There are many different perspectives on a topic. This can lead to everyone having a different emotional connection to it. A topic as controversial as racism and discrimination against blacks in America has been discussed by blacks in many different ways. One thing that is common in their opinions on this topic is that it should be stopped, but every person who has been discriminated against has a different emotional connection toward it. Historical black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X have two different philosophies when it comes to the methods that should be taken to destroy racism and discrimination in America even though both fought for equal rights. The juxtaposition between poets Claudia Rankine and Saul Williams versus
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Brent Staples seems to have a very submissive tone. He knows that he has to look a certain way and act a certain way to try not to stand out so much. For example, “Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal.” He hates that he cannot freely express himself in public but rather has to hide behind a mask every day of his life. His submissive tone really draws a reader in. “My first victim was a white woman, well dressed, probably in her early twenties.” He describes himself as society would label him as, a criminal. His submissive tone shows the mental effect discrimination has on the daily lives of black. Being labelled as something you are not and having to constantly prove that you are not a part of the “stereotype of black people” is very draining. Ta-Nehisi Coat’s tone is one of cynicism. He is coming to a lot of realization of the world in his book and really questions the America society as a whole. “The problem with the police is not that they are fascist pigs but that our country is ruled by majoritarian pigs,” (page 79) He sees that in America’s democratic republic, it is the people that hold the power so everything that happens is the direct effect of the people. He sees that the majority (white Americans) are the ones in control and it is because of them that society is the way it is today. Coates is writing this book to his son, so it doesn’t have a very harsh tone like Williams, since it is for his son to be more aware of his circumstances as a black boy in
Brent Staples seems to have a very submissive tone. He knows that he has to look a certain way and act a certain way to try not to stand out so much. For example, “Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal.” He hates that he cannot freely express himself in public but rather has to hide behind a mask every day of his life. His submissive tone really draws a reader in. “My first victim was a white woman, well dressed, probably in her early twenties.” He describes himself as society would label him as, a criminal. His submissive tone shows the mental effect discrimination has on the daily lives of black. Being labelled as something you are not and having to constantly prove that you are not a part of the “stereotype of black people” is very draining. Ta-Nehisi Coat’s tone is one of cynicism. He is coming to a lot of realization of the world in his book and really questions the America society as a whole. “The problem with the police is not that they are fascist pigs but that our country is ruled by majoritarian pigs,” (page 79) He sees that in America’s democratic republic, it is the people that hold the power so everything that happens is the direct effect of the people. He sees that the majority (white Americans) are the ones in control and it is because of them that society is the way it is today. Coates is writing this book to his son, so it doesn’t have a very harsh tone like Williams, since it is for his son to be more aware of his circumstances as a black boy in