In a thoughtful, focused paragraph of approximately 200 words, engage a specific passage or set of passages in the assigned reading for the day. You may either choose one of the readings, or draw a connection between both. Using your passage as point of entry, formulate a question for class discussion. As you craft your paragraph, use the following format:
1. Identify a particular passage or set of passages that you find especially rich, provocative and critical to the core argument of the text(s) at hand. Clearly identify your passage, and use page numbers.
2. In 3-5 sentences, offer a brief critical paraphrase of the passage(s) you’ve selected, quoting key phrases to anchor and support your paraphrase.
3. In 2-3 sentences, pose a question or comment that explicitly draws out the implications of the passage, makes connections to other course readings, or otherwise opens the text up for further, focused discussion. If you choose to pose a question rather than a comment, then be sure to provide your own answer to your question.
Mills discusses the difference between “the personal troubles of milieu” and “the public issues of social structure” a distinction, which he believes is an essential “tool of the sociological imagination” (Mills 5). According to Mills troubles are small individual problems that affect individuals or small groups of people. They are results of ones own actions. Issues, on the other hand, deal with matters affecting large populations and affect many people similarly; they arise because of faults in that society. For example, a couple might file a divorce for personal reasons such as financial problems. This would be an example of a “trouble” because it affects only the couple (and family members) and the issues that this couple divorced because of are direct results of the couples actions. The fact that “during the first four years of marriage” the divorce rate is a 1 in 4 chance indicates there is a problem with the institution of marriage or family (Mills 6). Mills believes in order to identify and solve large issues which may potentially arise within a society one must first understand the time period within it exist, its mechanics, its essential components etc. Issues become more complex, and many more issues emerge as “institutions within which we live become more embracing and more intricately connected with one another” (Mills 7). A sociological imagination is required to be able to identify such issues.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great start Eric, excellent paraphrasing. This shows that you understand the material. BUT are you done? Look at #3 in the prompt, it is missing from your response.
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Mills writes, "when a society is....can be understood without understanding both." I particularly like this quote because it was all about how problems, big or small, such as war or industrialization, effects everyone.How when in a time of war an "insurance salesman becomes a rocket launcher." Mills explains that sociological imagination is "the understanding of larger historical scene in terms of it's meaning for the inner life and external career of a variety of individuals" (Mills 2). What he is saying is the person who has sociological imagination can look both inside him and outside him.
ReplyDeleteIn Brent Staples' passage, he tells us what life was like living as a black man in the 90's. The most interesting part of this passage to me was when he told us his dilemma with people in the streets. They are afraid of him just because he is black. In reality they have nothing to be scared of because he is a person who has trouble cutting a dead chicken.In the same paragraph he tells us that he is a college student at a prestigious university, but nevertheless, people avoid being near him.
In the fourth paragraph of Bent Staples’ “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”, the protagonist describes the reactions and actions that people did as a result of his unintended intimidation, as a graduate student newly arriving at the University of Chicago. Assuming that protagonist is a “black male” according to the text, he describes how as he crossed intersections, having to cross in front of stopped cars, the noise, “think” became familiar to him as the driver would hammer his or her car locks (Staples 405). He claims that whether “black, white, male, or female” the drivers would lock their vehicles (Staples, 405). Therefore, it may not have been necessarily his race nor age, but it was his race and age that fueled the fear in others. Even though he claims to have grown up as one of the “good boys”, the protagonist was labeled burglar, rapist, or what not, but as soon as he began whistling Beethoven and Vivaldi, New Yorkers mistook him for a man of good taste (Staples 406, 407). But simply why, based on physical appearance are humans bound to make assumptions about people as instinct? With only a mere glance, one can create one’s decision on what they assume about one, but why? As cliché as it may seem, we’re only human, and influenced immensely by society.
ReplyDeleteValeria Ramirez:
ReplyDeleteIn Just Walk on: By Black Men and Public Space, the author, Brent Staples, an african american. He learns that for the rest of the world he is known as the mugger, rapist, dangerous black man, just because of the color of his skin. He first realizes this when he is walking down the street behind a well dressed white women. She ocasionally glances back and stares in horror at him to make sure he is not too close to her, " After a few more quick glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest" (Staples 404). This was his first expirience in Chicago were he realizes that her, unlike his hometown, Pennsylvania, he is just the dangerous black guy. He realizes that young black men are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence. Staples says, " I understand, of course, that the danger they perceive is not a hallucination" (Staples 405). Staples understand that this does happen to women so they have a fear that it will happen to them.
