BP10

In Brent Staple’s story “Walk on by”, he talks about the reality for black males and what it is like on the streets. Now I can’t say I know what it is like on the streets but I do have friends that live on rough sides of town and I hear stories of how they do not even leave their house for anything when the sun sets. Staples’ talks about that fear in his story and let’s people know what it is like. Staples talks about men and how they should portray themselves and I found this part interesting because it talks about men and how they have to prove themselves to earn their manhood and step up to every task or test that is put in front of them in their lives. When Staples talks about how he approached a girl in the beginning and then she took off running makes sense to me because I have seen it happen before. The fact that he is a black male walking the streets at night give the whole story away. When a person thinks of night time and walking down a street and seeing a black man with street clothes on, 95% of the time, I am sure that a person would have speculation as to that person is sketchy and looks suspicious. I personally have been pretty sketched out a couple of times when I was walking downtown in my hometown which happens to have one of the crime rates in the United States. When it comes down to it, race has a little to do with it in my opinion, but sometimes you don’t always know who what when where or what color this person is or what is going to happen. Just always have to be careful and watch your back if you are going to walk the streets.