Angie Berlinski
English 101
April 23, 2012
Altering public space

Altering public space

In the essay “Black men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, he talks about how being a black man alters public space in a negative way. Altering public space is changing how a person, place, or thing makes you feel. It can be negative, but it also can be positive. Some positive ways altering public space can be a friendly smile walking into a room, beautiful new constructions, and planting trees to better the environment. But with good, there’s always bad. Ways of altering public space in a bad way is Staples discovery of this comes during a late-night encounter. A young white female, whom Staples labels “my first victim” (197), was walking down the street in front of Staples and was not comfortable with the space he provided for her. After a couple of glances back and changes in her pace, she soon began running and disappeared down a side street. Of course, Staples had no intention of robbing or in any way harming this woman. He was just taking a walk, just as she was. Sometimes these kinds of aspects of life are just inevitable. It can be unfair and hard to deal with, but these situations happen in our everyday lives. Nevertheless, this was a fairly well to do neighborhood. Apparently, this woman figured that if a black man did find himself in this part of town, he was most likely up to something. Not wanting any trouble, she decided to get out of harm’s way. When you alter public space, people take notice to you; you get singled out. Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing depends on where you are and whom you get singled out by. An example of altering public space in a negative way is just your common everyday man walking into a daycare center. The only difference with this man is the fact that he is covered in piercings and tattoos. The