I have expirienced times when I am with my friend walking and we are afraid of some men who are just standing. Women and girls have an idea that men will do something horrible to them, we judge them, we obviouslly dont want something bad to happpen to us. We watch the news and see that a girl has been kidnapped by a latino or a black male, this is where we get our idea.
Why is it that us female judge men espicially latino and black male? Why are we scared of this? Why do we judge them on the way they look?
ReplyDeleteSorry, this should of been in my paragraph!
Mario Diaz:
ReplyDeleteFrom personal experience, Brent Staples sets examples where he was looked upon differently because of his gender and race. At his home town in Chester, Pennsylvania he was seen as “the good boy,” whereas his community was sought to be violent and juvenile. Brent Staples argues the differences of society when he moved from a small town into the large urban city. Within the city, he experienced countless racial and stereotypical obstacles where he is seen as the bad person. One example was when he rushed into the office one day, working on a last minute magazine, and was thought to be “a burglar” (Staples 406). Other examples include him walking in the streets and encountering cars where the driver will usually lock all doors at a red light. Nonetheless he does not allow these small affairs change what he already knows of himself as a college student at a prominent university. And throughout the years he “learned how to smother the rage” whenever he was taken for a criminal. Furthermore his work can answer this question: how can one be mistaken and treated differently over a first impression? One can be mistaken and treated differently according to what society imposes on what a person should be but is not.
A particular passage I found intriguing was when Brent Staple says, “ She cast a back a worried glance. To her, the youngish black man- a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket-seemed menacingly close […] she picked up her pace and was soon running earnest”(Staples, 404). Not only was the passage very powerful and having great description, but shows a huge amount of racism. An American woman walking on the streets at night noticing an innocent man minding his own business because of his appearance and especially since he is the color black. Viewing a humans color does not interpret being a bad or good person. These things should not be a problem with people. For example, Staple says, “I may walk by, letting them clear the lobby before I return, so as not to seem to be following them” (407). Having to walk a different way because of people assuming you will do something should not be happening only because of the darker pigmentation on your skin. What is the cause of racism? Why does it have to be human race impact on how people view each other? What can individuals do in order tolerate racism?
ReplyDeleteIn "just walk on by", Staples describes how it was to be a black man sorrounded by mostly white people and how it was walking down the streets knowing people thought of you as a threat,when really he was a well educated harmless man.For example, he states,"After dark, on the streets of Brooklyn where i live,I oten see women who fear the worst from me(pg.405).This passage particulary was interesting to me because you could really imagine how it was to be Staples during this time.For instance,he says,"As a softy who is scarcley able to take a knife to a raw chicken-let alone hold one to a person's throat-I was surprised,embarrased,and dismayed all at once(pg.405).What he's trying to say is that if he can barley even cut a chicken,how in the world would he be able to threaten a human being,yet people assume the worst from him.To summarize, what Staples was trying to portray in the passage was that even though people thought of him as a criminal he didn't let it get to him because otherwise it would have led to madness,as written in the second to last paragragh.
ReplyDeleteJoanna Dimas
ReplyDeleteStaples experience as a black man in Chicago is an experience many people of color can relate to. Walking into a class full of white people, I feel as if many assume I am undereducated and that I am no different from many other Latinos in my school. Similar to Staples, he mentions, “I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once. It was made clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” (405). People in his society just assume he is no different from the other black people in their communities. He is just another stereotypical black criminal who is a danger to the people around him and is no better; however, many do not know that he is actually “the good one” in his community, and he attended the University of Chicago. Staples is just like many of us. He wants to be treated the same, and wants to live a successful life and work as a successful man. Men of color are usually the victims in these situations as being labeled as a criminal, but are women of color just as easily judged as men? Probably. Women of color can just as easily be dehumanized by our society. Women are not most likely viewed as a threat, but more along the lines like they will end up pregnant at a young age, or they won't end up in college. Both men and women of color suffer with stereotypes and judgment by the environment we live in.
