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In the essay by Brent Staples, “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent highlights the challenges African Americans go through in society. By using imagery, Staples narrates his life experience and the challenges faced as a black man when even at times, he was branded as a rapist and a mugger. The author uses strong words to vividly show society’s strong view of his race. For instance, at the start of this article, the playwright uses words such as oppression, victim, fear, awkward, dangerous, and ghetto to demonstrate his response towards the women’s reaction.
The author’s reaction to women reveals that he stays calm and does not overreact despite demanding masculinity. For instance, Staples remains civil in the presence of his members, making his response unusual as an ordinary man would fight back. Even if society treats him with hatred, he never mentions how society harshly treats him. Brent sets the tone negative; the pathos used spurs the reader with emotions. He uses factual and statistical ethos, making the leader understand how he views the story on both sides. The essay vividly shows the blacks’ plights in society but chooses to remain silent.
The article first was published in Ms. Magazine in 1986, where it had the title “Just Walk on by Black Men and Public Space.” The playwright first targeted society as he felt just by a mere presence as a black it would make a black woman take off (Staples 21). From this, the author reflected on the issue of race and gender that were happening in the country. A year later, he changed the article’s title to have more audience coverage to feel the plights the blacks were going through, yet they would take no action against it, and it got published at Herpes.
The article begins with Staples narrating how as he walked behind a woman in the streets of Chicago, she would increase her pace with at one moment, she sprinted. His primary target audience is the society, who, despite knowing the blacks’ challenges, takes no action-forcing him to use strong words in his work. It forces him to use words such as victim to show the reader he was experiencing racism discrimination (Staples 20). Throughout the articles, he narrates the various accounts of racist abuse he has participated in as a black man. When the playwright was headed to the magazine’s office workplace, the author got branded as a burglar. The reader can learn from the article how black men are trying to live normally despite the racist abuse experienced. The author chose society to fight against the racism that was happening in the country.
Brent Staples was born in 1951, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and later became a journalist. In 1986 he published the article “Just Walk on by Black Men and Black Space,” later revised it for publishing by Harper’s a year later under the current title (Staples 19). He gave a reflection of various incidences that occurred to him in the mid-1970s where at one time, his presence was enough to scare off a white woman. From these incidents, he reflects on the issues of race, class, and gender that were happening in the country.
Throughout his work, Staples uses rhetorical appeals such as ethos. Pathos and logos make the story captivating to the reader. Using the philosophy, he presents himself as an honest and innocent human who cannot harm anyone. he terms himself as a man who cannot take a knife to cut a raw chicken–let alone hold one to a person’s throat–I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once.” He tries to show that he was the right person to give the story as he feels even the lady mistook him by judging him by his looks. He expresses how he feels but hides his reactions, making the reader consider him an abnormal man as he would have reacted. From his narration, the reader can understand his side of the story.
Staples furthers pathos in his article by use of emotionally filled language, anecdotes, and figurative language to develop pathos in his work. “Yet these truths are no solace against the kind of alienation that comes of being ever the suspect, a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact” (Staples 20). The extract shows how Staples got individualized and is suspected of alienating him. Another instance is when he is walking behind a white woman in the streets of Chicago, where the woman would view him as a threat because of his skin color. It paints the image to the reader of a victim of how he found himself behind the woman.
He further raises the reader’s emotion by showing that it was the echo of the footsteps of the terrified that made him feel the unwieldy inheritance he was coming to. It captures the reader by demonstrating the misfortunes he was experiencing due to his skin color.
The playwright uses logos in his articles, such as the reference he makes by stating the cowbell, which the hikers wear (Staples 24). Staples gets his audience’s persuasion by comparing the cowbell worn by the hikers to the discrimination of the black Americans to the bears. He further disregards mentioning the exact words in crime rates but articulates his arguments to show how women are primary targets. In acknowledging racism, Staples confirms by stating that being racially discriminated by people is the worst experience, especially by strangers. Using the techniques, the author can pull the reader’s emotions to try put and put himself in the shoes of Staple and have sympathy.
Staples starts the article by narrating his experience of walking at the streets of Chicago, which spurs the leader’s emotions and ends where he is branded a mugger. He has organized his work to show the blacks’ challenges. The playwright used a docile tone, which is accommodating thus willing to do anything possible to make the readers comfortable. The guilty manner sparks the readers’ emotional response; he states he grew used to racism but was no longer relaxed about it. This tone makes the audience feel the guilt, and as a writer, he makes sure he transfers them to the same situation. Staples used the style of black humor where he stands as a protagonist in a story in which he narrates the difficult life experiences of a black American. Further, he uses irony where the atmosphere he sets is casual compared to the information he gives concerning his experienced racial abuse. He uses black humor to maintain the atmosphere of racial segregation through his work.
Staples used ethos in his work, which showed an intelligent graduate’s credibility, which showed that a legitimate man aired his ideas concerning racism. Using personal experiences, he effectively conveys his message to the reader that racial segregation is still taking place. He uses a casual tone, not an angry tone which makes the reader quickly understand where he stands on the issue of racism. In his work, we can see how no matter the blacks’ racial segregation, they are unwilling to stand and fight against it; instead, they move to do their things normally.
Work Cited
Staples, Brent. “Black men and public space.” Harper’s Magazine 273 (1986): 19-20.
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