I go out walking after midnight...

Late last night, I took a walk in my neighborhood near a public concert that was disbanding. As I turned to walk home, I heard a single set of footsteps behind me, a noise that always scares me. I turned to look at a tall, husky, dark man walking behind me. I kept walking the same pace. I felt scared, not so much because of his race, but because of his gender. I'm scared of EVERY man walking behind me at 11:30 on a darkened street. His pace was faster than mine and as he passed, he said "I'm just passing you on the right" to let me know what he was doing. It was a really considerate gesture that did make me feel safer. Then moments later, a black man was walking behind me. Again, I felt unsafe. This man switched to the other side of the street to walk to his car, which was on my side, putting lots of room between us.

I can't think of another time when a man has done something to reduce the feeling of fear that a woman walking alone at night feels. Last night two men were aware and active. I sensed they were aware that their race, gender, and large sizes made them threatening to my 5'1 white girl mind. I wanted to say, "its not because your black or brown that I'm scared of you!" but, they were so proactively aware of themselves as men of color out on a dark night that it didn't even matter how I felt. They were protecting themselves, too.