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. Thirdly, in the film “13th” by Duvernay these topics are all explained more in-depth, directly helping support the themes of the previous texts. Using Baldwin and Duvernay as a critical lens, Staples teaches us that racial stereotypes are a social construct that has been used to justify discrimination, blatant racism, 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.”(Staples, Page 2) 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.
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 be more obstacles to go through that could lead you to a bad path later in life. This is perfectly illustrated in the film “13th” by Ava Duvernay where racial discrimination and stereotypes are addressed and exposed to the viewer. In the film, one of the individuals being interviewed said it perfectly, he stated “We have been consistently being murdered as a result of police brutality, they gently would excuse it by calling us criminals” (Duvernay, 1:31:05). This quote is one of the more impactful quotes of the whole film because it summarizes up the racial stereotypes along with police brutality all in one sentence. Very similar to what Staples described in his own piece, the African American guests being interviewed delved into the stereotype of Black Americans being assumed to be criminals because of the color of their skin. While at first glance people think of stereotypes as harmless assumptions made by society, if you look into it further; we notice that the racial stereotypes against African Americans directly correlate with police brutality against blacks. The importance of this is amplified when we put into context the countless deaths that have happened from police on black aggression, the major being George Floyd’s death which caused a worldwide protest against police brutality.
The physical appearance of a Black man is not the only thing that is negatively stereotyped by society, as Black English also plays a part in the history of African American stereotypes. In the text “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is”, James Baldwin conveys the importance of Black English and what it means to the black community, as well as how It is perceived by society. In the piece, James Baldwin states a very powerful line, as follows “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity[slavery], and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey.”(Baldwin, Page 2) For context, In this quote Baldwin is referring to slavery, and how African Americans were driven to a point that the only choice they had was to create their own way of communication, their own language. In today’s society, Black English is looked down on while Standard English is viewed as high. Baldwin conveys to us that language is powerful, and the moment that you speak can reveal almost everything about you. Black English was already made fun of by whites back in the 1900s, and just like a person of black skin color would be discriminated against, a person that spoke black English would also be receiving the same treatment. This relates to structural and systematic discrimination because we are taught to value Standard English, and recommended to never use Black English with others outside our race.
Overall, as readers, we can say that the texts by Baldwin and Duvernay create an almost perfect lens for the main theme of Staple’s “Black Men In Public Spaces”. All three pieces Illustrate the danger that comes with going along with the stereotypes labeled Black Individuals, they show how blacks are overly discriminated against for being born with a darker skin tone. The stereotypes of African Americans being criminals is simply a social construct to defend the idea that things like police brutality should be excused when It’s a black Individual on the receiving end.
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.
