other than their appearance. Our society needs to understand the damage that they do to people when they …show more content…
He is an American civil rights activist who pointed out, “In major cities like New York, blacks and Latinos not only worry about being “stopped-and-frisked” by police, but they also fear the embarrassment of being “shopped-and-frisked” in retail stores.” This is a reality that colored people experience the majority of times when going to the store. Security and workers should not make customers feel uncomfortable by racial profiling them and following them around the store, let alone search them because they look a certain way. The victims of the racial profiling in these stores need to report the incidents and speak up about their incidents because it would be beneficial in bringing the issue to
If it’s never happened to you, Staples gives you a glimpse of how it feels throughout his essay. He gives us various occasions where he is racially stereotyped. The first incident he could remember was when he was 22 years old. Staples and a white woman were walking on the same street at night, when she noticed him, the women picked up her walking pace until it turned into a run. Staples mentions that, the incident happened over a decade from the day that he wrote the essay. He was able to remember vividly how the incident happened, this shows that he was internally hurt. Put yourself in Staples shoes for a moment. How would you feel if you’re walking down the street on your way home and a woman starts running away from you? I promise you’d feel horrible, angry, distraught, or maybe even a monster. Although I’m not African American, half of the time I go into Macy’s or other stores, either a security follows me around or the cashier doesn’t take their eyes off me. It makes me feel bitter, embarrassed, and outraged on the inside. Staples explains, “Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal.”(175) It’s outrageous that people have to become accustomed to being seen as a criminal by people who don’t know anything about them other than their appearance. Our society needs to understand the damage that they do to people when they …show more content…
He is an American civil rights activist who pointed out, “In major cities like New York, blacks and Latinos not only worry about being “stopped-and-frisked” by police, but they also fear the embarrassment of being “shopped-and-frisked” in retail stores.” This is a reality that colored people experience the majority of times when going to the store. Security and workers should not make customers feel uncomfortable by racial profiling them and following them around the store, let alone search them because they look a certain way. The victims of the racial profiling in these stores need to report the incidents and speak up about their incidents because it would be beneficial in bringing the issue to