Black Men and Public Space (1986), a short story by Brent Staples, claims that just because he is black people fear and avoid him when he is simply walking down a street. The author supports this by giving examples of situations when people avoided him or acted as if he had done something wrong when he had in fact done nothing. The author's purpose was to inform his audience in order to show how people will assume things about him simply because of the color of his skin. The author establishes a somewhat personal relationship with the audience by using personal pronouns.
After reading this text I found myself not shocked at all. The actions taken by the people who saw him are something I see all the time. Though the actions aren't generally performed against me they are taken against people I know. By simply walking down a street others become intimidated and feel the need to move somewhere else. Sadly, this kind of thing isn't uncommon, at least in my experience.
The text is written to show the prejudices against black people because of assumptions made. For example, the author gave an example of a time when he was walking behind a woman at night because he couldn't sleep and "after a few more quick glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest." She had assumed the worst despite the fact that he had made no hostile movements. This text shows how quickly people make assumptions based on appearance.
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