Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space

This essay by Brent Staples highlights the discrimination faced by black people in America. The essay provides instances of the author's personal experiences and the societal system in America in the 1970s. Staples has made a disguised attempt to provide an overview of the entire scenario that prevailed in America by recounting the horrid memories of what he had faced. The purpose thus had been to inform and make people reflect on it rather than to educate people.

Running head: “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space.”
“Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space.”
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1“Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space.”
Identity is that fundamental aspect of human survival in a social set-up, which if
deprived, distorted or denied can lead to adverse consequences not on for the victimized
individual, but for the society at large. That is, in a nutshell, the essence of Brent Staples’ vivid
account of the discrimination in the streets of America. The immense amount of frustration and
mental trauma that a person could face on being subjected to habituated perpetration of the
dumping of the onus of being an anomaly, is what Staples wants to convey.
Acknowledging the fact that an overwhelming percentage of recalcitrants in America
belonged to his ethnicity, black-skinned, Staples wants his readers to know that all Black persons
were not necessarily a potential perpetrator of crime. This sentiment is very well reflected in this
particular quotation from the essay-“The fearsomeness mistakenly attributed to me in public
places often has a perilous flavor.” This hints at the fact that he was being dumped with the
identity which he never identified with. Also, the generalizing attitude that prevailed amongst the
white people of the country towards all black people, not only caused him uneasiness, but to the
people who were guided by such sentiment at large. The examples which he narrate in his essay,
a white, lonely, absorbed in fear woman in the wee hours clenching her purse tightly to her chest,
mistaking him for a criminal when he was a journalist, seeking the refuge of a dog to maintain
safe distance between him and a white woman yet once again, shows how the fear based on a
false premise also deprived them of their right to cherish the liberty of living with a sense of
safety.
“I only needed to turn a corner into a dicey situation, or crowd some frightened, armed
person in a foyer somewhere, or make an errant move after being pulled over by a policeman.”-
this particular sentence from the essay exemplifies how the general public perceived the aura of
his presence. The inherent rhetoric lying in this excerpt taken from the essay is that it was not his

2“Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space.”
fault to be born as an individual of black descent. It was also not his fault that an overwhelming
majority of criminals in the country were brethrens belonging to his ethnicity. It was also not his
fault that he was tall, having a well-built physique, sporting a beard. There must have been many
others who sported the same look and demeanour as that of him, but he generated a fear
psychosis as he belonged to a ghettoized lot. The question in this context is that, had his skin
colour been white, what would have been the reaction of the people! Going by his confession, he
was too gentle to even wield a weapon at the carcass of a chicken, the thought of hurting
someone is something which could not possibly occur to him. But then how could he convince
the people of his harmlessness, around him, or the ones whom he encountered in the streets when
they had a stringent bent of thought which had been conditioned to think in a particular way, and
had also developed a repulsion towards any justification from his end! Staples maintained a
courteous, rather a cautious stand to be more appropriate when he stepped out in public, by
maintaining a distance from people.
He seemed to have accepted with acquiescence that he shall have to conduct himself that
way in public in order to avoid clashes. “Where fear and weapons meet – and they often do in
urban America – there is always the possibility of death.” And that death loomed menacingly
over the blacks. It was not uncommon back then as per the narration of Staples that black lives
were indeed vulnerable as they were perceived to be nothing apart from criminals. The police
often hauled them up from their cars purely on the basis of suspect. The pedestrians avoided
coming close to him while crossing the streets. He, and there were many other like him who
must have faced such a thing on a daily basis, and that was how it became a social order in
America.

3“Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space.”
The rhetoric as displayed in the essay basically highlighted with the social boycott that
people of black origin faced. Staples had provided instances of what he faced and what was his
stance towards it. The rhetoric however is not direct, it is very subtle and layered which accounts
for the effectiveness of the piece of writing. A reader must reflect on the instances instead of
taking it in the face value. The importance of it lies in the fact that though the essay is by and
large a narration of events that the author had experienced on a personal basis, but that should
not be treated in isolation. Staples was not the only victim to the nuances of the workings of the
legal and societal system in America in the 1970s, there were many others, in fact all others who
bore a degree of semblance with him. Perhaps the rhetorical question which is of utmost
importance in the entire essay is that of integration. His share of trouble were less since he kept a
low profile and tolerated the injustices hurled upon him with resignation, but that could not be
the solution. Hence, the question is, why should somebody be made to tolerate injustice in a free
world and accept that with a head bowing down, like they deserve it.
Staples has thus made a disguised attempt to provide an overview of the entire scenario
that prevailed in America by recounting the horrid memories of what he had faced. The purpose
thus had been to inform and make people reflect on it rather than to educate people. It is very
clear from this excerpt in the concluding part- “Virtually everybody seems to sense that a
mugger wouldn’t be warbling bright, sunny selections from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It is my
equivalent of the cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country.”-that people
needed to mend their ways, as the violation of dignity which he and his folks faced was not
something to which the society was oblivious of. Hence, it was actually the blacks who were
afraid and needed a shield of protection to survive, not the whites.

4“Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space.”
References
Staples, Brent. "Just walk on by." The Blair reader: Exploring contemporary issues (1993): 450-
453.