Oakland’s Urban Hieroglyphics: 21st Century African American, Latino, and Asian Youth Scribes of Oakland’s Graffiti Culture
A Thesis submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for _ the Degree 20 (S'
ETW5T Masters of Arts * In
Ethnic Studies
by
Jonathan Brumfield
San Francisco, California
May 2015 Copyright by Jonathan brumfield 2015 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL
I certify that I have read “Oakland’s Urban Hieroglyphics: 21st Century Affikan
American, Latino, and Asian youth scribes of Oakland’s graffiti culture.” by Jonathan
Brumfield, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Masters of Arts in
Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University.
Serie McDougal, Ph.D Associate Professor Oakland’s Urban Hieroglyphics: 21st Century Afrikan American, Latino, and Asian
Youth Scribes of Oakland’s Graffiti Culture.
Jonathan Brumfield San Francisco, California 2015
Abstract:
Using participatory action research with qualitative analysis, this study will examine the perceptions, exposure, and impact “graffiti” has on todays urban African American, Latino, and Asian youth in Oakland California. The problems this study seeks to address are the impact of legislation concerning graffiti by city officials and law enforcement as well as how the dominant narratives written on the subject are having an impact on youth of color. Young people have expressed their concerns for the absence and misrepresentation of culture within the local movement, specifically African American presence. The aim of this research is to promote the transformative aspects of writing culture from the youth of color who are creating it by providing their perceptions, their exposure, access, and the impact of “writing” on their lives.
I certify that die Abstract is a correct representation of the content of this Thesis. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the youth in writing culture today worldwide. I give thanks for the lne collective, all Oakland writing crews involved, Safe Passages, Downey
Academy, Aerosoul(Oakland) and the TMT(NYC) crew for blessing me with their insight and time during this project. I want to acknowledge professors Shawn Genwright,
Serie McDougal, and Dawn-Elissa Fischer for supporting me through my journey writing this thesis. Special thanks to North Star Zulu Nation for the support and guidance. Thank you Skeme TMT for granting me permission to use your words of truth. Rest In Paradise to Stay High 149, and Kase 2, King Of Style. This one is for all of those who lost their lives to the social toxins that spawned a global movement. Hotep. TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Photos...... vi-vii
Introduction...... 1
Personal Interest...... 2
Justification...... 4
Gaps In Research...... 7
Prior Research...... 9
Research Design...... 11
Literature Review...... 13
Methodology...... 25
Data & Findings...... 39
Perception...... 41
Impact...... 59
Access...... 76
Conclusion...... 90
Reference 103 LIST OF PHOTOS
Photos Page
1. Africa 2 Aztlan...... 46 2. When We Know...... 48 3. Hiphop Culture...... 51 4. One Earth...... 53 5. Hiphop Aesthetics...... 57 6. Our Fruitvale...... 61 7. Hiphop Restorative Justice...... 63 8. Grown From Concrete...... 73 9. Everyday Is Mother’s Day(El)...... 78 10. Everyday Is Mother’s Day(E2)...... 79 11. Self Determination...... 84 12. Build With The Elders...... 88 13. Black Life Means Something...... 90 14. The Earth’s...... 94 15. Each One Teach One...... 95 LIST OF PHOTOS CONTINUED Photos Page
16. Elev8 Oakland...... 100 17. Aerosoul: Africa 2 Aztlan...... 102 18. Oakland Is Proud Tribute...... 106 19. Dream Justice...... 110 20. We Are Writers...... 112 21. Let’s Uplift Oakland...... 115
vii 1
“Nah it’s not a matter if they know who I am ...It’s a matter of bombing. Knowing
that I can do it. Every time I get in a train, almost everyday I see my name. I say
‘yeah you know it I was there, I bombed it’. It’s for me; it’s not for nobody else to
see. I don’t care bout anybody else seeing it, or the fact if they can read it or not.
It’s for me and other graffiti writers, that we can read it. All these other people
that don’t write, they are excluded! I don’t care about them. They don’t matter to
me. It’s for us!”
Skeme, Style Wars
Introduction
The quote above comes from a legendary “graffiti” writer named Skeme. His statement was made in a cult genre film called “Style Wars” in 1982, and his words became one of the most quoted scenes young people in writing culture can recite verbatim. The impact of what Skeme defined as writing culture has remained true over thirty years later and lends to the current perception the youth have today on being
“writers”.( Cohort B, personal communication, January, 2015).
Since 2007,1 have been using the principles and skill sets within writing culture to reengage youth of color with their public schools and communities through “urban arts” programming (Safe Passages, 2007). The researchers role in documenting “graffiti” 2
has always been an ethical and critical aspect for writers who participate in the craft.
Writers have expressed extreme disdain for researchers who leave out the voice and or culture of the artists, biasing the actual artwork with inconsistent critique
(Miller,2001;Phase2 & Schmidlapp,1996).
My own investment in this research is to showcase the use of writing culture as a form of self-determination for today’s youth of color within public schools and community spaces. Through after school programs, elective courses in high schools, and urban arts as restorative justice at alternative schools, curriculum has been created with the direction and interest of youth of color writing in Oakland (Safe Passages, 2014).
Most sociological studies suggest that “graffiti” is a criminal act of vandalism centered on narcissistic attempts by adults and adolescents to acquire street credibility or “fame”, as “writers” like to say (Kramer,2006;Keizer,lindberg & Steg,2008).). Many scholars as well as the general public, refer to the art form not as art but as “graffiti”(Castlemen,
1982;Chalfant & Cooper 1982;Chalfant & Prigoff, 1986;Oakland Tribune, 2014;SF
Weekly, 2014).Since its inception within urban settings, the art history and cultural anthropology narratives have created many labels for writing culture.
Those who do “graffiti” always referred to themselves as “writers” and this study, out of respect for the culture, will refer to the youth on their terms with the same truth and integrity. (Austin, 2006,Phase 2 & Schmidlapp, 1996, Chalfant &
Jenkins,2014,Miller,2001) Most of the popular and transformative works done on writing culture are outside of the academic network of journals and dissertations on the matter. 3
This study expands on the existing research in the respective fields of inquiry while offering Ethnic Studies valuable data in regards to a phenomena yet to be researched within the discipline.
Based on the resurgence in popularity and commercial appeal of the art form itself, there is a progressive opportunity for writing culture to be heard in Ethnic Studies from the youth voices and written from their perspectives (Bomb It,2011; Oakland
Tribune, 2014,Oakland City Ordinance, 2012) This study will be researching the nuances such as the cultural identity of the artists and how it may or may not play a role in the production process of “graffiti” for example. Other nuances that will be researched deal with the impact of writing culture on the lives of the practitioners, their families, and the city they live in as well. The most valuable data derived form this research is the actual meaning of writing and the work produced by the youth from their own voices. The youths voice as the driving force within this study has been done to shed light on how writing can be a powerful tool for community building, self-determination and cultural awareness. The common narratives concerning “graffiti” use adult archetypes for their research, limiting the scope of the discourse in terms of new writers not having as much of a platform to showcase their work and value within writing culture. This later distinction within the literature reviewed, promoted this research to focus on the current youth practitioners of writing culture in an attempt to provide a platform for their defining of the culture as it is today. 4
Justification
The youth in Oakland are being criminalized and stereotyped by law enforcement and city officials, providing justification for further analysis on what impact graffiti is having on youth of color, in particular (Oakland City Ordinance, 2014,SF Weekly, 2014).
In Oakland and through out the Bay Area, there has been a concerted effort on the part of city officials and law enforcement to eradicate graffiti through ordinances aimed at incarcerating young offenders. (Oakland Tribune, 2014,Oakland City Ordinance, 2012).
