“Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”

In Brett Staples’ “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”, the fear connected to harmless black men by women, and sometimes even men, is brought to light. According to Staples’, even as an African American male s “just walk on by” they are immediately associated with criminals or worse. In an essay like structure, Staple’s conveys his subject in a chronological order, once referring back to his child hood in Pennsylvania, telling of how he was oblivious to this connection because of the backdrop of violence in his “angry industrial town”. It seems that the author has a small rage towards the constant association, and the ability he has to alter public space.
Vocabulary:
Affluent: Rich, Wealthy, Prosperous.
Unwieldy: Awkward, Heavy, Bulky, and Cumbersome.
Rhetorical Terms
Anecdote:
Pg 205 “My first victim was a woman…”
Pg 207 “Another time I was on assignment…”
Imagery:
Pg 205 “...a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair…”
Onomonopiea: “
Pg 206 “Thunk, thunk, thunk…”
Aporia:
Pg 206 “It is not altogether clear to me how…”
Questions:
Clarification:
What does Staple mean by “perilous flavor”?
Application:
How would you personally feel if you had the ability to alter public space in the same manner as Staples?
Style: If less pedantic language was used in Staple’s article, would it change the meaning of it at all?
Quotation:
“Virtually everybody seems to sense that a mugger wouldn’t be warbling bright sunny selections from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.”