Alter Public Space In The Ugly Way Summary
Brief Summary
Staples began to realize he had the ability to “alter public space in ugly ways” (Staples, 135). He was walking during nighttime in Chicago when a woman noticed him behind her. She quickened her pace, eventually running off onto another street to avoid him. He didn’t realize he had that type of negative effect on people until the woman fled in fear. After that incident he began to notice it happened more often than not.
People would lock their cars as he passed by. They would walk faster or cross streets to get away from him.
As a result, Staples grew upset. He didn’t want to be seen as dangerous; he didn’t even like to cut raw meat.
When he moved to Brooklyn he continued to nightwalk, but he decided he needed to make some …show more content…
It is explained to them that some men are dangerous and mean to hurt them; they need to be careful, especially when they’re alone or late at night. This could be another reason that the woman fled when seeing Staples. Perhaps she did not care that he was black, but instead cared that he was behind her in the dark on a deserted street while she was by …show more content…
I would have most likely done the same thing if I were in her position.
That being said, people do react this way due to racism. They will lock their cars or make sure they have their pocket knives handy when a black person is near. Whether it is conditioned racism or just pure hatred, no one can be for certain, but it isn’t right. We must look within ourselves and realize that racism stems mainly from ignorance.
For example, black men in the media are presented as thugs and violent beings. This means that anyone who is watching the news and sees the story could begin to think to themselves that all black men are that way. That creates a definite bias against black men; people start seeing them negatively.
However, this doesn’t have to be the end-all be-all. We, as a society, can better educate ourselves. If we begin to do that we will start to do less out of fear and more out of knowledge. If you do something based on true knowledge and proper rationality it will usually turn out better than if you did something out of crippling fear. Ignorance produces fear, which in turn produces things like hate crimes and racism.
How This Piece Might Be
Staples began to realize he had the ability to “alter public space in ugly ways” (Staples, 135). He was walking during nighttime in Chicago when a woman noticed him behind her. She quickened her pace, eventually running off onto another street to avoid him. He didn’t realize he had that type of negative effect on people until the woman fled in fear. After that incident he began to notice it happened more often than not.
People would lock their cars as he passed by. They would walk faster or cross streets to get away from him.
As a result, Staples grew upset. He didn’t want to be seen as dangerous; he didn’t even like to cut raw meat.
When he moved to Brooklyn he continued to nightwalk, but he decided he needed to make some …show more content…
It is explained to them that some men are dangerous and mean to hurt them; they need to be careful, especially when they’re alone or late at night. This could be another reason that the woman fled when seeing Staples. Perhaps she did not care that he was black, but instead cared that he was behind her in the dark on a deserted street while she was by …show more content…
I would have most likely done the same thing if I were in her position.
That being said, people do react this way due to racism. They will lock their cars or make sure they have their pocket knives handy when a black person is near. Whether it is conditioned racism or just pure hatred, no one can be for certain, but it isn’t right. We must look within ourselves and realize that racism stems mainly from ignorance.
For example, black men in the media are presented as thugs and violent beings. This means that anyone who is watching the news and sees the story could begin to think to themselves that all black men are that way. That creates a definite bias against black men; people start seeing them negatively.
However, this doesn’t have to be the end-all be-all. We, as a society, can better educate ourselves. If we begin to do that we will start to do less out of fear and more out of knowledge. If you do something based on true knowledge and proper rationality it will usually turn out better than if you did something out of crippling fear. Ignorance produces fear, which in turn produces things like hate crimes and racism.
How This Piece Might Be