With the city spending over one million dollars on graffiti removal a year, the criminalization of those who do write has increased (Oakland Tribune, 2014,SF Weekly,
2014). In particular, the criminalization of writers and the culture itself call for qualitative research and critical analysis on the art form today in regards to youth of color and their purpose behind the practice itself. Our city has been getting covered in “graffiti” by out of towners who are mainly White adults, while the local youth are going to bare the brunt of the legislation to be inflicted upon the writing community here in Oakland (Oakland
Tribune, 2014,East Bay Express, 2014,Juxtapoz, 2011;Youth Interviews, 2015). The adults from outside of our city tag and “vandalize” our communities yet the youth from
Oakland bare the brunt of the law and cities response (Oakland City Ordinance, 2012;
East Bay Express, 2014;Cohort B, personal communication,January,2015). 5
In the late 1960’s this art form was created by youth of color, predominately
African American and Afro-Latino, such as Com Bread, Phase2, Julio204,Lee
163rd,Cliff, Papo 164(Maller & Naar,1974;Castleman,1982,Chalfant &
Cooper, 1982;Phase2 & Schmidlapp,1996;Bomb It,2011).Today the perspectives, access and exposure, as well as the impact of graffiti writing culture on African American and
Latino youth still remains of great significance. Based on my research, African American youth in graffiti writing culture are becoming scarce while the Latino youth are experiencing a volatile intersectionality of gang culture and writing culture here in
Oakland (Safe Passages, 2014,Cohort A, personal communication, January, 2015;Cohort
B, personal communication, January,2015). The educational role that the art form of writing has played in the lives of young people can potentially serve for communities struggling with similar issues that Oakland youth of color face (Safe Passages,2014;
Cohort B, personal communication,January,2015). Youth have reengaged themselves in their education by participating in afterschool programs and community spaces that offer an expressive outlet centered on writing culture(Safe Passages,2014;East Side Art
Alliance,2014; Cohort B, personal communication, January, 2015).
The resurgence of popularity with the youth, and the transformative work the youth are creating can be positive for writing culture, as a whole. With little recognition of or lack of knowledge about the pioneers of a global art form amongst the new era of graffiti writers, calls for further investigation into the perspectives, exposure, and the impact graffiti is having on the youth of color today. Without proper education on the 6
historical and cultural backdrop to writing, some youth and adults have abused the craft for vandalism and destructive intent(Cohort A, personal communication, January, 2015;
Cohort B, personal communication, January, 2015Style Wars, 1982;Miller,2001).While some descriptive anthropological studies have dealt with the larger phenomena of graffiti there are other examples of great pieces of ethnographic work done by scholars like Ivor
Miler, analyzing the African and Afro-Caribbean influence on writing culture and Hip
Hop in general(Chalfant & ,2014;,Austin,201 l;Miller,2001)Miller’s work inspires this research exploring the gaps in representation of cultural heritage amongst writers within the dominant narratives(Miller,2001;Prigoff,1986;Cooper,1982). The additional analysis on the African contributions today as well as the contributions of other peoples of color in writing, will benefit all disciplines within Ethnic Studies surrounding the phenomena known as graffiti, and Hiphop studies as a whole(Miller,2001;Phase2 &
Schmidlapp,1996,Chalfant & Jenkins,2014). This research is a catalyst for future inquiries into the phenomena of writing, from an Ethnic Studies standpoint.
Gaps In Research
Through preliminary observations at community spaces and school sites, the civic engagement that is employed from a radical praxis, with critical consciousness on the part of the new writers today exposes gaps within behavioral science, and anthropological narratives(Frick Middle School,2014;Safe Passages,2014; Cohort B, personal 7
communication, January, 2015). Much of the scholarship and alternative literature surrounding graffiti has gleamed over the racial backgrounds of the artists by prefacing the “graffiti “scene from a multicultural perspective( Chalfant & Prigoff,1986;Chalfant &
Cooper, 1982;Castlemen, 1982,Mailer & Naar,1974).
In doing so, many authors neglect the liberating nature, for youth reading their work, of providing the racial background of these artist within the narrative. As for example, Kase 2 in Style Wars was very influential for young Black writers in particular because he was beating the odds by being Black, talented, and only having one arm(Style
Wars, 1982). The public’s common perspective on writing culture has been generally shaped by the media and from the narratives of sociologists, criminologists, and politicians who have labeled “graffiti” a public nuisance(Oakland Tribune,2014;Sf
Weekly,2014;Oakland City Ordinance,2012). But over the last decade, there has started to become a shift in the public consensus as well as the dominant narratives surrounding writing culture, due to the practitioners of the culture playing a larger role in the narratives. (Phase2 & Schmidlapp,1996;Miller, 2001;Austin,201 l;Chalfant &
Jenkins,2014).
Research focusing on writing culture, as well as books and other mass media has been dominated by a Eurocentric analysis, with little regard for the cultural value of the phenomena for those communities the artist come from(Chalfant. & Prigoff,1987;
Castlemen,1982; Mailer & Naar,1974). There is a huge void in the literature of the mass media and scholarly works, specifically dealing with the African spray can writer’s 8
experience and contributions, with only a few exceptions(Phase2 & Schmidlap,1996;
Miller,2001; Chalfant & Jenkins,2014)
All too often the dominant narratives about graffiti are written form a Eurocentric standpoint, with little investment in the communities they are researching. There remains great value in the culturally empowering nuances gained from having the voice of the writers within the narrative(Chalfant & Jenkins,2014;Phase2 & Schmidlap,1996;
Miller,2001). For example, Phase 2 in Styles From The Underground, defines writing as a form of hieroglyphics and fashions himself as an aerosol technician(Phas2 &
Schmidlap,1996). By defining the craft from his own cultural lens, Phase2’s ideas of what writing really is also shows the importance of knowledge of self which the young people in Oakland incorporate within their works as well.
Today, many of the youth and adults who practice the art form are no longer predominately African American and Latino. Several African American youth interviewed in this particular research expressed their concerns and frustrations with the lack of African American and African representation within and concerning the art form
(Cohort B, personal communication, January, 2015). This example of analysis will lend to the field of Ethnic Studies for example, by having access to the voices and solutions from African American youth experiencing many of the theoretical paradigms discussed within Africana Studies. It will also provide an important platform for adult and youth writers alike, to discuss the cultural relevance and importance of writing in Hiphop. 9
Prior Research
All too often the sociological and ethnographical narratives illustrate the absence of literature connected to the African origins and contributions of aerosol writing
(Chalfant & Prigoff, 1986;Chalfant & Cooper, 1982;Castlemen, 1982,Mailer & Naar,
1974). Alternative sources of information and representation of writing culture can greatly influence the dominant narratives of the mass media as well as the perception of the public (Austin, 201 l;Chalfant & Jenkins, 2014,Phase2 & Schmidlap, 1996; Miller,
2001 Bomb It, 2011). When Schmidlap and Phase2 put together IGTimes, this underground l iterature not only documented writing culture from the actual voices of the writer’s themselves, it also provided youth with socially and politically conscious articles(Schmidlap and Phase2,1996). Through writing culture, youth are able to see social justice as an active participant. By writing on the walls, the youth are able to have an intimate discourse with other initiates through out the city while sparking the social consciousness of the community in terms of whatever issues they address through their art. The youth in New York City addressed the blight, crime and neglect for youth recreational services by painting the subway trains and neighborhood walls(Style
Wars, 1982;Castleman, 1982,Cooper&Chalfant, 1982). 10
Research in Africana, Latinidad, and Asian Studies surrounding aesthetics and culture, lends to the analysis the youth are making on the subject of writing culture
(Asante, 1988 ;Carruthers, 1995 ;Gates; 1988 ;Obenga,2004;Thompson, 1983,Thompson,201
1). The sociological perspectives and various mental health studies left out the actual voice of the artist themselves while other ethnographic work totally focused on the artist and embedded their voice within the narratives (Miller,2001;Schmidlap and Phase2,1996;
Castlemen,1982). Ethnic Studies approaches to the subject are scarce to none. Providing an opportunity for disciplines like Africana Studies for example, to act as a conveyor for the African American youth voice about writing cultures impact and actual meaning in their lives will strengthen the Hiphop studies curriculum as well
(Asante, 1988;Carruthers,1995;Gates;1988;Obenga,2004;Thompson, 1983,Thompson, 201
1).
