Just Walk On By Brent Staples Summary

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In Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders, Brent Staples says that black men are typically perceived as a danger to society and uses personal encounters to give his idea life. The time period Staples paper was written about was an extremely divided time in our country. Segregation had been put to an end, but black people still were not yet seen as equals to most of the white population. In his article, he tells stories of how he was treated, how some of his friends were looked at, and how they were always suspected to be dangerous when they were doing nothing wrong. He started the story by telling of an encounter he had with a white woman in Chicago on one of his many sleepless nights. He went for a stroll to clear his mind and watched as a woman …show more content…
I think he did a great job depicting the problem he faced. He made it personal and I could connect it to my life and the life of people I know. He told multiple stories that kept me interested in his story and his introduction was a great hook. The racial problems he faced matched well with the background of the time period. He linked the problem to stereotypes that are still around today and it helped me understand what exactly he meant. I liked that he used real life stories instead of made up stories. He used other books and people to add to the effect. I think he fulfilled his purpose because he made me understand and agree with him. I understand that he used his experience, but he was very one-sided. He did not use any logic to prove his point. He did not tell stories that would have shown why the white woman would have run from him in the middle of the night. Any woman should steer clear of any potential danger while walking the streets, especially at night. If a man with a big heavy coat was walking behind me at night, I would do my best to escape the situation, whether he was white or black or any other race. He placed a stereotype on that young woman just because she took precaution when walking alone on a dark street at

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