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Public Space
In consideration of the Brent Staples’ essay “Black Men in Public Spaces,” it is defined that even today racism and prejudice are part and parcel of peoples’ lives. Staples feel intimidated anytime in public places due to the peoples’ stereotype, and this made him make efforts to come with compelling deeds to make them understand he is not the kind of person they thought off. Staples gives an example of the day he was walking along the streets at night as a graduate and come a close a white woman. On seeing Staples, the white woman increased her steps strands for her safety as she perceived him as burglary or such. Public space is essential to civilians’ well-being where all are treated fairly, and People should avoid prejudice as well as in public space as it is a threat to the society a thing that people need to eliminate.
Peoples’ mentality has created an intense fear in the nation where the black men are viewed as a threat to the community. The mistreatment and fear have played a significant role in developing racism and prejudgment in the public spaces. Regarding Staples’ experience of stereotype in public places as a black American it is not an easy thing to cope up with the frustration and it only an active person will be able to survive in such an environment comfortably. The discrimination and unfair treatment reached to the extent that Staples have to come up with practical ways of consoling the society that he is a kind and friendly person. The strategies he adopted are wearing decently in such a way that people might respect him and treat him a person of an upper class as well as whistling melodies composed by classical men such as Vivaldi and Beethoven. Staples took it quickly and did not to any extent get frustrated by the prejudice which he was subjected to by the whites (Perkins, page 13). The people whom he interacted with realized that he was different from many other blacks who are associated with crime and other traumatizing actions in the society. The community should be educated about public space as every citizen has the right to be treated fairly and not to be victimised unless there is evidence that he has done misconduct.
Public space is vital to the community’s development as well individual’s well-being at a personal level. Staples was a graduate who worked as a journalist, and he could be of great help to the society regarding collecting vital information from the citizens that required to be addressed in public (Koloze, page 17). Regardless of Staples’ intelligent level and good personality being an Africa-American with a black skin complexion disadvantaged him in the public space. It is not the same case that all the black or white people have the same characteristics and that person that one undermines and perceives inferior can be of help in the community. A good example regards the case which I witnessed regarding students prejudice against a black tutor. The professor was not familiar with the place, and one day he walking along the city’s street confused about the direction towards the institution. He came across a young lady to whom he attempted to consult, but all his efforts bear no fruits as the woman showed no interest in his conversation as she fast walked away without altering even a word. The man was left there traumatized, and the only option he had was calling for assistance from a colleague from the place where he had been posted to work (Reddick, page 22).
According to the discussion above, it is vital to treat people fairly in public, and people avoid judging other regarding skin complexity and race. Staples’ essay is educative, and he plays a significant role in eliminating public space stereotype by sharing his own experiences. Prejudice leads to society social-economic development as citizens from different races fear to be part of public progress projects as they feel disowned in the community.
References
Perkins, Pat. “Multiethnic Literature in the Progressive Classroom: A Descendant and Improvement on John Dewey’s Ideas.” History 9.2 (2017).
Koloze, Jeff. “MINORITY CONCERNS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX: EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES POSED BY MINORITY STUDENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO FURTHER IMPROVEMENT.” NAAAS Conference Proceedings. National Association of African American Studies, 2006.
Reddick, Bonnie. “AFRAS 120 Composition.” (2015).
