PLATFORM : At the Tag End

Realistically tagging (or the signature of a graffiti artist) is vandalism. I’m not gonna tell you it’s not. I’m not gonna tell you it’s artistic. It’s part of the development (of a graffiti muralist). It can be controlled.

So many kids want to be graffiti artists. But to get to that level they have to start at the bottom and the bottom happens to be tagging. A lot of kids get stuck in that mode. They don’t have inspiration. They don’t have a role model to look up to on how to proceed.

(State) Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) is trying to ban spray paint. Spray paint is not the cause of the problem of graffiti. It is the users. Banning spray paint ain’t gonna stop graffiti. There are many other mediums that kids use. And the more serious graffiti writers ain’t gonna let (any ban) stop them. They just view it as a challenge.

What (officials are) doing is ignoring the problem of why the kid is doing this. If (Torres) really wants to do something for kids, why doesn’t he get (legislation) to fund youth art centers?