For the woman in "Black Men and Public Space," is there anything wrong with her response? There is always that slim chance she would get jumped in that "mean, impoverished section of Chicago" (1), and I honestly see nothing wrong with the woman "[picking] up her pace" (1) and dashing out of a possibly dangerous situation. Brent Staples, the author of the piece, even admits he is "indistinguishable from the muggers . . . from the surrounding ghetto" (2). Hypothetically, if the person behind the woman is white instead of black, still tall with "a beard and billowing hair" (1), would she act the same? Unless someone follows her around, no one knows, not even Brent Staples.
Yet, there is no denying the social stigma attached to black people. Staples is consistently battered by a fake reputation that he unwillingly has to endure, like the scene at the office (8) and dog incident at the jewelry store (9). What can Staples do to cleanse this stigma? What can he do to change a person's instant reaction? That woman won't just stop being careful because there is always a slight risk no one wants to take.
That's why Staples "smother[s] the rage" (11); he "whistle[s] melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi" (12). At the moment, there seems to be no way around the generalizations except to adapt to it. The best option is to let the stigma peter out.
While we can only uselessly speculate and hypothesize as to the woman's exact motivations for so blatantly running away, we must keep our assumptions minimal. Had it been a white man or an Asian man who was trailing her from behind, I think that she would have acted in a similar way. But, of course, it's questionable (but not unlikely) that her response was exacerbated by Staples' race.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found so disconcerting about Staples' piece, and so quietly frustrating, was the fact that Staples does not offer a solution to this ugly problem. While this stigma ever peter out? I think so, as much of the social change in this country has slowly tapered off.