Black Men In Public Space By Brent Staples

Identity is how a person is perceived by both themselves and others. Combining different values, experiences, and distinguishing characteristics make up a person's identity. Intersectionality is how people are disadvantaged due to race, gender, and status, which shape their identity. This disadvantage is evident through the oppression and discrimination towards the individual and their identity. In Brent Staples' essay "Black Men in Public Spaces," we learn how appearance, a defining aspect of identity, can lead to unwarranted discrimination and trepidation. Both race and gender are two interdependent aspects of appearance within identity. The combination of race and gender both influence how the author, as well as others with the same intersectionality,

He is seen as a threat to women as they "are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence" (Staples 5), having to be aware of the stigma that follows him constantly. As his racial appearance was maximized, Staples saw how his actual character was being minimized as he has done nothing to appear as a threat, even actively avoiding violence, "as a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken--let alone hold one to a person's throat" (Staples 2). He understood that the majority of people whom he would encounter throughout the night would not look upon him favorably. Young women would fear him, pedestrians would be wary of him, and people, in general, would be cautious of his presence. Staple describes the situations where he had to experience the maximization of his identity using onomatopoeia to help provide better imagery and sensory effects. He explains a variety of scenarios where the people around him would be wary of him; this scene is prevalent at the dark, shadowy intersections he would cross throughout the night, "elicit[ing] the thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver--black, white, male, or female--