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Issues of Race and Racism in Brent Staples’s Just Walk on By
Brent Staples, in his essay Just Walk on By, has presented the issue raised against the race and racism in Chicago. The essay demonstrates the continuous discriminative behaviour that Staples had to face when he was in America. His first realisation was as a student when he took a late night walk and frightened a white woman. He realises that the world is much violent for the black men in America and it bothers him that he cannot change this fact. Brent Staples has used many of the vivid imageries in pointing out the hardships of the black people in a racist world. He has presented a clear description of his feelings by considering such discriminative behaviour as “an accomplice in tyranny” (Staples, 2012). The argument is prominently highlighting the discriminative attitude against the black people in Chicago. The frustration has also been portrayed more specifically.
The argument of Brent Staples against racism has become much prominent with the highlights of two death incidents. The first incident was the death of Travoyn Martin in the year of 2012, and the other one is Michael Brown in the year of 2014. The death of Michael Brown, a student was shot dead by the police on the streets of his hometown. This incident is quite a similar one to the death incident of Travoyn Martin. The verdict presented against the death case of Travoyn Martin may generate the sensation of sympathy. Extreme drug policies and aggressive punitive are steeped in racism (Theguardian.com, 2014). The drug law enforcement is considered as the biased approach. The racism is prominently highlighted in the unfair death tragedy of these two black people in US. Reviewing such death incidents, it can be said that the elaboration of Staples’s analysis against the racism is still valid in today’s world.
Staples, B. (2012). Just Walk On By: A black man ponders his power to alter public space. Canadian content, 263-268.
Theguardian.com, 2014. Michael Brown shooting: 'They killed another young black man in America'. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
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