Black Men and Public Space Claim

In "Black Men and Public Spaces," Brent Staples examines the racial profiling he experiences as a black man, using his experience as a 22-year-old walking the streets at night frightening away a white woman as his primary example. While I agree that this is a type of racial profiling, I believe that, as a woman, it also had a lot to do with being more vulnerable than men and thus more easily targeted, especially at such a late hour, by criminals. Add to that the fact that black men a responsible for such an abundance of crime, it's no wonder the woman became frightened. Personally, I believe she made a wise choice, despite the fact that Brent Staples wasn't going to cause her any harm. It was better for her to be safe rather than sorry. Too many news stories of women being abducted, raped, mugged, and killed at night have made our breed much more fearful in this day and age. We train ourselves to take notice of potentially hazardous situations so that we can avoid becoming victims. When the white woman in Brent Staples' story saw the 6'2" bearded black man in a military jacket walking behind her, she was only doing what finely tuned instinct told her to do: avoid a potentially dangerous situation, regardless of whether or not Brent Staples' feelings might get hurt.