In this short story Black Men in Public Spaces, by Brent Staples he talks about his many encounters with people who portray him as a criminal, specifically white woman. Staples explains that in his early twenties was his first encounter he says “my first victim was a white woman” she seen him walking behind her one late night he could see this fearful look on her face because he was a young black man and she assumed that he was going to do her harm. Staples goes on to say that he was surprised that she was scared of him because he wouldn’t do harm to an animal let alone a human being. He quickly realized that him being a young black man walking through the streets of Chicago at night time could be a bad thing for him because if he is in the wrong place at the wrong time something very drastic could happen like him being killed for no reason other than people being scared of him because of the color of his skin. He has also found himself being feared while simply walking across the street at night time by males and females both black and white, he could hear them locking their doors while sitting at the stop light. He moved to New York where he also sees the same behavior from people, but he feels like those women “fear the worst from him” they clutch their purses as if they were afraid he was going to rob them. He explains that he understands that woman are more likely to be assaulted walking the streets at night alone but the violence against them is not only carried out by young black men. The small town of Chester Pennsylvania where he grew up had so much violence going on around him he was one of the good kids. He points out that he has witnessed a lot of his young family and friends being buried because of what he calls an “episode of Bravado played out in the streets” because of that he chose to stay under the radar so he could stay alive. He then goes on to tell about a couple more of his encounters with people mi