Why I'm in CAS
Everyone is asking me why I wrote graffiti all over the walls of the bathroom in the english hall, so here is my full explaination.
You people are lucky that I explain anything at all, because I should NOT have to justify my actions. What I do is MY business, and the punishment I take for it is MY business. The only real reasons I do this is to
A) Stop the gossip before it starts (AMANDA STERLING!!!); and
B) To let people understand the signifigance of what I did.
First off, I believe strongly in graffiti as a signifigant art form. It not only requires an artistic eye, but alot of courage and agility. In fact, the first instance of american graffiti as a major instance was Philadelphia in the 1960s, when members of the CPUSA (the Communist Party of the United States of America) wrote slogans on walls of buildings to express not only their views in brief, but to symbolically express the communist idea that all government and private property belongs to THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA, as opposed to slumlords and corporate big-wigs. It was the 1970s, however, when graffiti become more than just a political soapbox. Hip-hop pioneers of the time, such as TAKI 183 and Lee Quinones, introduced a sense of artistry to graffiti writing, which evolved steadily because of competition between artist to be seen and recognized.
Graffiti still exists today for several reasons; Gang activity, politically radical activity, and artistic achievement being some. It is the first reason I mentioned that has made citizens and people as a whole in America have misjudgements about graffiti.
GRAFFITI, WHETHER OR NOT IT IS GANG RELATED, IS STILL ART BECAUSE OF IT'S SIGNIFIGANCE SYMBOLICALLY AND LITERALLY.
ALSO, NOT ALL GRAFFITI IS GANG RELATED.
The reasons that connects all of these aforementioned, is simple: These people either cannot afford art materials, or simply want to get a message out that is too radical to be seen without causing an outside factor to forcibly remove it from the public eye.
The message portrayed indirectly by ALL graffiti is that of unrest and dissatisfaction with the system: the reason they want their message out or the reason they join gangs. It is an indirect rebellion against the system or systems it tags. It may not be against that system, but simply asks for a sort of reform or change in that system.
::::now to the point::::
You're probably asking yourselves: "Now Brian. What do you have to rebel against? You're a good student with a formerly clean discipline record" Well, i'm what you call "outspoken" I have alot to say and other people saying things louder. In fact, many of you remember when I started out in 9th grade, before joining my hip-hop crew Southside Soldiers.
I started out simply enough: I just wanted to get my message out to the people. I wrote quotes on walls, small tags.
By 10th, I started to loathe DHS more and more, as I witnessed racism and disrespect towards students exercized by faculty and staff at DHS. I saw more and more students punished and discriminated against because of their skin, their clothes, their religions, social rank, and economic rank. This caused me to write more and more, eventually settling with using sticker tagging for quick throw-ups. I also rebelled against the rapidly increasing gang activity at school and in Decatur by tagging over gang graffiti and slandering gang names; I figured "hey, if the city and the school system won't do anything about it, then I will". I often incorporated christian and catholic ideas into my art, mixing religion, art, and politic.
About the same time as 11th grade started for me, I became a founding member and producer for the hip-hop crew Southside Soldiers. Also, the rise of the IB program angered me to NO END, because of it's "sweeping reforms" on the education system that include RAPING the yearly budget, cutting out programs/downsizing others, and adding educational burdens to students NOT participating in IB.
And did you know that only a small percentage (approx. less than 2% or lower) of students benefit from IB?
The fact that a group of politicians, money and position-hungry Board of Education Members, and nouveau riche republicans with bratty, spoiled kids can ruin the educations of others for their own petty needs REALLY TICKS ME OFF.
As well, most of you know what my father is going through, and this greatly influenced my throw-ups and stickers by incorporating the word "Innocent".
At last, I knew I had enough of it all. My artistry was already God-fueled, with an objective to get people to think out of the ordinary and see things differently, even for a second, just so one of God's children could see things with a different lens.
And before you say anything. Before you go saying that graffiti isn't christian. I DARE YOU TO GIVE ME ONE BIBLE VERSE that specifically forbids christians from spreading the gospel through art.
My tags turned into throw-ups, which turned into pieces that covered entire walls. I won't say where or when, or what these looked like because my situation is delicate enough. It just so happened that one day, while tagging a wall, someone saw what I did (but not while I did it) and told Mrs. Hillis.
I believe that my art is an example of Civil Disobedience and protest, so I willingly admitted my "crime" and took the punishment. I did nothing wrong. I simply did what I felt was right.
In protesting and in Civil Disobedience, the key message is this: that just because something is made illegal, doesn't necessarily make it morally wrong. So, I did the right thing, and got punished for it.
I wrote graffiti for Jesus, for God, for my Politics, for my friends, and most importantly, for my father. And I got persecuted for it.
There. That's my reason.
