Black men and public space
In US history, African-Americans have borne the brunt of well calculate prejudice and stereotyping emanating from collective labeling and perception that all of them are thugs. Such belief is deeply entrenched in American society to the extent that even law enforcement is not impartial but instead embarks on ethnic profiling of the black Americans in the community. Through the experience of Staples conveys a disturbing scenario that subjected the black people to humiliation, vulnerable, and condemned them to eternal suspicion and mistrust in American society. Owing to the deprivation and discrimination along the racial lines, the author notes that the African Americans got pushed to the periphery of oblivion, an aspect that prompted them to embark on crime to fend for themselves. However, the development meant that all the black men were labeled as thugs regardless of their education status or background. In the eyes of most of the white majority and the police enforcement, every black person remained a thug and a security threat until proved otherwise. Thus, associating the black man with a crime in the US society has given them unknown ability to allegedly create fear and unleash terror among the stereotyped whites and the law enforcement, an aspect that has pushed them into announcing their arrival through sounds or adopting a conventionally acceptable behavior in the eyes of the white populace.
First, Staples shares that the aspect of blackness instills fear and panic among the white populace, an element that alters the public space. According to Staples, a black man in affluent Chicago suburbs is equated to a burglar, rapist, or anything worse as they are associated with a crime regardless of their academic qualifications. Staples notes that the situation is also evident in the walkways at night as there was “unnerving gulf lay between nighttime pedestrians – particularly women – and me” (Pg. 1). The rift was created by the perception that every black man walking at the sideways was a mugger and waited at the opportune time to pounce on the helpless white women and run away with their purse. The aspect is brought clearly by the women who Staples describe as “seem to have set their faces on neutral, and with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier-style, they forge ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled” (pg. 2). Owing to such an aspect, it is evident that the presence of a black soul in the walkways and the affluent suburbs in the US or crime scenes changed the public space and equated them to beasts.
The dubious ability has prompted the author to align with the conventional good acts and announces himself to align with the expectations of the white society. In a bid to escape being labeled as a non-conformist or mistaken as a criminal, Staples “take precautions to make myself less threatening” by moving with care in the late evening and moving away from the nervous people in the walkways (pg.3). Again, in the late evenings, Staples employ a “late-evening constitutionals I employ what has proved to be an excellent tension- reducing measure: I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers” (pg. 3). Such measures are meant to meet the threshold of the whites for acceptable behavior in society (pg. 2). These measures have changed how black persons interact with space in the presence of the white populace, lest they are equated to criminals.
Work Cited
Staples, Brent. “Black men and public space.” Life studies (1992): 1-4.