Brent Staples Black Men and Public Space English 1302 Mrs. N. Puder

Brent Staples Born in Chester, Pennsylvania Oldest of Nine Children Father Lost His Job as a Truck Driver along with 40,000 Other Workers in the 1960’s due to Plant Closings in the Area Family Reduced to Poverty Did Not Consider College Until a College Professor Took Interest In Him

Brent Staples Received a B.A. from Widener University Awarded a Danford Fellowship for Graduate Study Received a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology from the University of Chicago

Brent Staples Taught Psychology at Several Colleges in Pennsylvania and Illinois. Reporter Chicago Sun Times New York Times Wrote Opinion Pieces on Race, Social Problems, Politics, and Contemporary Culture Author Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White

Title Definitely About African- American Men I Like the Play on Public Space Should We All Be Able to Navigate the Same Space

Summary: Say What? Revolves Around the Writer’s Ability to alter public space in ugly ways His uncomfortable encounters How he deals with being profiled as a danger.

Audience African-American Men Others Who Have Had Similar Experiences More Importantly, Women Published in two women’s magazines Ms. Magazine Feminist Harper’s Focus on Intellectual Articles

Thesis: Revealed “And soon I gathered that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself” (1).

Support for Thesis and Rhetorical Modes Mistaken for Burglar Racially Profiled at Jewelry Store Journalist Friend Pulled Over as Suspect Narration Description Cause Effect Argumentative

Tone: Significance Nonchalant Serious Non Threatening

Diction: Significance Intellectual Impoverished Affluent Labyrinthine Quarry Cursory Accomplice Ad Hoc Posse Berth Elicit Alienation Instead of Poor Rich Maze Like Victim/Perused By . . .

Syntax: Sentence Structure Complex and Emotionally Revealing “ As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken – let alone hold one to a person’s throat- throat – I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once.

Imagery Reveals How Being Perceived As Danger Feels “I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver – black, white, male, female, p hammering down the door locks”(1).