Brent Staples' "The Black Men and Public Space": Analysis

Brent Staples demonstrates the prejudiced treatment African American men are currently receiving in the United States. Recalling the incidents that occurred in the mid-1970s, he addresses the issue of race and gender by using multiple rhetorical strategies in his article, “Black Men and Public Space.” Many Caucasians have reconsidered their first impressions of black males due to Staples’s effective use of imagery, ethos, and pathos; however, his argument relies heavily on his audience’s sympathy that he neglects to acknowledge the statistic presented in the article.

In “Black Men and Public Space,” published in Ms. Magazine, author Brent Staples reflects on the multiple occasions that led him to discover that his mere presence is enough to make people, particularly Caucasians, perceive him as a criminal. During his first encounter, he came upon a white woman in a deserted street in Hyde Park, Chicago. He was in the avenue behind her when she turned around and revealed a worried expression on her face. After a few more glimpses, she began walking faster and eventually running in fear. “It was in the echo of that terrified woman’s footfalls that I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance I’d come into — the ability to alter public space in ugly ways.” After that experience and the ones that followed, Brent Staples grew accustomed to being mistaken as a threat. Even though Staples illustrated he was a student with insomnia, stalking sleepiness instead of a white woman, he makes it clear that these types of occurrences are common. Caucasians continually have these misconceptions about African Americans — often assuming they are offenders — and let their unnecessary fears of getting robbed or assaulted arise. To seem less intimidating on the streets, Brent Staples would whistle melodies of popular classical composers, which became an effective “tension-reducing measure.”

In his article, “Black Men and Public Space”, Brent Staples targets Caucasian men and women. His reasons for this are to inform them of the false impressions they have of African American men and to persuade them that black race is not associated with crime. He appeals to his audience by using descriptive writing that includes sensory details and figurative language. This allows his audience to recreate a vivid visualization of the experience he’s portraying, forcing them to see through the angle of vision of a young black male. For example, “At dark, shadowy intersections, I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver — black, white, male, or female — hammering down the door locks.” He includes this scenario to describe the posture people have when he is just simply crossing the street at night. The sounds of the driver activating the car door locks makes his audience hear the noises and reflect on their actions, many may acknowledge their dishonest behavior. We can see more examples of imagery in the statements “Elsewhere… where sidewalks are narrow and tightly spaced buildings shut out the sky — things can get very taut indeed.” and “They seem to have set their faces on neutral, and with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier-style, they forge ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled.” Brent Staples’s descriptive language actively engages the reader, so they can relate to either of the individuals in the passage, the author that was perceived as a predator or the woman that was the victim of fear.

Another effective strategy is Brent Staples’s ability to elicit emotional response. He uses painfully upsetting anecdotes of his personal background. “…in Chester, Pennsylvania, the small, angry industrial town where I came of age in the 1960s, I was scarcely noticeable against a backdrop of gang warfare, street knifing, and murders.” As part of the audience, we are exposed to the troubles Staples and his community have endured, which provokes pathos. In the following lines, we are also told that even through the harsh upbringings of his childhood and the negative influences that surrounded him, he still managed to remain “one of the good boys.” There are several more of this rhetorical appeal in Staples’s writing. “As a boy, I saw countless tough guys locked away; I have since buried several, too. They were babies, really — a teenage cousin, a brother of twenty-two, a childhood friend in his mid-twenties — all gone down in episodes of bravado played on the streets. I came to doubt the virtues of intimidation early on. I chose, perhaps unconsciously, to remain a shadow-timid, but a survivor.” Brent Staples gathers sympathy from his audience by describing the amount of loss he’s had to endure in his family. The information he reveals about himself contrasts his good-natured personality with the toxic connotation society associates with blackness.

The anecdotes also enhance Staples’s credibility. He connects with the issue of others stereotyping African American males because he’s had firsthand experience with being judged by his skin color, which establishes trust between him and his audience. “I entered a jewelry store… The proprietor excused herself and returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash. She stood, the dog extended towards me, silent to my questions, her eyes bulging nearly out of her head. I took a cursory look around, nodded, and bade her goodnight.” The woman in the jewelry store was terrified of Staples. She acted by retrieving a vicious dog with the intention of intimidating him, so he would leave the store. She was very prejudiced towards Staples due to his race. Despite Staples’s questioning, which she did not acknowledge, she offered no assistance to him because she assumed that he was a robber.

While it may seem racist for white women to fear the presence of a black man, Staples states, “I understand, of course, that the danger they perceive is not a hallucination. Women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence.” This is a valuable statistic that Staples addressed; however, he does not go into further explanation that relates this counterclaim to his argument. He doesn’t seem to be concerned that women are more prone to violent crimes and that there is truth behind their preconceptions; he can only evoke empathy from his audience in the following lines, “Yet these truths are no solace against the kind of alienation that comes of being ever the suspect, a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact.” Although false interpretations of race are continuous, tolerance alone will not reduce the amount of crimes in the United States. Therefore, his solution evades logic.

In conclusion, Staples effectively highlights the persistent stereotypes he undergoes as a black male. He engages his intended audience by making them believe he is committing an offense, but ultimately indicates that the treatment he is receiving is due to people’s unconscious bias against black race. Staples enables his audience to see through his angle of vision by using descriptive diction, which develops the racist tone of the essay and makes the audience perceive him as the victim. Staples also uses pathos in his writing by going into depth about the environment he grew up in and the pain he’s had to endure in dealing with the death of numerous family members. He communicates that background does not influence a person’s character and persuades his audience that black men are innocent. As Staples continues to speak about the prejudiced treatment of Caucasians, his audience perceives him to be reliable. The article, “Black Men and Public Space”, gave me insight on the viewpoint of an African American man, but it didn’t convince me to change my actions. If I was in the presence of a black man on the street, I would be afraid. Not because of his race, but because I do not know what he is capable of. How was the first woman who ran from Staples supposed to know that he was a common night walker due to his insomnia? Regardless of a man’s race or background, his reputation will remain the prime suspect of crime in a woman’s eyes. Implicit bias is inevitable in public space. If someone feels that they’re in danger of being harmed, they should not feel obligated to act a certain way, so that those who are judging them can feel a sense of security. Women should continue to be alert of their surroundings on desolate streets. 

Works Cited

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