Altering Public Space in Ugly Ways

A detailed Summary of Altering Public Space in Ugly Ways

In his essay "Black Men and Public Space", Brent Staples attempts to introduce people to something most all are guilty of, but pay little attention to. Using accounts from his own and others' experiences, Staples essay portrays the racist tendency of people to assume black men are potentially violent and dangerous.

Staples discovery of this comes during a late-night encounter. A young white female, whom Staples labels "my first victim" (197), was walking down the street in front of Staples and was not comfortable with the space he provided for her. After a couple of glances back and changes in her pace, she soon began running and disappeared down a side street. Of course, Staples had no intention of robbing or in any way harming this woman. He was just taking a walk, just as she was. Nevertheless, this was a fairly well to do neighborhood. Apparently, this woman figured that if a black man did find himself in this part of town, he was most likely up to something. Not wanting any trouble, she decided to get out of harm's way.

In another illustration, Staples describes an instance in which he was delivering a story to the editor of a magazine for which he was writing, and was mistaken

While writing for a Chicago paper, Staples walked into a jewelry store in another well-off part of town, and encountered another situation where his skin color came into play. The woman behind the counter disappeared and returned with an angry Doberman. Understanding that the woman did not quite value him as a possible sale, Staples "took a cursory look around, nodded, and bade her good night."(199)

What is so nice about this essay is the fact that Staples does not want to point to whites as the only people to hold this fear of black men. "I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk of the driveržblack, white, male, or femaležhammering down the door locks," (199) he recalls of his experiences. When black people display this sort of fear of another black person, then it is not a racist reaction. That is not true, though. The fact that even those of the same ethnic background fear the worst from this man because of his being black only makes the argument stronger that racism drives this fear.

We get the idea that things like this happen only in Chicago, Staples also writes about some of his similar encounters in New York. In Brooklyn, he says women often become fearful when encountering him on the streets. As he describes it, "with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier-style, they forge ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled." (200

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Approximate Word count = 974
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels