After these last two readings, we now have some insight into comfort, discomfort, race, and public spaces with these narrative writings. While both are from two different perspectives, both offer and inform in a variety of ways. Please identify differences and similarities in the two, and find a way to identify with one of these authors. Share your comments below, and don't forget to use the blog rubric on your syllabus.
Due at the end of class on Friday, 9/7/18.
In the Black men and public spaces, the speaker spoke on the misconception of black men are all bad but he understands why people see African males as threats through the statistics and violence those individuals has. He believes he is not one of those men just like the white man who quit the klan. It’s not that they both are different from their kind, it’s how they see themselves instead of how people see them is the concern. Both stories wanted out of violence but both experienced some type of violence. The biggest difference between both stories is race. One is coming from one skin perspective and the other is from the other. Of course I favor the Black men (Brent Staples), because I can relate how I come from proverty streets but I hold myself professionally and also don’t do the things outside of my home that is innopropiate to the public.
ReplyDeleteIn the reading "Black Men and Public Spaces" the perspective is from an young African American male in the Civil Rights Era. I can relate to him in the beginning of his story when he talks about, the encounter that he had with the white woman running away from him. I remember when I was a little younger when my grandmother, whom is white with African American grandchildren. I can play back the images in my head when other Whites would look at her in disgust in public or would be in a hurry to get from around her when we would go visit her. At the time being so young, I really did not understand it but now being older with a different perspective I fully understand what was taking place. The differences between the two articles would be the perspectives that they come from in the "Black Men and Public Space" it's coming from an young African American male. In the second reading "Why I Quit the Klan" is coming from a White male.
ReplyDeleteKenadi Powers - shared story in class
DeleteIn both articles the authors express their cultural perspectives in different environments. In the narrative “Black Men and Public Spaces”, the main character, resident and new undergraduate student in Chicago faces racial obstacles as he travels during the night. Brent Staples is dressed in clothes that he feels are comfortable and walking upon the dark sidewalks the way he has become accustomed. Simply what he would consider normal and what others foreshadowed as a threat. What ultimately seems to make the white or black, woman and or man uncomfortable is what makes him himself. In the “Former Klan” reading by CP Ellis expresses the insights that led him away from the Klan and commit to broader concerns of lower income people both African-Americans and white. -Jayla Moore
ReplyDeleteBoth passages show that whites having a superior mentality had caused any other race to feel inferior to them. With this superiority came, mistreatment and disrespect in more form than one. C. P. Ellis explains that while being a member of a Klan that was created just to show the superiority of whites; he learns that others are just as equal. In summary Brent Staples explains that he wants to be treated just as equal as the "superior" race. Staples explains how he is accused, and is watching others be accused, for crimes they never committed only because they have a dash of melanin in them. Ellis began fighting for equality within public schools because he understood there was not a man that was better than the other. Ellis would fight t again positions where he could make a change in the society. Then there is Staples who is fighting himself on controlling his rage. I relate a little more to Staples simply because, I myself went to a predominately white school. My classrooms were full of racial comments that weren't "meant to be offensive". Having to be in a class where there are only 3 black people and racial slurs flying around makes you want to rage. Seriously. I had to learn to hold my composure and say what I needed to say with a smile on my face.
ReplyDeleteNekaya Lovett
In the reading, Black Men and Public Spaces, the black guy felt as if he had to be careful and discrete to make everyone feel at ease when he is around. He started doing these things because he got the feeling that white women were uncomfortable around him and he didn't want people to get the right idea. In the reading, Why I quit the klan, Elis joined the klan because he felt as if the world was shutting him out so joining the klan made him feel like he was apart of something.
ReplyDeleteThe main characters in "Why I Quit the Klan" and "Black Men in Public Space" were very different. CP Ellis was a broke white man who couldn't help where he came from and Brent Staples was a black man who couldn't help how he looked. CP worked for a long time going against blacks and Brent worked for a long time trying to get rid of the reputation that people like CP created of him. CP and Brent were both judged for how they were born and raised. I can identify with how Brent feels because it is what happens in modern day America. People of color are constantly seen as criminals.
ReplyDeleteThis was from Dyonne Jennings
DeleteI feel like both of them were looked down on by outsiders. The former klansmen, who grew up really poor with little clothes and the Black man who grew up being looked at as a thug or mugger figure. I think the Klansmen was raised in hatred and Brent Staples was not. That's a big difference to me.
ReplyDeleteIn the “Former Klan” essay, a white man chose to act aggressively towards blacks when offered a bond with the Klan to deal with the way he felt about himself. In the “Black Man” essay, the black man tried to make people comfortable around him even though they portrayed him as a bad person. The black guy went to college & the white guy was uneducated. The black guy probably also grew up in a better environment. Something they have in common is that they had an issue & both tried to find a way to cope around the same time in history.
ReplyDeleteThe main similarity between these two pieces is the issue of misinformation. In “Black Men in Public spaces”, all of his victims fear him because of what stigmas they may have or from what they’ve seen in the media. In “why I quit the Klan”, his hate stems from a lack of education, feeling left out and just hatred for his own scenarios. Because he couldn’t take his anger of his situation on America, he directs it towards the African American due to stigmas and paradigm he’s acquired from his early life.
ReplyDeleteIn the Black man it was about a new man to Chicago was profiled as a rapist, mugger, or thug to a women at night and he tries to avoid those situations so the police don’t use brutality and that he isn’t taken to jail. In the Former Klan reading the KKK member joined the Klan because of his father and found out that he doesn’t want to be in the Klan because he doesn’t agree with their beliefs even though he was taught like that as a child.
ReplyDeleteSome similarities I identified between the last two readings were the way society looked at them. The black man would get all sorts of different looks from white people as if they were scared he would hurt them or do something violent. The white man began to get looked at for being apart of the Klan because not only was it just him, it was the entire Klan. Some differences were the way they were raised and the environment they grew up in. The white man’s childhood left him feeling shut out from the world so he wanted some sort of authority. While the black man just wanted equality. I can relate to Brent Staples as a way of discomfort for something as simple as sitting next to a white female in the doctor’s office. All because of the color of my skin, they can easily feel threatened from me just walking into the same room as them.
ReplyDeleteIn the reading, the main character became very distant and discreet with his actions when he came across other people. He was aware of people treating him as if he was a villain even though he did nothing wrong at all. People acted very negative towards him because of the color of his skin. However in the other reading, the author explains that being part of the "klan" was to simply express personal opinions about other people who came from different walks of life. These people that were committed to this klan were white individuals and this opportunity was an outlet for them to demonstrate their superiority.
ReplyDelete