The art form of writing is a social discourse being that it is a public based art form founded on self-appropriation of space. Some studies suggest that the Black Arts
Movement helped shape the Hiphop culture that many pioneers have had to witness its misappropriation and dilution of today(Asante,1988; Gates; 1988;Thompson,201 l;Phase2
& Schmidlapp,1996). Through an Ethnic Studies lens, the youth can analyze their perspectives, exposure and impact of graffiti in an attempt to revive and reconstruct the solutions of their ancestors for today’s dilemmas within Hiphop
(Asante, 1988;Carruthers,1995;Gates;1988;Obenga,2004;Thompson, 1983,Thompson,201
!)• 11
Research Design
This participatory action research will embrace those under study to be a part of the narration and create progressive outcomes within their art community. This will be done using semi structured interviews and focus groups with youth in Oakland who have been impacted by the phenomena. Through an Afrocentric approach, coding and analysis of the data from the interviews and focus groups with the youth will come from purposeful samples. For example, The Nzuri Model principles are used to analyze the aesthetical aspects, responses and perceptions on graffiti writing from the African
American youth under study(Asante,1988). Looking at the aesthetical makeup and apprenticeship process of writing through the lens of ancient Egyptian educational practices for scribes, the youth connect their craft to antiquities first “writers”
(Asante,1988;Carruthers,1995;Gates;1988;Obenga,2004; Phase2 & Schmidlap,1996;
Miller,2001 ;Thompson, 1983,Thompson,2011).
This study is also set out to be a platform for urban youth of color to voice and to define their perceptions, exposure, and the impact of writing culture in their lives in their own words. All too often, research has focused on the adult writers and the aspect of fame and destruction, neglecting the cultural values of the writers themselves today(Austin,2001;Castleman,1982, Chalfant & Prigoff,1986;Chalfant & Cooper, 1982;
Malller & Naar,1974). Ethnic Studies will benefit from this research by providing the 12
Hiphop studies department with concrete data on an element in Hip Hop yet to be explored in depth by the faculty. The qualitative preliminary research done on the subject of graffiti with the youth of color today, in terms of their exposure to theoretical frameworks that actually fit their learning styles has promoted further study from an
Ethnic Studies perspective(Safe Passages,2014; Cohort B, personal communication,
January, 2015). 21st century youth have expressed a deep desire for Ethnic Studies curriculum within their history, English, science, and math courses as well as art classes once they experience urban art through the lens of their own cultural perspectives and world view in public schools(Youth Interviews,2015;youth Focus groups,2015;Safe
Passages,2014;East Side Arts Alliance,2014;Estria Battle,2013;Frick Middle
School,2014).
Ethnic Studies is the appropriate discipline to provide qualitative research on writing culture for the advancement of the Hip Hop studies curriculum but also for the advancement of the local writing culture here in the Bay Area. Being that the youth of color in the Bay Area have a wide range of access to services that promote the art form, the value of providing urban arts education from an Ethnic Studies framework fits the current shift in community consensus(Safe Passages,2014, Cohort B, personal communication, January, 2015;Downey Academy,2015). 13
Literature Review
Introduction
Many of the authors and researchers surrounding “graffiti” have used their own cultural lenses to explain and document art and aesthetics, while more progressive studies investigate ‘writing’ as a teaching tool for urban youth of color. With the addition of Hip
Hop courses to Africana Studies, there has yet to be research in Ethnic Studies related to
“graffiti”. In the 21st century, “graffiti” has become distinguished from “graffiti” art for many urban communities across the globe, with youth of color engaging in a criminalized yet emancipatory art form(Austin201 l;Bomb It,201 l;Chalfant & Jenkins,2014).
“Graffiti” is an element in Hip Hop created by youth of color, therefore the multidisciplinary approach to research in Ethnic Studies creates an ideal cultural lens for writing culture to be examined and implemented in the Hip Hop curriculums
(Austin201 l;Thompson,2011; Miller,2001;Phase2 & Schmidlapp,1996). In the future,
Latina Studies, Asian Studies and Africana Studies can lend transformative approaches to the study of writing culture and assist the community of young people within their cities in progressing their art form. Art is a gateway to education, careers, spirituality, community building, and political and cultural awareness for youth of color in the inner city (Miller,2001; Lachman,1988; & Phase2 & Schmidlap,2002). 14
Sociologist, arts, humanities, mental health, education, cultural anthropology and historical literature regarding writing culture have defined it within the homogenous description o f ‘graffiti’ (Castleman,1982; Chalfant & Prigoff,1986). Being that “graffiti” has been documented in academia and outside of academic scholarship, this literature review will explore a variety of disciplines. In this literature review I will refer to graffiti as writing. Not writing in the sense of essays and literature, but in terms of the Hiphop calligraphy or aerosoul hieroglyphics if you will, which is what most practitioners of the art form prefer. (Cohort B, personal communication, January, 2015Miller,2001; &
Phase2 & Schmidlap,2002)
This review also investigates newspaper articles, city data, and video documentation on the phenomena. Without the documentation of the art form from the perspectives of the writers, researchers apply their cultural biases to the studies creating a false sense of multiculturalism. In much of the dominant narratives, writing has been documented as a multicultural art form while leaving out the actual ethnic identities of those who pioneered this now global movement. The limitations in research into the cultural backgrounds and the impact of ones culture on the phenomena has yet to be explored in Ethnic Studies, as well as the disciplines discussed in this review. The 21st century approach to researching writing culture has emancipatory opportunities for the youth of color engaged in the practice, communities affected by the phenomena, and the advancement of the Hiphop curriculum within Africana Studies. 15
The first section of this review, concentrates on newspaper articles, video and city data that shape the exposure, impact, and engagement in writing culture. This section explores the city ordinances, emergence of graffiti in the media, and the impact of Style
Wars on the phenomena. The second section will focus on the anthropological and historical narratives on the subject. I will examine some of the dominant narratives and perceptions that are common in the research on writing culture. Dominant narratives, meaning the dominant ideologies in society surrounding “graffiti”.
The third section will concentrate on the criminology and sociological narratives on writing culture as well as their affects on the publics perception of writing. The common theoretical use of the broken window theory as a blanket approach to dealing with writing in urban settings will be discussed in this section as well (Keizer,Liendberg
& Steg,2008). The fourth section will deal with the literature within education and urban studies, examining the value that culture has had within those studies. The purpose of examining this type of research is to understand the value of connecting the perspectives, cultures, and voices of the artists within the narrative. In order to establish the value of the African American cultural contributions within “graffiti”, and the black vernacular as a basis for Hiphop culture i.e. writing, over time Ethnic Studies has become a necessary lens. This literature review will conclude with summarizing the dominant perspective, limitations and strengths within the studies that drive the research I am undertaking. 16
News Paper Articles, Video and City data
City officials, news media, and Style Wars introduced writing culture to the nation as a criminal attempt to acquire street fame(New York Times, 1971 ;Style
Wars,1982). Taki 183 was labeled the spawn of street pen pals in the New York Times in
1971. This article has become the jump off point for all researchers and writers when documenting the development of the culture. This same article exposed the millions of dollars in tax payers money spent on graffiti abatement and the story has not changed in the 21st century with cities like San Francisco spending 22 million dollars annually
(Oakland Tribune,2014;New York Times,1971 ;SF Weekly,2014).
While the city and community struggled financially with the phenomena, the most influential media to spread writing culture worldwide came out on the silver screen(Style
Wars, 1982). Style Wars documented the lives of writers from the New York City train era, which inspired thousands of young people to write their names all over the city.
Youth who came from marginalized and seemingly invisible communities, became highly visible through their appropriation of space and assertion of their own community aesthetics (All City, 1985; Chalfant & Cooper, 1982; Style Wars, 1982). The perception of writing was an art form to some while to others, it was an attack of the moral fabric of our society and a sign that we have lost control(New York Times, 1971 ;Style Wars, 1982). 17
The youth who created this art form were kids of color, predominantly African
American and Afro Latino. Taki 183 told the New York Times that Julio 204 was his inspiration yet the media uses Italian definitions and European historical references to establish the origins of graffiti(New York Times, 197l;Style Wars,1982). Documenting the culture from its own perspectives by analyzing writing through the cultural realities of the artists lends to more transformative research. Style Wars and Wild Style were two cult films that actually made an attempt at documenting writing and Hiphop culture, from its own perspective(Style wars, 1982;Wild Style,1982). Youth who “vandalize” the city also contest notion of public policy concerning public space by writing their names all over the city(New York Times, 1971; Style Wars, 1982). My own research has uncovered the social justice projects and civic engagement within writing culture here in Oakland, and how young people of color navigate the public policies that criminalize their art form.
