Sterotyped

The title of the story is Black Men and Public spaces(1986), written by Brent Staples. In the story Mr. Staples describes a young man who is treated unjustly as he walks the streets late at night in downtown Chicago. The character of the Story is a graduate from University of Chicago. He talks about the first time he encountered an innocent white woman who was terrified of being in his presence alone. "As I swung on to the avenue behind her, there seemed to be a discreet, uninflammatory distance between us. Not so. She cast back a worried glance."

He feels that the young woman may mistake him for being dangerous because of what he was wearing and his race. "It was clear she thought herself the quarry of a mugger, a rapist, or worse." As he got older and relocated to Brooklyn, he realized that the women there was no different from the women who he encountered in Chicago. "After dark, on the warrenlike streets of Brooklyn where I live, I often see women who fear the worst of me.

I don't think Mr. Staples was directing his story to be about race. I think he was only stating facts on how the character was treated as he encountered other people during his late nights walk. I myself have felt terrified at some point where I have came across a man walking near me as I have walked alone.