Response to Brent Staples, "Black Men and Public Space"
...t in people due to the skin color and size of a person. In the essay Staples says, "I came to doubt the virtues of intimidation early on. I chose, perhaps unconsciously, to remain a shadow - timid, but a survivor." Sometimes people do not realize how startiling a persons apperance can be and form first oppinions based upon that. Although, Brent Staples a big man describes himself, in his essay, as a softy (timid), he is anything but that in the public eye. You can feel the sense of frustration in parts of the afticle when Staples talks about having to avoid people because when weapons and fear meet in urban America the outcome may be disastrous or deadly. "Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal. Not to do so would surely have led to madness. I now take precautions to make myself less threatening. I move about with care, particulary late in the evening. I give a wide berth to nervous people on subway platforms during the wee hours, particulary when I have exchanged business clothes for jeans. If i happen to be entering a building behind some people who appear skittish, I may walk by, letting them clear the lobby before I return, do as not to seem to be following them." When reading this article, it would n...