Eng 210

Luis Batista

NFE Essay

3/20/2023

Have you ever wondered what a world without racism would look like? A world where all humans were to be of only one color, eliminating all chances for racism to exist. While we are able to endlessly wonder how great it would be to be completely unified and treated equally regardless of the color of our skin, the unfortunate reality is that the color of our skin has led to a massive divide in human society. In society, African Americans have always been the most discriminated against all the way from slavery to today. In the text “Black Men in Public Spaces” by Brent Staples, Staples talks about his experience throughout life living as a black man who was always racially stereotyped by others because of his appearance. Staples’s experiences of racial and stereotypical discrimination reveal our society’s flaws. There’s something wrong when other individuals are genuinely “scared” of him, or assume he’s a criminal, etc., simply because he’s a black man. Similarly to Staples’s experiences with racism, in the text “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is” by James Baldwin, Baldwin explains how Black English was needed to rebel and survive during slavery, and how it is something that black individuals will always use when they feel in danger of oppression/discrimination. Based on these readings, I am able to conclude that racial stereotypes are a social construct that has been used to justify discrimination, blatant racism, and violence against Blacks, and other minorities.

A common stereotype that goes around in our society involves black individuals being “criminals” or “extremely aggressive/dangerous”. Whether it’s because the system only focuses on black crimes, or because police are numerous times more likely to interrogate blacks than whites, it is an unfair stereotype that groups all black people together, especially black men. For example, In the text “Black Men in Public Spaces” Brent Staples states that “Mistaking the reporter for the killer, police officers hauled him from his car at gunpoint and but for his press credentials would probably have tried to book him. Such episodes are not uncommon. Black men trade tales like this all the time. Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal. Not to do so would surely have led to madness.” In this quote, Staples is going over one of the multiple times that he’s seen a black man being mistakenly identified as a criminal without any other reason than his appearance. From Staples’s own words, we know that as a black man, he himself and many others have reported being mistaken as criminals multiple times throughout their lives. Unfortunately, with the news and other sources always excessively portraying black crimes over white crimes, it has become a long-known stereotype that black people are dangerous. Such a big stigma does not go lightly, it affects the lives of many black individuals, but it also indirectly brainwashes society to be scared and worried about African Americans. A great representation of this is when Brent Staples states “It was in the echo of that terrified woman’s footfalls that I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance I’d come into–the ability to alter public space in ugly ways. It was clear that she thought herself the quarry of a mugger, a rapist, or worse… As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken–let alone hold one to a person’s throat–I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once”. This sequence perfectly illustrates the common occurrence of what happens when you meet an individual who has been thought to be extremely aware of any black person, not only does the brainwashed person feel super uncomfortable and worried, but Staples himself is the most affected by this. As a black man, Staples will always have to deal with women acting super cautious around him as if he were to be a criminal out to hunt them, all because of the color of his skin and the social construct that revolves around it.

If the moment you’re born, you’re put into a more discriminated against, less supported, poorer, and unfairly handled environment by white supremacy, there will obviously be more obstacles to go through that could lead you to a bad path later in life.

 Works Cited

Baldwin, James. “If Black English Isn’t A Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” Rotten English.

Ed. Dohra Ahmad. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2007. 453-57. Print.

Staples, Brent. “Public Spaces and Black Men” ENG 210: Writing about Social

Science, Edited by Prof. A. Heerah. 2023. Pg 2

Duvernay, Ava, director. 13th, Netflix, 17 Apr. 2020,

https://youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8.