Black bears are not carnivores, so I doubt he’ll be looking to eat you.
Sure would be nice to carry a big firearm, just in case.
Carnivore, or not, any bear can cause a lot of damage to human flesh just out of fear. I remember a few years ago when black bears took and killed a baby right out of its stroller in a camp in upstate NY. It was in an Orthodox Jewish enclave, as I remember.
We are talking about lessons our mothers taught us today. When I was 4, we livied in a tiny town in Calaveras County in Gold Rush country in the mountains of CA. (Think Mark Twain and hisleaping frogs.) The General Store, town Library, and Town museum shared one building on Main Street. I wasn’t in school yet, and my motherand I would walk into town for groceries and linger at the library for books. In the front window was a big steel can that once contained meat. The heavy guage steel can dated from the Gold Rush days and had been ripped to pieces by a bear. Lesson learned.
One lady came home, parked in her driveway then noticed her garbage can was tipped over in her open garage. She proceeded to go clean it up when a bear growled at her, knocked her down and stood on her back while finishing his dinner. She had had back surgery to correct a problem and he blew it all out requiring more surgery to fix it. Do I worry, heck yes. They have babies then growl and go all aggressive when you get near the baby bears. Scary as hell.