Anthropological & Historical Narratives
Cultural anthropological and historical literature concentrates on descriptive analysis and stays away from analyzing why teenagers were writing graffiti and solely focus on what it is they are doing(Castlemen,1982;Austin, 2001;Ferrell & Pape,2011).
Tags, pieces, wild styles, throw ups, trains, walls were the main focus in these narratives in terms of what the youth were doing in writing culture but why they were doing it was 18
inferred by the researchers own interpretations (Castlemen, 1982; Austin,2001; Chalfant
& Cooper,1980; Chalfant & Prigoff,1987; Ferrel & Pape2011).
These studies provided a historical layout of New York City subway graffiti and the war waged against it by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and the city of
New York . These studies concentrated on writing from its beginnings in the early 1970’s until 1989, when the MTA took out the last trains(Austin,2001;& Ferrell & Pape,2011
;Chalfant & Cooper, 1980; Chalfant & Prigoff,1987). The implications of these studies were that in times of major fiscal crisis, the city of New York found it necessary to wage an expensive and ineffective war on subway graffiti (Austin,2001;Castlemen, 1992;
Chalfant & Cooper, 1980; Chalfant & Prigoff,1987). Although these authors used some of the most prolific writers and pioneers of the culture, they failed at allowing the voice of the writers to drive the research. If they held the voices of the writers in a higher regard academically, this research could have had a major positive impact on public opinion.
The researchers began to allow the sample population to consist of adult practitioners and became totally focused on the same writers for their inquiry.
(Castlemen, 1982;Chalfant & Cooper, 1980; Chalfant & Prigoff,1987) Being that several of these studies were conducted over a two decades ago, the historical narratives have evolved , providing a deeper analysis of why urban youth write their names on public and private property, how the public policies have evolved, and the current cultural impacts of writing on youth of color and the community have as well. (Castlemen, 1982;Chalfant 19
& Cooper, 1980; Chalfant & Prigoff,1987)In conducting my own research, I found that the young people use writing to affect public policy locally through their murals, which they refer to as “productions”(Cohort B, personal communication, January, 2015). The city has allocated funds to local non-profit groups and individual artists, solely for urban arts programs designed to combat the “graffiti” issue in Oakland(Cohort B, personal communication, January, 2015;Safe Passages,2014;Aerosoul,2015).
Sociology Mental Health & Criminal Justice
Sociologist and behavioral science literature investigate writing from a “graffiti” lens, a public nuisance that constitutes a moral panic in the community
(Kramer,Keizer,Lindberg & Steg,2008.) The purpose of the research was to show the city’s response to graffiti constitutes a moral panic while urban sociologist, use other theoretical framework such as the broken window theory to define the scope of the problem.(Kramer,2006;Keizer,Lindberg & Steg ,2008).The findings draw links between the social contradictions that accompany the production of urban space and moral panics, the latter serving the interests of the city’s growth machines.(Kramer,2006) 20
This research lends to the current city ordinances and public policies aimed at
“graffiti” eradication in Oakland(Oakland City Ordinance,2014). Oakland’s “ moral panic” surrounding graffiti and garbage, created a slew of public policy campaigns and allocations of funds entirely for graffiti abatement. The city even provides a stretch of dilapidated fence for “taggers’ to scroll legally as they suggest in their ordinance. Broken windows and anti graffiti rhetoric are popular political frameworks that offer the elite powerful devices that generate mass public support for economic pursuits that do not improve the lives of that actual public in question.(Kramer,2006;Keizer,lindberg &
Steg,2008).
These studies lend to further research on the current patterns in city response as well as the current perspectives from youth of color who engage in the phenomena. In my research, the youth expressed their disdain for local and visiting taggers who deface local business owner’s properties and community landmarks i.e. cultural murals. The limitations of these previous studies provide grounds for research to be developed surrounding the production of sacred urban spaces by youth of color(Miller,2001) An example of this are in the findings, suggesting that young people engage in graffiti writing on individual, and complex levels, which are parallel to the tags and artwork they produce ( Brunelle,2009; Price,2006;Taylor, 2010 ).
Mental health researchers document the culture from their own biases but use methodologies that can further the study into why young people engage in writing and the impacts of the culture on their lives.(Kramer,2006; Keizer,Lindberg &Steg ,2008 ) These 21
clinicians failed to provide clinical support for the sample population and many times, left the population totally out of the research, attributing this due to the “elusiveness” of the writer’s themselves( Brunelle,2009; Price,2006;Taylor, 2010 ).The purpose of these studies were to analyze the clinical dynamics in adolescent males who engage in
“graffiti”. These types of studies seemed to lack deeper clinical exploration and linked many variables in writing culture to behaviors that are not defined by the culture itself(Brunelle,2009; Price,2006;Taylor, 2010 ).
The constraints of academic literature used in the study limited the analysis of writing culture and the youths reasoning for participating. The authors unconscious biases and lack of understanding of what writing culture is and the reasons for doing such an art form, requires more in depth study than the analysis presented(Brunelle,2009;
Price,2006;Taylor, 2010 ).In contrast, Brunelle's findings from qualitative interviews, dispel many myths and stereotypes regarding taggers and provided counter claims to a stereotyped subculture(Brunelle,2009). My research yields greater insight and clarity surrounding these common stereotypes on “graffiti” by conducting the studies through the perspectives and cultures of the sample population.
Arts & Humanities
Phase2 and Miller produced two of the most influential books on writing culture.
They combined theoretical studies and field research to examine writing culture in New 22
York City from African American & African cultural perspectives. (Miller,2001,; Phase2
& Schmidlapp,1996)Millers connecting of African, Caribbean, Native American culture to the art of writing was the main focus of the work. Both use the exact words from the relevant pioneering writers of New York Cities subway era.(Miller,200 l)The writers were able to not only express themselves openly about the entire culture, they were also asked to define the meanings of their actions.
An example of this can be seen in Miller’s study where Phase 2 refers to
“graffiti” as “higherglyphics” connecting the alphabet to the hieroglyphs in Egypt and the spiritual value in the art of letters.(Miller,2001) The connections were made to African culture as an influence but more importantly as a contribution to the entire art form(Miller,2001,; Phase2 & Schmidlapp,1996). The findings suggest that more studies relating to writing culture, and Hiphop as a whole, should be framed and defined from the perspective of the practitioners. This method lends emancipatory study for current youth by providing a deeper emphasis on the cultural and political formations that created writing culture.
Education 23
While Lachman focused the research on writing as a career, Eldridge, Rodriguez,
Kofford, and Morales focused on the educational roles writing culture can play in public schools. Graffiti writers appropriate public space creating their artifacts and careers through social interactions amongst each other and with patrons, audiences, and police.
(Lachmann, 1988,Eldridge,Rodriguez,Kofford & Morales,2012) The findings are that modifications in labeling and subculture theories are necessary to explain the causal connections between social relations and ideological meaning of graffiti. The analysis of co-optive interventions and its affects on the writing culture in the 1970s and then its success in the 1980’s implies that the gallery scene has been some what lucrative yet there are still a vast majority of graffiti writers living on the margins.
The other findings stressed the need for the preservation of Visual Arts Education as a pivotal element for the development of students’ communication skills. (Rodriguez,
Kofford, Morales, 2012) There is an importance of ‘graffiti’ art in education due to its alliance with the visual culture education value system, making a strong case for further research. (Lachman, 1988; Rodriguez, Kofford, Morales, 2012). By providing visual culture education in the school systems and community centers, young writers of color can explore the educational and career benefits in practicing “graffiti”.
