'just walk on by...' Response

At the beginning of the article I did not completely agree with staple's thoughts that when walking through the dark streets the women in front of him fled due to bias against his color. He mentioned that it was in a sketchy part of town where he encountered this women, so chances are she was probably on high alert anyway, a woman in this day of age would be stupid not to be. I know if I were walking alone on the streets of downtown cincinnati in the wee hours of the night I would have probably done the same thing regardless of whether the man behind me was black or white, young or old. The point is that, due to the extraordinary circumstances of the environment he can not possibly blame the woman's flight based on his color, not to mention what may seem like a safe distance during the day is obviously much shortened in this type of environment. Based on these conditions I do not think his first example can really be used as evidence to argue his side. The second and third examples he used however are a little more unusual for common unbiased behavior, and more convincing. On the whole he does a good job of presenting his point, sharing his personal feelings towards this bias but at the same time understanding why it happens, that this reputation is not completely undeserved, and that much of it is unintentional.