James Baldwin and Brent Staples

These two essays have similar messages that show the audience examples of racial discrimination. Baldwin wrote about his experience in Switzerland where he was a complete outsider, and some people had never even seen a black man. This was in a time when white people did not accept black people as equals. Staples wrote about examples of how he has been racially profiled in present day. There are clearly some differences in how these essays affect their audiences. Baldwin's essay created a situation that the white readers could identify with. He wanted them to discover a part of how they saw black people. However, he was not necessarily trying to persuade. Staples' essay was directed to young white women who saw him as a threat. Unlike Baldwin, he tried to convince them that he was not a threat. For example, he catches them in the act by using his opening story to put racially profiling thoughts in their head, only to show how he was not dangerous. This example he used was written because of the audience he was writing to. The audience for Baldwin was white men and women. This brings out another similarity between the essays. Both use examples of how they were profiled by people who are in the category of their audience, and this definitely helps to make the essays effective.