(Lachman, 1988)This theoretical perspective drives the purposeful sample population for my own research. 24
Daniel Gross and Timothy Gross (1993) conducted a study on the semantics of graffiti and its historical phases of transition. The graffiti depicts words in disguise, thus the label apocryphal. (Gross & Gross, 1993) The words both reveal and conceal their identity. Their findings suggested that maybe the last evolution of graffiti, apocryphal phase, may become primarily drawings or picture writing similar to ancient hieroglyphics. (Gross & Gross, 1993) Mfundikwa’s research on African alphabets provides empirical and theoretical framework to further the investigation in writing culture and how African culture connects to writing (Phase2,1996; Mfundikwa,2007).
These scholars research also supports the role of writing culture being a part of Africana
Studies linking writing to the black vernacular, hieroglyphics, as well as African aesthetical principles(Curruthers,1995;Gates,1989;Miller,2001 ;Obenga,2004;Thompson, 1988;
Thompson,2011).
The theoretical analysis of the African Aesthetic lends to the current research on writing being a form of urban hieroglyphics as well as an alternate theoretical framework for Ethnic Studies to utilize in Hip Hop curricula. The limitations in these studies lack the connections made to Hiphop culture explicitly, in terms of the black vernacular and the
African diaspora providing further research possibilities in Africana
Studies(Curruthers, 1995 ;Gates, 1989;Miller,2001 ;Obenga,2004;Thompson, 1988;
Thompson,2011). 25
Conclusion
The trends in these studies suggest that beyond the criminalization and bias defining of the “graffiti” from the outside, participatory research leads the transformative methodologies being done concerning writing culture.(Miller,2001;Phase2 & Schmidlap,
1996;Lachman,1988). City officials, sociologists and historians are also embracing what they call, the “graffiti art” within “graffiti”.(Oakland City Ordinance,2012;SF
Weekly,2014;Lachman, 1988)With programs like Street Smarts and local non profits leading the restorative justice efforts employed by Bay Area officials, research into the current application and perceptions of writing are warranted.(SF Weekly,2014).
The lack of research done on writing culture in academia from the cultural realities of writers has created ideal opportunities for Ethnic Studies to fill the void. As for example the lack of research on this topic in Fliphop studies calls for Africana Studies to promote an African lens to analyze the phenomena.(Miller,2001;Phase2 &
Schmidlap, 1996). This research takes these limitations as justification for further analysis on current writing culture from the cultural lenses of the youth of color in Oakland. With the rekindled popularity for the art form in Oakland, the financial costs for tax payers, businesses, and families’ calls for a qualitative participatory approach on the subject as well.
Methodology 26
This methodology section will cover the various approaches and findings within the dominant narratives on writing culture. By providing a snap shot of the methodologies and findings from the dominant disciplines, the justification for expanding on their work through an Afrocentric approach will be better understood. These disciplines outside of Africana Studies are used due to the fact that research on writing culture is located there in those specific disciplines.
Due to the lack of research by Africana Studies on the subject of “graffiti”, I have to use the available documentation to expand on the dominant narratives that have promoted and or criminalized the art form itself. The section following my justification for using an Afrocentric approach and methodologies will detail the actual procedures, population, as well as the analysis that will be carried out. The objectives of this methods section are to give a clear description of the methodologies that will be used to research writing culture in Oakland, expand upon the previous research done outside of Africana
Studies by using Afrocentric methodologies, and to provide a clear description of the sample populations under study.
Previous methodologies & Current Research Model:
The qualitative interviews from these studies were tape-recorded personal interviews amongst graffiti writers, transit police, active and former public officials,
MTA employees and community members of New York City. (Austin 2001,Castleman, 27
1982,Chafant & Cooper, 1982, Chalfant & Prigoff,1986, Style Wars, 1982, All City, 1983,
Bomb It,2011; Chalfant & Jenkins,2014). Newspapers, magazine clippings, behavioral studies, reports and information from various city agencies were also used for content analysis in all disciplines that research “graffiti”.
The most informative information derived from informal conversations with graffiti writers at train stations, police stations, detention centers, parks, schools, headquarters of graffiti organizations and community throughout New York City. (Austin
2001,Castleman, 1982,Chalfant & Cooper, 1982, Chalfant & Prigoff,1986, Style
Wars,1982, All City,1983, Bomb It,2011 ;Chalfant & Jenkins,2014). The sociological, cultural anthropological, and educational studies provided a historical layout of New
York City subway graffiti and the war waged against it by the Metropolitan Transit
Authority (MTA). These disciplines often leave out the cultural and social justice aspects of the writers and their work within the narrative(Castleman,1982,Chafant &
Cooper, 1982, Chalfant & Prigoff,1986).
While some of the methodologies have furthered the legacy of the art form of graffiti, these narratives have been dominated by Eurocentric analysis on an arguably
African American aesthetic (Arnold, 2010;Bomb It,2011; Miller, 2001,Phase2 &
Schmidlap,1996; Thompson,2014). The methods used by these various disciplines to study writing culture are very useful but can also be detrimental to the culture itself, if the practitioners do not drive the outcomes of the research (Asante, 1988,Thompson,
1989,Carruthers, 1988,Miller, 2001,Phase2, 1996,Taylor, 2012,Eldridge, 2013). 28
Historians and cultural anthropologists who have produced the most significant bodies or work on writing culture, stay away from establishing their work as an historical document of accuracy for writing culture; leaving the debates and recording of accurate history up to the actual writers themselves to produce in the future (Austin,2001; All
City,1983;Castleman,1982;Chalfant & Cooper,1982; Chalfant & Prigoff,1986;Chalfant &
Jenkins,2014; Style Wars, 1982;Miller,200l;Phase2 & Schmidlap, 1996). These scholars stay focused on documenting the work from the perspectives of the artists by building personal relationships, participating in the art form with the practitioners, and observing the writers in the illegal process(Austin, 2001; All City,1983; Castleman,1982;Chafant &
Cooper, 1982; Bomb It,201 l;Chafant & Prigoff,1986; Style
Wars, 1982;Taylor,2011 ;Eldridge,2013; Chalfant & Jenkins,2014;Miller,2001;Phase2 &
Schmidlap, 1996).
Although the methodologies of gaining valuable definition of the art form through illegal means may seem unethical, the art form itself is a social discourse concerning the unethical conditions we live in (Austin, 2001; All City, 1983; Castleman,1982;Chafant &
Cooper, 1982; Bomb It,201 l;Chafant & Prigoff,1986; Style
Wars, 1982;Taylor,2011 ;Eldridge,2013; Chalfant & Jenkins,2014;Miller,200l;Phase2 &
Schmidlap, 1996). The dominant narratives have concentrated their research on New York
Cities perception, engagement, and impacts on the community and writers. Few have developed equal extensive bodies work on writing history for the rest of America’s writing communities. 29
Sociologists, criminologists, and mental health research use case study and qualitative methodologies to study writing culture in the context of “graffiti”(SF
Weekly,2014). Anthropological, arts and humanities, and educational research utilizes participatory action research end ethnomethodology to document the historical and cultural aesthetics of “writing culture”(Chalfant, 1982,Castleman, 1982,FOG,
1980,Phase2, 2001,Miller, 2001). The later approach to studying writing culture has produced some of the most emancipatory research for the development of writing as an art form, and as a social change agent (Style Wars, 1982;Chalfant & Prigoff, 1986,
Miller, 2001; Phase2 & Schmidlap,1996).
The dominant narratives from sociologists, cultural anthropologists, criminologists, arts & humanities disciplines document and analyze the research on writing culture using a Eurocentric lens and critique for the culture (Chalfant &,Prigoff,
1986; Mailer & Naar,1974;Castleman, 1982;Ferrell, 201 l;Lachman, 2006). The dominant narratives posit the origins of “graffiti” from a European archetype, generally
Greco-Roman(Castleman,1982;Chalfant & Prigoff, 1986;Lachman,2006)The artistic critique and methodologies have been dominated by Western standards and defined through Eurocentric biases(Castleman,1982;Chalfant & Prigoff, 1986; Mailer &
Naar,1974) The public has been given the message that writing is a nuisance, regardless of its content or style. (NY Times, 1971,Oakland Tribune, 2014,SF Weekly, 2014,Ten
Eyck and Fischer, 2012). Researchers like Miller and Phase2, use an Afrocentric lens as a deliberate part of their methodology in analysis of “graffiti”, documenting and analyzing 30
the phenomena through the cultural lenses of the practitioners. (Miller, 2001, Phase2,
1996; Arnold, 2010 Chalfant & Jenkins,2014).
