C & C on English 101

             I really enjoyed reading "Just Walk on By" A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space. In fact over the past week and a half of reading texts discussing the various aspects of the Black experience in America over the past century I really enjoyed this piece by Ben Staples the most.
             Ben starts out with his first sentence threatening me with the words
             ยก§My first victim was a woman. ---white, well dressed, probably in her early 20's."
             All sorts of thoughts jumped into my mind! What a brilliant way to paralyze the reader into taking more of what was to precede this bold statement. I was excited to read about some serial killer forced into his psychotic behaviors due to the oppression of the white man cornering his enemy into no other position than the villain. A victim simply fulfilling his part as the monstrous creature many believed should only be hanged.
             Then I thought rapidly about his choosing a white woman in her early 20's. Now who is the minority? Now who has no power to fight back?
             I love him! I was so wrong. I was assuming without hesitation that this man was guilty. This Black man was the bad guy and I didn't think twice about it. This is really scary. Do I have ingrained prejudice in my subconscious allowing me to make such quick and harsh judgment? This stunned me to silencing my mind as I humbly read the rest of his story.
             I was moved by the way he described his realization of this woman reacting in terror and desperate fear that he was a rapist or mugger or worse and feeling surprised embarrassed and dismayed all at the same time. I sensed perhaps such purity in him; I was impressed that he was a college student. Is that bad of me? Mostly the fact that he was sensitive and thoughtful in realizing that whether right or wrongs his presence was dangerous and could even be hazardous enough to end up even in death. He was concerned and took extra precaution as a responsibility on his part to reduce...

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C & C on English 101. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 12:57, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/13380.html