The graffiti spray-painted on downtown businesses last weekend is more than a superficial nuisance that can be covered up or scrubbed away. When such messages are symbols of gang activity ó as may be the case here ó they cast a deeper stain on the community.
In more innocent times, graffiti was sometimes thought of as “street art.” But that was before Salisbury and other cities across North Carolina and the nation found themselves confronting serious gang problems. Now, when graffiti appears on businesses, school buildings or vehicles, it’s often the work of “taggers” who are marking the territory of a specific gang and sending a warning to others. Besides defacing property, graffiti is part of the gang-banger culture. It’s designed to intimidate and harass. Culprits who get away with it may be emboldened to spread their colors elsewhere ó or move on to more sinister acts.
Graffiti isn’t always a sign of gang activity, and police haven’t identified the culprits in this most recent incident. Copycats or “gang wannabes” sometimes appropriate gang symbols. But as parents and other participants learned at last Saturday’s Project Safe Family Day, where gangs go, graffiti tends to follow, and the community needs to treat it as more than mere vandalism. It’s the lurid symptom of an underlying scourge.
Graffiti has become such a nuisance in some areas that special laws have been enacted to carry more bite than existing ordinances against vandalism or property damage. Last week in High Point, the City Council approved an anti-graffiti ordinance that both sets penalties for violators and requires them to clean up and repair the property they’ve defaced. (If no one’s arrested, it requires property owners to clean things up.) Other cities have taken even more stringent measures: Los Angeles County passed a law that holds “taggers” and their parents or other guardians liable for civil damages. In Newark, N.J., city officials became so fed up with graffiti, they’ve considered prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 from purchasing spray paint.
Our local graffiti problem hasn’t reached that level ó yet ó and we can only hope that it doesn’t. Local law-enforcement agencies have stepped up their anti-gang efforts, as have schools and local youth agencies. Residents can do their part by reporting suspicious activity, especially if it involves spray cans or paint brushes, and they can follow the example of Scouts and other groups who have volunteered to help clean up graffiti in the past. That’s a good way for the community to send its own message.