To many anthropologists and historians alike, writing culture is a multidimensional and multidisciplinary art form(Miller,2001;Phase2,1996;Chafant, 1982,Chalfant &
Prigoff,1986). Cultural anthropological studies, using culturally relevant methodologies create linkages between writing and Hip Hop that are not presented in the Ethnic Studies curriculum (Arnold, 2010,Miller, 2001,Phase2, 1996) This research will further the preceding methodologies by using an Ethnic Studies framework to collect and analyze the data on youth writing culture in Oakland. Africana Studies as a discipline, maintains an interdisciplinary approach not being used to define and describe an art form created by marginalized African American youth(Asante, 1988,Arnold,2010,Style
Wars, 1982,Miller,200l,Phase2,1996)Using an Afrocentric lens to examine “writing” culture will promote the engagement of 21st century youth of color, on emancipatory levels, yet to be researched by Ethnic Studies scholars (Miller, 2001,Phase2, 1996,
Arnold, 2010).
This study will use the participatory action research model with an emancipatory component, centered on the advancement of the sample populations desired outcomes from this thesis (Babbie, 2008). PAR functions to serve disadvantaged groups by providing an opportunity for them to act effectively in their own interest(Babie,2008) The 31
group defines their problems, remedies’, and lead in the design research that will assist in the realization of their goals(Babie,2008) PAR does not only consist of knowledge production but also sees research as a tool for education and development of consciousness, with an emphasis on mobilization for action(Babie,2008).
African aesthetical theories are culturally relevant for studying youth of color graffiti writers based on the cultures use of Black vernacular knick-naming, rhythmic construction of letter patterns, the communal functions of writing, and the origins of the art form (Gates, 1989;Asante, 1988;Bomb It, 2012;Style Wars, 1982,Miller,
2001,Obenga, 2004; Carruthers,1995;Thompson,1988;Thompson,2014). Through an
Afrocentric lens, this research uses the Nzuri Model, Egyptian antiquity, and African aesthetical theory as analytical tools to examine the aesthetics, participation, engagement, and impact of writing culture for youth of color (Asante,1988; Gates, 1989;Obenga,
2004; Carruthers,1995;Thompson,1988;Thompson,2014) The objectives for this research are as follows:
Project Objectives:
1. To understand how young people participate in writing culture.
2. To document the meaning of writing culture among the young people.
3. To illustrate how writing culture provides healthy development for young people. 32
To achieve these objectives, concentrated sampling and recruitment efforts will be
necessary to generate the youths meaning and the impact of writing in their lives.
Sampling & Recruitment
Ten young people will participate in individual, semi structured qualitative
interviews and focus groups. Twenty alternative high school youth will also participate in a focus group with semi-structured questions to illicit discussion. This later cohort will discuss their perceptions of graffiti in a semi-structured focus group at an alternative educational site. The goal for the recruitment process is to garner two purposeful sample groups involved in or impacted by, “graffiti”. Due to the evasive nature of the “graffiti” writers, recruitment will be carried out in several forms. The initial outreach will be done through casual conversations with young people at alternative high schools, community organizations, and in East Oakland neighborhoods where young writers congregate...
From the initial outreach at Downey Academy and Safe Passages, I will obtain two purposeful sample populations based on the initial snowball interviews from the young people. The purposeful sample population will consist of young people of color from 15-21 years of age. The first purposeful sample cohort will consist of young people who do not engage in graffiti while the other cohort will consist of young people who engage in the phenomena from varying degrees. Permission to recruit letters will be given to the principal of Dewey Academy and Safe Passages, prior to recruitment. I will also 33
gain access to the sample population through my own involvement within the community, agencies, and schools in question.
For qualitative research on writing culture, a purposeful sample is necessary to gain the first hand empirical data desired for qualitative research. A purposeful sample of writers will be recruited from the local social network of “taggers” in Oakland available to the researcher. The sample population will be invited to participate through outreach methods such as presentations at Safe Passages, Dewey Academy, and outreach at the local First Fridays events in Oakland. Each site, with the exception of First Fridays, will receive requests to do outreach and work with youth within their programming. The age range for the sample population is based upon the common age group of youth participating in writing, as well as the respective programs recruiting from (Safe
Passages, 2014;SF Weekly, 2014;Oakland Tribune, 2014).
Instruments
The instruments used within this research consist of semi-structured interviews, focus groups, content analysis, video and audio recording transcription. Focus groups with purposeful samples are used to gain the general perceptions, access, and impacts of writing culture on youth and communities in Oakland. In order to uncover the meaning of participating in writing culture, young writers will be interviewed about why they participate. Semi-structured interviews will be used to gather the data from a purposeful 34
sample population of African American, Latino, and Asian writers. The semi-structured interviews will cover the following concepts:
• What perceptions do African American, Latino and Asian youth in Oakland, hold
about graffiti?
• How are African American, Latino and Asian youth in Oakland being exposed to
and gaining access in graffiti culture?
• What impact has graffiti had on the African American, Latino, and Asian youth in
Oakland?
The young writing cohort have produced individual and collective pieces of work for the purpose of content analysis i.e. why do they use the letters, motifs, and imagery to express themselves? To gain a deeper meaning and cultural understanding of the youths work, analysis of their art is necessary. The youth will describe the meanings of their collective mural designs on the respective surfaces in their community. This analysis will take place in the form of a focus group with slides of their work being shown and analyzed.
Following each individual interview, the researcher will record the recurring patterns and themes from the recordings using open coding. The audio will be transcribed using software that will provide a digital and hard copy file, for print and axial coding. The 35
transcriptions will be furthered analyzed through selective coding, linking the emerging theoretical concepts from the data to the theoretical framework guiding this research.
The focus group for cohort A will be guided by one basic question; what does graffiti mean to you? The purpose of this focus group is to gain a general youth perspective on writing culture in Oakland. The focus group discussion will be guided by the themes that are generated from the conversation. The second cohort, Cohort B, will participate in two purposeful focus groups. The same basic question cohort A received will guide the first group discussion. Cohort B will return for a follow up focus group where they will collectively define their public works, art exhibitions, and perspectives on writing in
Oakland using a slide show depicting their work.
This focus group process provides the young people with the opportunity to drive the research towards their desired outcomes. The second cohort will use their collective mind to analyze the visual representation of their perspectives, engagement, and the impact of writing in the community. The procedures in which the data will be collected and analyzed are further outlined in detailed in the following section.
Procedure
The data collected through individual semi structured qualitative interviews will be coded using open coding, to obtain the major themes within the research. The data 36
derived from interviews will be further coded using axial and selective coding. This analysis method for the interviews and the focus groups will serve as evidence to support the theoretical approach to this study. The second purposeful sample group will consist of ten youth of color who are graffiti writers in various capacities. This second cohort will participate in two focus groups to further debrief their projects and provide a collective perspective on what graffiti means to them. The final goal of this process is to provide the youth with a platform to not only define what it is that they do, but provide clarity around the 21st century approaches to writing culture. The interviews and data collected will be analyzed using the Nzuri Model and other Afrocentric theoretical approach to aesthetics.
The lists of procedures in which the participants will take part in are step-by-step, in chronological manner as follows:
• Interviews
• Follow up Phone Interviews
• Focus Group-Cohort A
• Focus Group-Cohort B(l)
• Focus Group-Cohort B(2)
The first cohort of young people will have a 1.5-hour focus group with semi structured qualitative questions for them to respond to in a classroom at Downey Academy. The second cohort will have individual, 1-hour, one on one semi structured interviews. The semi-structured interviews will be conducted with a purposeful sample population of ten 37
writers, between the ages of 15-20 years of age. The youth range in ethnicity from
African American, Asian, Latino, and mixed heritage. These interviews will take place at the Safe Passages offices, for their comfort and confidentiality. All of the participants in both cohorts come from low-income socioeconomic backgrounds.
