“You Can’t Change What’s Going On Around You Until You Start Changing What’s Going On Within You”
Imagine eating the same food or watching the same movie or visiting the same place throughout your life. Thinking of it might itself give a headache. And that is why change is needed and is constant throughout life. Without change the world might be destroyed. Change is what inspired many people to go against the non ethical behaviors or systems in the society like inequality. Inequality is one of the biggest issues around the world. There are many forms of inequality like gender, race, wage and many more. Many people have gone to the positions where they have changed themselves so that they are not taken advantage of. When we read “Just Walk On By”, Staples changes himself when he sees a cop or any white people nearby him due to inequality in race. He also whistles to present himself as nonthreatening. He tries all these different methods so that he is “unmarked” in the eyes of the white society. But when we think about changing our behavior for others it can have both advantages and disadvantages. There are two main ways Staples can change himself for the society around him.
The first way, for Staples, is to continue to look unharmful by whistling and waiting for the white people around him to empty the space instead of him joining them in a place. This way he cannot disturb the society during the 1980s. But when we think about this in the long run, if all African Americans followed the same process then America wouldn’t have given a thought about equality which can be considered as a disadvantage to the society.
But Staples didn’t completely surrender himself to inequality. By writing this piece himself, he informs the world about the struggles he faced everyday as a black man. This is the second way he could change himself by raising a voice against inequality through his thoughts and writings which makes him “marked”. But this way the society as well as the African Americans can benefit in the end as becoming “marked” like Staples standardizes and becomes less “marked”. In the end, the world should not be seen as “inequality” but “in-equality.”
I agree with you and I don't think that one should have to change themselves to fit someone else's standard better, however I understand why Staples felt the need to do so since our society is not the most accepting of people that don't fit its "norm."
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you, I find it upsetting that someone had to change their behavior in order to seem less dangerous to other people. I don't think he should have had to do that, and I also think that this shows how unaccepting our society can be.
ReplyDeleteHey Sai! I think it's interesting how you tied in "There is No Unmarked Woman" and the concept of being "marked" with race. In class we also talked about how there are different ways a person can be marked. A person can be marked based on their income, race, religion, or social status. Nice connections!
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