Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space

In the essay, "Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space" by Brent Staples I identified myself as the women who saw the worst of him in Brooklyn because he described the woman's behavior towards a stranger and that's how I would act around individuals that I feel they might be threatening to me. He specifically said, "They seem to have set their faces neutral, and with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier-style, they forge ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled." His essay affected my reading by getting a new perspective of how the individual's view are when they are being judged differently. The individuals may be harmless but most women, including myself, take precautions because we fear getting raped, mugged, and etc. Women are vulnerable to street violence and we don't want to take a chance so we are judgmental with our surroundings.