Youth in this study will be selected based on their involvement in the graffiti culture in Oakland. A separate sample population will be chosen for a separate focus group interview consisting of 20 youth, ages 15-20 years old that do not participate in the phenomena. This purposeful sampling process provides the data necessary to conduct research on graffiti in Oakland. The individual interviews will be guided by themes derived from observations of the participants engaged in writing culture, prior literature on the phenomena, and personal involvement within the culture itself. These interviews provide in depth knowledge about the topics and themes youth provide during the focus group sessions. The questions will be culturally relevant to elicit the perceptions, level of engagement, and impact-writing culture is having on young people in Oakland.
Dissemination Plan
Several institutions will recei ve the results of this research for further analysis and implementation within their organizations and programs. The results will benefit Safe
Passages, a non profit organization that has received urban arts grants to work with youth, 38
providing legal pathways for writing culture (SF Weekly, 2014,Oakland Tribune,
2014,Oakland Ordnance, 2012; Safe Passages, 2014). Safe Passages provides urban arts programs in middle schools, high schools, and alternative education and community spaces. Several of the youth in Cohort B are from a local art collective known as the
1 .N.E (Oakland Never Expires), which the youth created in the Safe Passages’ Get Active
Urban Arts Program (Cohort B,personal communication, January, 2015; Safe Passages,
2014; lne.collective.com).
This research will be shared with these young artist for further development of their art collective, social justice efforts, and progression in their educational pursuits.
The twenty youth from Downey Academy are a core sample population within this study as well, creating justification for the results of this study to be available to them also.
Downey Academy programming would benefit from the analysis and findings derived from their youth participants in terms of future urban arts programming, sustainable funding for youth lead civic engagement projects, and academic enrichment methodologies that meet their young people where they are at. With the total oversight, on the part of the Africana Studies department, in researching “graffiti” writing as an
African American contribution to the arts, this study provides a progressive pathway for further research.
Sharing the youth’s perceptions, engagement, and the impact of writing culture with the Ethnic Studies Department, will promote their art form as a necessary topic of discussion in Hiphop courses as well. Further research into the various cultural 39
approaches to writing can be explored through the interdisciplinary approach that Ethnic
Studies lends to the documentation of writing in academia. Being that the youth identify writing culture as one of the five core elements of Hip Hop culture, this thesis will be also shared with a Hiphop collective that the young people aspire to. North Star Zulus has been the Hiphop collective that the young writers in this study have looked to for their guidance and support (North Star Zulus, 1996). This collective has been dedicated to assisting young people in their efforts for self-determination, educations, career pathways, and development of their respective crafts. By providing the results garnered from this research, NSZ will be able to further their community activism and youth work with empirical data that supports their efforts.
The youth’s voices are the most informative and in depth viewpoint one can learn the true impact and purpose of writing culture. The youth in this research are very adept in Hiphop history and culture, which makes the next section very integral to the future of this type of research. The youth voice and aspirations in Hiphop are key to understanding the pedagogical and social impacts this culture can have on society.
Data & Findings
“DR- Well I’m black! How long have Africans been using colors and chisels to
write on things? How long have we been taking walls and making them into
scriptures and art forms, messages, books on walls. That’s what I’m doing now
but it’s just a different form. It aint nothing but an urban hieroglyph, instead of an 40
Egyptian one. At the same time it is an Egyptian hieroglyph, just on another
continent.”
The above quote is in reference to the act of writing being not only a tool used to record your historical legacy; it is also a spiritual practice when done with the proper intent. DR was able to capture the main premise of my research in his eloquent description of what his perception of writing is. By seeing writing through an African lens, DR was able to capture a direct connection to writing, the scribes, and even the term
“urban hieroglyph”, connecting his perception to several of the authors used within this research (Miller,2001; Phase2, 1996; Asante,1988; Gates, 1989;Obenga, 2004;
Carruthers, 1995 ;Thompson, 198 8 ;Thompson,2014)
In order to do this research effectively, I interviewed a sample population of writers from Oakland along with a focus group with the same age range of youth who do not participate in the Oakland writing scene. The focus groups were broken up into two cohorts, Cohort A and Cohort B. Cohort A consisted of the youth that were randomly selected from a local continuation school in Oakland, Downey Academy. The Cohort B consist of Oakland writers who also were interviewed individually to gain deeper insight into the impact writing is having in Oakland, the access their gaining in society from writing, and their perception of writing culture. Cohort B initially consisted of ten young adult writers between the ages of 15-21. 41
The ethnic make up of the group ranges from African American, Latino, to
Cambodian. Out of the ten young writers, there are three African American young men, six Latino youth with five being male and one female, and one Cambodian young man.
The lack of a more balanced sample population, in terms of gender, was due in part to the minimal amount of female writers available for the time period allotted for this particular study. Further research will be explored in the future, regarding the female scribes of
Oakland’s urban hieroglyphics movement. The heavy representation of Latino youth also stems from the absence of young African American youth engaging in this element. The
Asian representation also has been growing in Oakland but the current population of
Asian writers available could not participate due to conflicting life circumstances.
The phenomena is one that comes from an oppressed and marginalized section of society where participation in a study is out weighed by the writers life styles, family obligations, and desire to remain illusive or “underground”. The examination of an actual collective of young people from these conditions, using writing as a tool for self expression, self determination, and social justice became a more glaring example of the transformative ways Oakland’s young scribes are utilizing Hiphop’s visual arts element.
This later statement is the reasoning behind the choice of writers for this study and for a more in depth presentation of Oakland’s current writing scene.
The average age these youth started writing was around sixth grade, with the exceptions LL and BF, who started in high school(Cohort B,personal communication,
January, 2015). All of the youth have participated in the illegal aspects of writing 42
culture, but several maintain legal avenues of aerosol art, due to the city ordinances and heavy sanctions being levied against local painters. The youth all come from low-income families, living through out East Oakland, with BF being the exception because she resides in San Leandro. All of these local writers have lived all over the city but their residences are all within the East Oakland area, making their collective development easier to ascertain based on their proximity to one another.
Writing for these young people, has become a counter hegemonic project aimed at agitating the elite in pursuit of civic action on a community level. Young people are frustrated with how far away from the culture and traditions the art form is going locally, and nationally. The youth expressed not only painting with a purpose but that there is a spiritual connection to the craft they have dedicated their lives to. These various nuances will be further explored in the next three sections titled perception, impact, and access.
Perception
Appropriation was a big topic amongst the youth through out this study along with the preservation of the culture, in terms of how they perceive writing. All ten writers called themselves writers but also had varying degrees of definition behind why they write. Three considered their work more personal before being communal, while the rest were at a stage in writing that focused more on the impact it has on the community. They 43
all perceive themselves as writers, aerosol technicians, artists, and they see their art form as an element of Hiphop, a mechanism for social change, as well as urban hieroglyphics.
The actual usage of the word “graffiti” is not only considered disrespectful to the writers, they see it as a tool used by the system and mass media to criminalize their art form. Some even came to tears speaking about the appropriation and devalue of their art form for others personal gain or as a tool for incarcerating youth and destroying family owned businesses and cultural landmark murals.
“AK-Its not just something I do its something that I live. When it comes to
writing I take it seriously because it’s a big part of my life. It’s changed my life.
When I was younger I had family problems with no real outlet for it. Then I got
introduced to it. I consider myself a writer.
CC-Trying to make the community aware of what’s going on. In the community
and outside the community. Inside our justice system and outside
it?”(A.K.,personal communication,January,2015;C.C.,personal communication,
January, 2015)
AK speaks about his love for the art form and how it is a life style and not just an act. His use of the act as an outlet has a dynamic multiplicity to it. CC speaks to the 44
community building and civic engagement opportunities writing provides as well. They both use it for social justice means but also utilize writing’s mental health benefits. He also keeps his response in line with a devote Hiphop lover by quoting KRS One and
O.C.’s lyrical stanza, “Hiphop is something you live”.
