Thinking Blues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Thinking Blues - Essay Example This ‘first encounter’ as he calls it and the many that followed brought on the realization that there was a palpable tension between the author and other nighttime pedestrians especially women just because he was black. He became ‘thoroughly familiar’ with ‘the language of fear’ within a year of his coming to Chicago. He learned to expect car-drivers stopped at traffic lights to hurriedly lock their car doors as he crossed in front of their cars on dark, lonely intersections. He learned to deal with pedestrians preferring to cross to other side of the street rather than have to pass him. He suffered ‘unpleasantries’ with people like policemen, bouncers etc whose job it is to keep troublemakers at bay. To keep his peace of mind the author has learned to control his anger at being mistaken for a criminal every now and then. In actual fact he makes it a point to make elaborate gestures of being peaceful and on the right side of the law likening his various ways of assuring his ‘victims’ to the cowbell worn by hikers in bear country. Through his essay the writer brings forth very clearly the dilemma and dangers that are faced in public spaces in urban America by black men who do not conform to the stereotype of being themselves dangerous or outside the law. Black Men and Public Space, by Brent Staples is an essay that illustrates the above thesis very poignantly. His hurt more than indignation at being perceived as dangerous simply because he was big, burly and black is palpable through out the essay. The essay begins with the words, â€Å"My first victim was a woman- white†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . (Staples, para1) In actual fact, it is the author himself who was victimized. Soon after he arrived in Chicago as a young graduate who by his own admission was timid, a ‘softy’, a ‘good boy’ and one who ‘doubted the virtues of intimidation’ got wrongly suspected of being a mugger