~SP
P.S. I'm not the only Soul Power out there, nor am I the only active graf artist.
You people are lucky that I explain anything at all, because I should NOT have to justify my actions. What I do is MY business, and the punishment I take for it is MY business. The only real reasons I do this is to
A) Stop the gossip before it starts (AMANDA STERLING!!!); and
B) To let people understand the signifigance of what I did.
First off, I believe strongly in graffiti as a signifigant art form. It not only requires an artistic eye, but alot of courage and agility. In fact, the first instance of american graffiti as a major instance was Philadelphia in the 1960s, when members of the CPUSA (the Communist Party of the United States of America) wrote slogans on walls of buildings to express not only their views in brief, but to symbolically express the communist idea that all government and private property belongs to THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA, as opposed to slumlords and corporate big-wigs. It was the 1970s, however, when graffiti become more than just a political soapbox. Hip-hop pioneers of the time, such as TAKI 183 and Lee Quinones, introduced a sense of artistry to graffiti writing, which evolved steadily because of competition between artist to be seen and recognized.
Graffiti still exists today for several reasons; Gang activity, politically radical activity, and artistic achievement being some. It is the first reason I mentioned that has made citizens and people as a whole in America have misjudgements about graffiti.
GRAFFITI, WHETHER OR NOT IT IS GANG RELATED, IS STILL ART BECAUSE OF IT'S SIGNIFIGANCE SYMBOLICALLY AND LITERALLY.
ALSO, NOT ALL GRAFFITI IS GANG RELATED.
The reasons that connects all of these aforementioned, is simple: These people either cannot afford art materials, or simply want to get a message out that is too radical to be seen without causing an outside factor to forcibly remove it from the public eye.
The message portrayed indirectly by ALL graffiti is that of unrest and dissatisfaction with the system: the reason they want their message out or the reason they join gangs. It is an indirect rebellion against the system or systems it tags. It may not be against that system, but simply asks for a sort of reform or change in that system.
::::now to the point::::
You're probably asking yourselves: "Now Brian. What do you have to rebel against? You're a good student with a formerly clean discipline record" Well, i'm what you call "outspoken" I have alot to say and other people saying things louder. In fact, many of you remember when I started out in 9th grade, before joining my hip-hop crew Southside Soldiers.
I started out simply enough: I just wanted to get my message out to the people. I wrote quotes on walls, small tags.
By 10th, I started to loathe DHS more and more, as I witnessed racism and disrespect towards students exercized by faculty and staff at DHS. I saw more and more students punished and discriminated against because of their skin, their clothes, their religions, social rank, and economic rank. This caused me to write more and more, eventually settling with using sticker tagging for quick throw-ups. I also rebelled against the rapidly increasing gang activity at school and in Decatur by tagging over gang graffiti and slandering gang names; I figured "hey, if the city and the school system won't do anything about it, then I will". I often incorporated christian and catholic ideas into my art, mixing religion, art, and politic.
About the same time as 11th grade started for me, I became a founding member and producer for the hip-hop crew Southside Soldiers. Also, the rise of the IB program angered me to NO END, because of it's "sweeping reforms" on the education system that include RAPING the yearly budget, cutting out programs/downsizing others, and adding educational burdens to students NOT participating in IB.
And did you know that only a small percentage (approx. less than 2% or lower) of students benefit from IB?
The fact that a group of politicians, money and position-hungry Board of Education Members, and nouveau riche republicans with bratty, spoiled kids can ruin the educations of others for their own petty needs REALLY TICKS ME OFF.
As well, most of you know what my father is going through, and this greatly influenced my throw-ups and stickers by incorporating the word "Innocent".
At last, I knew I had enough of it all. My artistry was already God-fueled, with an objective to get people to think out of the ordinary and see things differently, even for a second, just so one of God's children could see things with a different lens.
And before you say anything. Before you go saying that graffiti isn't christian. I DARE YOU TO GIVE ME ONE BIBLE VERSE that specifically forbids christians from spreading the gospel through art.
My tags turned into throw-ups, which turned into pieces that covered entire walls. I won't say where or when, or what these looked like because my situation is delicate enough. It just so happened that one day, while tagging a wall, someone saw what I did (but not while I did it) and told Mrs. Hillis.
I believe that my art is an example of Civil Disobedience and protest, so I willingly admitted my "crime" and took the punishment. I did nothing wrong. I simply did what I felt was right.
In protesting and in Civil Disobedience, the key message is this: that just because something is made illegal, doesn't necessarily make it morally wrong. So, I did the right thing, and got punished for it.
I wrote graffiti for Jesus, for God, for my Politics, for my friends, and most importantly, for my father. And I got persecuted for it.
There. That's my reason.
~SP
P.S. I'm not the only Soul Power out there, nor am I the only active graf artist.