Black Men and Public Spaces
Today, when a black person walks around at night, they are automatically thought of as being a troublemaker. People will often do everything possible to avoid a black person, be it walk on the other side of the street or cross a street at a different area. “Black Men and Public Space”, by Brent Staples, demonstrates just what really happens to a black person when he/she is walking around at night, or even during the middle of the day. Staples uses personal experiences and stories he heard about other black men to prove his point. He leads off with an example of a woman who was walking down a street in Chicago and Staples was walking down the same street behind her. He noticed that she kept picking up her pace of walking, eventually reaching a slow running pace. Within seconds, she disappeared from his sight, all because he was a black man walking down a street at night. It was because of this one experience that he learns of his ability to alter public space in ugly ways. Staples describes himself “as a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken, let alone hold one
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Chicago Women, Chicago Staples, Brent Staples, , black person, public space, walking street, black people, alter public space, ability alter public, alter public, rights whites, black journalist, walk street, ability alter, heard black,
Approximate Word count = 740
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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