Brent Staples in his essay "Night Walker" describes his own sense of being different because he is a tall black man who walks the streets at night, a victim of insomnia. He describes people on the street as his victims, however, though in truth they are only victims of their own fear. This is a fear in this society, a racial fear of the young black male, the prototype for the urban street predator seeking real victims to rob, maim, and kill. This is a stereotype that has been fostered and promoted by the media, not necessarily intentionally, but methodically and continuously. Staples does nothing overt that would make him a threat, and yet he sees the terror in the eyes of others he passes on the street. The fear he sees is both irrational and in some ways understandable, but it is clearly a barrier to the racial understanding sought in this society.
The author found this fear a decade ago in chicago, and he refers to his "first victim," a woman on a deserted street in Hyde Park. He notes that he was a discreet and non-threatening distance behind her, but from her point of view, the threat was there simply because a young black male was in the vicinity and she was unprotected. This young man at that time was also bearded and had long hair, and he was wearing a military jacket with his hands thrust into the pockets. However, the fear might have been just as real had he been dressed in a suit and tie given that it is his size, youth, and black complexion that create the sense of threat for people like this young woman.
Staples refers to the effect he has as "the ability to alter public space in ugly ways," not an ability he wants to have but one he calls his 'unwieldy inheritance." This fear is generated primarily on deserted streets, while he is able to walk through the crowds in New York City's times Square usually without generating the same level of fear in others. The fear is something he discovered when he was 2...