Blog Post 10

Brent Staples wrote some very interesting things in "Just Walk On By". He shows us the reality of what it's like for many black males. In his essay he describes how he had to deal with being feared by people, by simply walking down the street. This portrays the racism and stereotypes of today and how black men have to deal with them.
One aspect that I liked about his essay is when he pointed out how men should portray themselves. I think that this goes across the board for not only black men, but for all men in general. He states that men aren't supposed to give an inch of our lane on the highway and that we are to seize the fighter's edge in work play and even in love. This means a lot to me in because every man has to go through some sort of test to prove themselves or something to prove their manhood. He also states in the next paragraph that the poor and powerless young men seem to take all this nonsense literally. When I think about this statement, I agree with him for the most part. The only thing I still see is the fact that he mentioned the role of the tough guy. He wouldn't have mentioned it if it weren't a reality. Sometimes people that have great wealth and power still put their hands up to show their manhood. But whatever, I mean the whole point of his essay is to show how he had to deal with the issue of being black and how people portray him in society and how he deals with it. I think that the whole black thing is a little played out. I have been learning about racism and everything for so long now that it's pretty much repetitive and boring. If you went to school you should pretty much know that racism is probably the dumbest thing in the world. Any educated person knows this. For the essay, I don't see any real connection besides the whistling in the end. He is a black man that changes his identity by whistling to make others fear him less. Maybe that's the connection here.