Rhetorical Analysis of “Just Walk On By” and “Stealing a Bag of Potato Chips”

Many black men face difficulties in society, as they are discriminated due to their different culture and their dark skin. The black men struggle to fit in the society, but they would be faced with rejection. In “Stealing a Bag of potato Chips and other crimes of Resistance”, Victor Rios expresses this in a more clear way than Brent Staples’ “Just Walk on By”. In “Stealing a bag of potato Chips and other Crimes of Resistance”, Roy pointed out that , he had a great feeling that he would land a job in the restaurant  but in reality she did not even shake his hand. On the other hand in “Just walk on By” Brent Staple describes those who discriminated him as his victims. Brent used the word victim to refer to the white people because they feared him due to his background

            In “Just walk on By” Brent expresses the hardships that black Americans face in the society. Brent speaks on the role of prejudice plays in America. Brent shows how throughout his life, he has been discriminated because he was a black American Journalist. Brent shows where white women in Chicago avoided him as they felt threatened because they contemplated he was a criminal. Brent was not familiar with this situation as he was considered a good boy in his home place where crime was rampant. However, In “Stealing a Bag of potato Chips and other crimes of Resistance”, Victor Rios, describes the hardship that a black American suffered, through stories of different black American boys. One of the boys that Victor talks about is Roy, who is a jovial black American boy who is seen looking for employment, but due to his background he is not hired. Roy struggles to find employment so that he could sustain his needs to no avail; due to this Roy turns to starts an illegal business in order to evade infamy and the feeling of being a failure. Victor Rios also tries to explain how young men turned to crime to gain respect.

Victor Rios works in the University of California in Santa Barbara in the department of Sociology.  The article is adapted from his book “Policing the lives of Black and Latino Boys” which was published in 2011.The text is an interdisciplinary work about the rate of criminal profiling in America. His main target was students in college and university level.

However, the text by Brent Staples “Just Walk on By”, was published in Ms. Magazine, and his main target was women as he wanted to ease their anxiety of black men. Brent published his text in 1986 like a non-fiction article.

 While, in “Stealing a Bag of Potato Chips” and “Just Walk on By”  Brent Staples and Victor Rios  both try to  analyze the hardships faced by black American in the society and how they were criminalized due to their culture by using point-of-view. However, one texts tries to analyze more effectively than the other. In “Stealing a Bag of Potato Chips and other Crimes of Resistance”, Victor Rios more effective argues that young black man are constantly criminalized because nowadays situation and black peoples culture, than Staples “Just walk on By” because in his text Victor highlights the plight of young black American boys through stories of different   young men.

Victor Rios and Brent Staples use point-of-view to show how white women kept their distance from the black men, however Victor Rios is more effective than Brent Staples because he uses stories from different people.

In “Stealing a Bag of potato Chips and other crimes of Resistance” Victor Rios shows how the Black American men were criminal profiled especially by white women by using Ron’s case where the female manager avoided shaking his hand due to the contemplation of being robbed or raped (Victor, par. 6). Much like Brent staples “Just Walk on By”  the white lady speeds up as she feared being robbed or harmed by Brent ( Brent, par.1). In “Stealing a Bag of potato Chips and other crimes of Resistance” Victor Rios shows how store owners surveyed there stores carefully when a black man entered. Using the case whereby an Asian- America clerk ordered the young black men to enter in his store in pairs to avoid being robbed( Victor, par.13). Much like Brent staples “Just Walk on By” where he was surveyed carefully by the store attendant when he entered a Jewel store (Brent, par 3). In “Stealing a Bag of potato Chips and other crimes of Resistance” Victor Rios shows the third bout of criminal profiling by showing how black men were harassed by the authorities (Victor, par. 16).  Much like, Brent Staple “Just Walk on By” when he was harassed by guards in an office where he had gone to deliver one of his article (Brent, par.5).

In  Victor Rios argues more clearly about the criminal profiling of black men by white women by highlighting the hostile reception that Roy received when he attended an interview conducted by a white woman (Victor, par.6). While Brent Staple “Just Walk on By” Brent does not come into contact with the white woman (Brent, par.1).  Another difference is viewed where Victor Rios highlights how an Asian- America clerk shouted at the black men and he also highlights a confrontation the boys had with clerk(Victor, par. 13). While in the case of Brent Staple he does not have any confrontation. Victor Rios highlights how the young black men feared the authority for fear of being arrested while Brent Staple does not fear the security guards instead he ignores them when stopped (Victor, par.18).

Victor Rios in his argument he is more concrete than Brent Staples as he shows how the young black men were victimized by the society. Victor Rios also uses different people to show the level of criminal profiling in the society than Brent Staple, who uses himself only.

Both Victor Rios and Brent Staples use point-of-view to describe the level of criminal profiling in the society. However, Victor Rios is more effective than Brent Staple because he describes the rate of criminalization by using incidents of different people

Victor Rios tries to analyze how hard it was for a black man to get employment by using the case of Roy (Victor, par. 1) much like Brent Staple, when he went to deliver an article and he was denied entry (Brent, par. 5). Victor Rios shows how white people kept their distance from the young black men much like Brent Staple where his female colleagues kept their distance. In the first paragraph Victor Rios also shows how the black men were judged due according to the way they dressed much like Brent Staple. Victor Rios arguments are more concrete than Brent Staple as he uses different people to create his arguments about the rate of criminal profiling in the society. Stereotyping is a common

Conclusion

Victor Rios article is more successful because it is scholarly articles. Therefore, many people can access them: as they are meant to educate everyone. Whereas Brent Staples article is derived from a feminine magazine,; therefore, many people may assume that it was meant for only women. The best genre for carrying out institutional critique is a scholarly article.

Victor: How are you Sir?

Brent: Am doing good

Victor: I read “Just Walk on By”, and I liked it.

Brent: Thank you sir, I also read “Stealing a bag of potato Chips and other Crimes of

Resistance” and I enjoyed reading the article

Victor: Thank you, personally I liked the way you used the first person’s experience

Strategy, as it was more convincing to the reader about the existence of

criminalization in the society.

Brent: I really appreciate your humbling comments. On my part, I admired the way you

Used other people incidents to argue your points it was a very brilliant idea.

Victor: Thank you for your positive comments.

Victor Rios and Bret Staples suggest that people should resist stereotyping by being friendly and avoiding criminal activities. Black people are avoiding criminal activities and engaging more informal employment.

References

Victor, Rios. Stealing a bag of potato chips and other crimes of resistance. Santa

Barbara: America sociological Association. 2012.  July 15, 2013>

http://contexts.sagepub.com

 Brent, Staples. Just walk on by: A Black Man Ponders His Ability to Alter Space. 1986

Conclusion

Victor Rios arguments are more persuasive as he uses