Racial Intolerance In 'Black Man And Public Space'

Words: 772
Pages: 4

Racial intolerance is the refusal to tolerate others due to the color of their skin. Another way to describe someone who is racially intolerant is just someone who is racist. Depending on who you grow up around and what types of morals you have, your view on race may be different than others. Some people grow up being taught that the color of someone's skin really portrays a vast amount of information about their personality, intentions, etc. In the literary stories, “Black Man and Public Space”, by Brent Staples (page 410), “Home Training,” by Bruce A. Jacobs (page 55), and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, racial intolerance is a main theme. Each character is brought up by a different definition of skin color. To some it doesn't matter, …show more content…
The mother of the children raised them into thinking that the world around them was just made up of positive signs. She hung around her house little quotes that encouraged her children to not be afraid of what people thought of them, and to follow the rules that were given to them. When they went out into the real world, the signs were not as absolute as their mother made them out to be. She always made sure her children thought highly of themselves. Since they were black, that not what things were really like for them. The signs that they saw were to keep them from doing something, not to motivate them. “I did not know then about the power of signs, how two words posted on every Jim Crow rest room from Ohio to Arkansa…” (page 56) Basically the signs that these characters grew up with affected their lifestyle. They weren't allowed to do things that whites were allowed to which was …show more content…
Throughout the entire novel, racism is present and just about every character is racist. Depending on their background and their opinion on how people should be treated, a few character lived their live with the aspect that everyone should be treated as equal. African Americans were not allowed their own voice. They were always being bogged down by whites because of their race. There were very few whites that were ever on their side and knew that they were telling the truth about anything. If a black was ever to be placed in a court of law with a white man, the black man will always be guilty because they have no voice. No matter what is said, they were always wrong. Even if a white man, in this situation Atticus, were to defend them, they are always in the wrong. Everyone has a different opinion on the matter, but the children of the novel, Scout and Jem, looked up to their father as always being right. Therefore they followed his sentiment, while other stuck to their ways. There are always three sides to every story, the one that makes the most sense should be the one that means anything. Someone should never make accusations about a person or situation based on what someone else says about them/it. That can cause the characters to have to live with fear of what may end up happening next. Someone that is racist can cause