In his article, Mills describes an ability that one needs to identify and solve problems and issues within one's society and life. This skill or ability is called the "social imagination" (Mills 3). With the social imagination, one enables oneself to "grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society" (Mills 3). In other words, this allows one to look at the history and at one's "own experience" to gather conclusions and be able to work out issues within society. Mills states that there is "a distinction with which the sociological imagination works" (Mills 5). This distinction is between troubles and issues. Troubles are the problems that an individual faces on his own, and is in immediate relation to others. Issues are the matters that "transcends these local environments of the individual" and are instead are built upon the "larger structure of social and historical life" (Mills 5). Issues look at the public, the bigger picture. I believe that sociological imagination is able to deal with both troubles and more importantly, issues.
ReplyDeleteHow does this connect to Staples' essay?
In his essay, Staples addresses the problem of black people being labeled as muggers, rapists, and thieves due to what society has constructed for them. He recalls a story of a black journalist being mistaken for the murderer he was trying to cover, and who was held at gunpoint. He then mentions that "black men trade tales like [that] all the time" (Staples 406). This connects to the sociology article because from this sentence, we can now tell that the problem that black people face in Staples' essay is not just a trouble, it is an issue. We can also see that to solve this problem within society, people need to possess and use the sociological imagination to identify this problem and do what they can to work towards finding a solution.
In the essay "Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space" by Brent Staples, the many sterotypes and prejusices that society has created is being presented. For example when it says, " After dark, on the warrenlike streets of Brooklyn where I live, I often see women who fear the worst from me. They seem to have set their faces on neutral ( Staples 405)." Here it is seen that when Staples is talking a walk, all the women that pass him are terrified or intimidated. When it says, "Their faces are neutral (Staples 405)," it is shown that women try to stay away, and try to not make eye contact but also that they have already made up their minds about him. No one needs to tell them anything, they assume that this man is going to harm them because of the way he looks.These women have characterized him because of the time period they live in, which is a violent one with gangs,etc. In the last parargraph Staples is trying to understand why this is the way it is but he is also frustrated because black men in particular are being jusdged incorrectly. At the end when he says that now he whistles tunes from Vivaldi and Beethoven while he walks, which obviously make him stand out and make him seem unique.It makes people actually see who he really is. As he makes himself stand out from the crowd, people see him as an educated, black man that will not cause harm.
ReplyDeleteIn Brent Staples’ essay, Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space, he conveys to the reader his own struggles he had to face in his life. Racial profiling is the main idea that is focused on in his essay. He tells about how he is often classified as a mugger, robber, or a rapist just because of his appearance. As society has shown, appearance does not tell anything of what one may actually be. Brent Staples, being a tall, black man, is subjected to racial profiling because of the fact that he is black. At times he would cross the street in front of a car in the middle of the night and he would hear “thunk, thunk, thunk (Brent Staples 405),”meaning that the driver would lock their doors out of fear. Staples also sees these acts of racial profiling among his peers, which lead him to a better understanding of what is happening. This essay is told during a time of the late 1900s, yet these problems still persist, although it may not be as to this great of a magnitude, but they still do exist. This is a problem within society itself and understanding this as a whole and an individual is what provides an understanding of what must be corrected.
ReplyDeleteThere is a direct correlation with what has been said Brent Staples’ writing and the ideas introduced by the sociologist, C. Wright Mills. Wright introduces a concept of sociological imagination, which is the idea that it “enables its processor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning… transformed into involvement with the public issues” (Mills 3). In possessing a sociological imagination, many capabilities are given because it allows one to address the problems that are given and from that, bring oneself to an understanding of their own personal troubles. If there is no understanding of the issues within society, how is one meant to have their own personal issues revealed? With this given, there are many similar instances to what many of the Next Generation Scholars go through. Many issues in the society are directed towards the scholars, like education problems, racial problems, etc. With these problems constantly being presented to them every single day, they notice that that is what their own personal issue is. Having knowledge of these problems is what provides fuel to show society of how minimal these problems actually affect them.
