Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponder Public Space

After a long day at work, a young woman begins to walk to her car alone. She begins to search for her car keys in the dimly lit parking lot. Nobody is around, and the only sound she can hear is the clicking of her high heels. All of a sudden, she begins to hear footsteps behind her. Panicking, the woman begins to increase her pace. Her heart begins to race as she nears her car. Suddenly, she turns around to find a man following her. This is her biggest fear, and she realizes that it has just become a reality. This could have been any man, whether he was young, old, African American, or white. Men of all ages and races are equally as likely to be perceived as a threat to women. Some argue that race is the determining factor of whether one is likely to be perceived as a threat. Brent Staples, an African American author, argues this in the essay “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Ability to Alter Public Space.” For example, he states that “Women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators

Such high statistics prove that they are more threatening than women. In addition, there are patterns when it comes to men and crime. As a result of constantly hearing about crime on the television and reading about it in the newspaper, I have found that the perpetrators of many rape cases are often white males, and the perpetrators of homicides and armed robberies are often African American males. Overall, it is more men than women that I see in the news for committing crimes, and it is always a mix of races. There is never one race that I see more in the news than the