Have you seen a train go by while stopped at a train track? You might have seen murals painted on it with brightly colored spray paint. Trains are often “tagged” in order to take the tagger’s name across the country. If you take the time to observe, you would see that it belongs not on trains but in art galleries (for the most part). While most people would claim that graffiti is ugly and vandalism, tagging is instead mostly colorful paintings of urban life that brightens slums and other impoverished areas of the inner city. Graffiti is a way for people deprived of self-expression to express themselves.

Who should be able to put a cap on our ability to be creative and express ones’ self? Nobody! Limiting people’s capability to creatively express themselves is like cutting off a limb. Would authority figures prefer that poor kids get themselves into gangs, or paint murals? A real no-brainer there, if you ask me. The thing that the police and civil government should be trying to do is look for alternatives to tagging on private and public property. After school programs dedicated to urban art and expression would be a good starting place. They must remember, however, that the original purpose of tagging is to cover up areas of the ghetto with something that gives hope to those that see it. You will never be able to take that away from graffiti. Read more...