As I was reading Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space, by Brent Staples, I was fascinated when I was introduced to a new obstacle that the main character had to overcome. For instance, in this passage the main character states “Women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence” (Staples,405). This quote is very important to the story because this is the stereotype he has to overcome throughout the story. I was also fascinated by the will power the main character had, to overcome this overwhelming amount of racism's. Take this for example, the protagonist states “And I soon gathered that being perceived as a dangerous is a hazard in itself. I only needed to turn a corner into a dicey situation, or crowd some frightened, armed person in a foyer somewhere, or make an errant move after being pulled over by a policeman”(Staples,405). This quote has a significant importance to the story because it is an example of how he is shown throughout the story as a perpetrator of violence and also helps reinforce that he learned how to smother the rage he felt after being taken for a criminal. In conclusion, this passage that portrays negative stereotypes for black men, and forces me to think why “the other,” is so intimidating for the dominant culture and why they can’t look past the fact, we are all equal in humanity.
ReplyDeleteIn this article, Mills discusses how to understand one’s personal troubles through understanding the issues in one’s society. The ability to do so is called sociological imagination. Troubles are “within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others”(Mills 5). Issues, on the other hand, “have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of his inner life” (Mills 5). Issues are problems that involve a larger population while troubles are problems that are more personal. In order to comprehend a trouble, it must be viewed in all different angles. Mills uses war as an example. The personal problem of war is how “to survive or make one’s death in it” and the issue is about the economics and politics that caused the failure to keep peace within the nations. Through knowing this, there is a greater knowledge that can be put to use to create change.
ReplyDeleteMills discusses how to understand a trouble by looking at the context of the situation, but does he discuss how to solve the trouble? He does not. Mills only instructs the reader how to fully comprehend a personal trouble. There is no point in understanding a conflict if there is no solution. However, Mills reading is still important because there must be full understanding to find a solution.
In Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space, Staples, in the second paragraph makes a very influential point by juxtaposing his real personality and the personality people perceive him to have. Staples describes himself as a "softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken"(405), whereas the racial profiles imposed on Staples by others perceive him as a "mugger, rapist, or worse"(404).To the white woman who in-turn began running, fearing the worst, she was unable to distinguish between Staples and an actual criminal up to no good. Staples utilizes "seeping into the area from the surrounding ghetto" (405) as a metaphor for the occasional introduction of gang members into the surrounding cities, initiating the fear of the white woman.
ReplyDeleteStaples does a superb job of outlining the issues pertaining to the racial profiling of colored people, however, Staples does not describe as to why or what the cause of this racial profiling results from beyond gangsters "seeping into the area from the surrounding ghetto" (405). He provides no suggestion as to what exactly causes racial profiling to be so severe and a white woman to run from a innocent man. Perhaps it could be an incident that had happened on an individual basis, or possibly the woman is just simply a very stereotypical, overreacting person, perhaps both. Although Staples has not clearly defined as to what the cause of such severe profiling, he has, however devised a plan to make himself seem more congenial and less of a threat to others.
In Brent Staples' essay Just Walk On By: Black People in Public Space, the idea of immediate socially constructed discrimination is explored though his experience as a black man in public areas. Brent, just by being black, victimizes the white women of Chicago because of the fear they suffer from sharing a street with him. Staples gives a clear, personal understanding of situations where people assumed he was going to attack or mug them and how they feared the area itself that he stood in because it created a cage for these ignorant folk to be trapped in and left helpless for him to rape. murder, etc. Because of the sheer facts, it is understood why most black neighborhoods have become notorious. But Staples is enraged for being labeled a criminal.
ReplyDeleteStereotyping is an unnecessary way of justifying an unexplained fear or prejudice towards a group one remains ignorant of. When one one of the numerous well dressed white woman came across Brent, his blackness created a hole of questionability for the women, simply because black people are a rarity in this country. When searching for an answer to the mystery that is a black man walking down the street, these women turn to the news articles and the lectures their racially dominant parents told them about blacks, thus making her fear them thus having her clutch her purse ready to scream "RAPE". Yet, for all we know, Brent Staples is a harmless business man who can't hurt a fly. As a matter of fact, Brent gives literal evidence that he is indeed a white collar pacifist who finds trouble preparing his uncooked chicken. Moral: assumptions lead to poor judgment which leads to an ongoing cycle of racism and discrimination.