Lisa's Article

Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space

In retrospect of the childhood of Brent Staples, by attending to several tough guys’ funeral or the scene that those who want to gain power by intimidating others were locked away, he considers himself a shy, timid good boy. However, after being mistaken twice as a nighttime pedestrian, in Chicago and New York, he began to realize that the image others have of him was away beyond his expectation. He was thought to be a mugger and rapist and even later on a burglar.

He recognized his public space by his sense of the language of fear that he perceived. For instance, in the dark, shadowy intersections in Chicago, he could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk of the driver hammering down the door locks. Other than that, people who walk on the street would cross to the other side of the street rather than pass him. Moreover, he seemed a troublesome individual to police, doormen, bouncers, and cab drivers that they would sweep him out of their sights before any nastiness would actually occur.

Being mistakenly accused of a fearsome, he felt surprised, embarrassed and dismayed. He would never think of himself as a mugger when he was actually stalking sleep for insomnia problem instead of a quarry of a mugger, of course, he was surprised to find out how the woman perceived him. To his dismay, the incident happened and labeled him that he was undistinguishable from the muggers while he was a young, graduate, educated black man. In the eyes of the pedestrians, he was just a criminal. Education doesn’t change others’ perception of his public place.

However, he tried to be in the others’ shoes later on; he understands and thinks that it was reasonably that the woman could perceive him as a mugger because women are particularly vulnerable to street violence. Yet, it was certainly unfair that young black males are fully responsible for such a crime. They were and are being overrepresented among the perpetrators of that late night streets violent episode. This much describe his anger of his public space or rather say theirs.

After the experiences he encountered, he began to take precautions to make himself less threatening and started to learn to smother the rage which being taken for a criminal. He found the equivalent to his anger, he whistle popular classical composers, and stay in discreet distance, move about with care, or just walk on by. In this way, he alters others’ perception of a black male on the streets.