Several of the writers in the sample population see writing as their spiritual practice, relating the experience and act of writing to their cultural cosmologies and spiritual grounding. For example:
BF-1 do it just to get my emotions out or its something spiritual. Lets just say for
instance freeway shots, to me its like you’re hiking. You got your backpack with
our cans in it and your walking on the freeway; you get to go through that. It’s
like awesome one on one time; I don’t know I just keep thinking spiritual walk or
one of those things. It’s spiritual. Its like your putting your self on the wall when
you paint, its you, your putting your self there. It’s coming from you to paint
there. You can actually feel the can when you’re painting it. It’s your emotions
going on it, the way you move is going on it. Like Hiphop, you dance your letters
dance. Its like a person, a piece of you is going up on the wall. And whatever you
put up there is there. And also paint goes over paint so if you think about it, so 45
your thinking about life as your painting too. For me its freedom.(B.F.,personal
communication, January,2015).
BF is illustrating the spiritual trek to aerosol euphoria, where a writer reaches a prestigious surface within the urban landscape that all will see. She outlines the spiritual freedom in expressing yourself without restraints and fear of prosecution. She also questions the concept of freedom in an urban environment with so called public space.
AK- going to Mexico also helped. I never thought of playing with the letters and
the way it’s spelled. When I started thinking of a name because I still didn’t have
one at the time, I started thinking and took Khufu’s advice, I said well what does
this mean to me, and I need a name that means something to me. In started
thinking about everything I learned from everybody and I didn’t take nobodies
style I just put it all together and its like custom.(A.K., personal communication,
January,2015).
AK speaks to the spiritual inspiration going to his homeland gave him, in terms of how he approached his craft back in the states. He challenges himself to use his inspirations to customize his own consciousness in writing, rather than copying someone else’s whole approach. 46
“Africa to Aztlan ”Youth banner painted at the local Malcolm X Jazz
Festival.2013
Purpose before popularity, and popularity only for being “down by law”, which in
Hiphop means being down with the culture because you know its roots and practice it with integrity. JW illustrates this in his perception on writing an the narcissistic pursuit for fame. 47
“JW-I’m doing it to be heard, to be heard. Fame is one thing, but to be heard is another? Fame you want to be seen, when you want people to hear you, there’s a message. I don’t want you to see me I’m a tell you something. So when I do it, you may not know who I am but you will definitely know what I’m saying. It’s important because most of the time people put stuff in the community and we don’t agree with it. Or maybe it’s working us, the system it might be working us.
And we don’t like that, plus they don’t even take the time to talk to us. Like they take people from outside the community to come and do things for us that we don’t even want. (J.W., personal communication, January,2015). 48
“When We Know, We Grow” Youth painting their local schools, teaching the
younger scribes the tools of the trade. 2014
The youth wanted to show the community that writing culture isn’t about painting to just paint. Art for art sake seems to be a driving concept in the general writing community nation wide, and especially for White writers. But when interviewing writers and non-writers of color, the perception and purpose for writing was always functional in accordance with the practitioner’s environment. 49
For example below, LL and RC explain the importance of being Black writers but also the conditions that shape the writing that they do. They both illustrate the state of conditions for African American youth in Oakland, but provide their solution to the oppression in the form of Hiphop praxis. The critical consciousness surrounding Hiphop promotes dynamic collaborations between other youth of color that also experience the same oppressive conditions. The youth in this research have galvanized other youth of color to create an art collective that addresses the social toxins in their environment.
“LL- Ah man, there’s a significance in a black person doing Hiphop in general.
Like, specifically a black writer, I feel like when you think of the history of
people who first started writing and stuff, they were very aware. Aware of their
environment and what was around them and you can see that in the pieces they
would come out and paint. Like if its like police brutality, or housing and stuff, or
just like the struggle and stuff, that will come out some kind of way. It might be
like hella rocky or something, electricity or something to else you know that this
is not just a happy or feel good thing. This has something like funk or energy
added to it to let you know. There you go right there, I feel like in this country we
ended up making this culture. I feel like it still has a social standing where if you
see like for the most part if you see systems of oppression and stuff, you may
have a black writer and a white writer and you see that the black writer is going to
have a real reason why they write. A real reason why they got into it and the
person is going to have a community surrounding them believing in that. It mostly 50
likely comes form them being tired of the lack of money that they have at the house, at school, in general. Most likely comes form all the violence that surrounds them they feel like they need to get out.(L.L., personal communication,
January,2015).
“RC-I feel like people just don’t understand how this affects Black people in
America. This is all we have, music, art; like this is all we have to say this is ours.
And for people to just jump into it so merrily and use it, I feel like I’m nothing.
You try to do what you do and what you know is true to yourself and its not enough. Everything is so backwards with this culture that weak stuff is good.
When you do something it’s never enough. No matter what you do you will see it again? It’s like people invading your country and eating and living better than you do. It’s the best thing that happened in my life but sometimes I feel like its why
I’m depressed when I’m not depressed. It’s just horrible. Sometimes I just feel like sometimes I should just fight people because that’s the only way they will know. There’s so much historical context to everything in life and if you act like you know it and speak like you know the historical context of what you say and tag and Hiphop and stuff, I feel like its stealing. “(RX, personal communication,
January,2015). 51
“ Writing Is Hiphop ”The youth making a statement to the elders in the community
about their perception of writing. 2014
“JW-So sometimes you need to have a way to tell them and this is my way.
Writing is an element of Hiphop; it’s like a tree. It’s a branch, its there, you know.
It, it just adds to Hiphop. If you use your like break-dancing you use it on a letter.
You know what I mean. How you move, you use that on a letter and stuff like that. I think its like about yourself you know, knowledge of self. That’s one of 52
the elements you know, so Hiphop it’s a thing but it’s more about like you, you
know? If you aren’t Hiphop, then what you doing aint Hiphop, you just doing it.
It’s more like its just there. I’m a writer, because I express myself. Everybody
writes, a poet writes, somebody that writes a story he writes he’s telling a story. I
write but in a different way you know. I writer and tell a story too you know but
in a different way. “(J.W, personal communication, January,2015).
JW attempts to put in words his frustration about the appropriation of Hiphop’s elements for personal gain at the expense of the community. He explains his viewpoint on Hiphop’s grand design and purpose, defining his purpose for writing.
The “out of towners” the youth keep referring to do not have the concerns of hyper visibility in the “hoods” of Oakland, where as the writers of color experience not only hyper visibility from law enforcement, they also have to deal with their own people targeting them for horizontal acts of violence. The fame game that writers play is earned at the expense of not only the general community that is too oppressed and marginalized financially to fend for self against the excessive vandalism, its also at the expense of the writers that actually live in these neighborhoods. Based on the youth’s response, white people are benefiting from the culture created by youth of color from the ghetto where they do not live but use as their playground for their own art career mobility. 53
“One Earth: Black & Brown ”Youth getting media coverage for their work. 2014
Above, the youth are working on a mural that shows the power of women of color
and African and Latino symbolism being brought together through aerosol art. The youth
wanted to show their perception on the connection social justice and writing have, how
their murals are considered “productions”, and they are producing something for the
community to listen to and address, lack of cultural awareness.
The photos and quotes above and below, illustrate the youth’s self-determination
to get their messages across. The altered reality or even actual life backdrops the youth 54
create to express their writing styles, culture and purpose have fostered a new sense of understanding amongst the community on what writing culture can be about, beyond the superficial ways of vandalizing that some attempt to portray as the real version of writing.
“JW- they have this bigger picture of vandalism, this and that but they don’t see
what we really want to tell yall. At school they don’t teach me about my culture.
Maybe they take 30 minutes about Cinco de Mayo this Cinco de Mayo that. But
when I go and read about my culture in a book and really see what it’s about, I’m
going to have more knowledge then them. So that’s why I try to put it into my
pieces and put it out on walls. When you paint something, you see people actually
think about stuff. It keeps you motivated because it actually did something for
someone else. It opened they mind. You can tell you woke them up cuz when you
write, you trying to say something. Like you put a message like no gangs or
whatever, you might not see the gangs stop but you might not see them hang
around that wall either. How can you keep hanging around a wall that has a
meaning? It makes you think twice when you look a the wall. You might try and
stand in front of the wall and sell drugs, but with a positive message behind you,
your gonna be like ah that I aint right. ”(J.W, personal communication,
January,2015). 55
JW describes the impact of their productions in very oppressed and violent environments that they see as home. He shows the power of having strong images of positivity and mobility, which promotes less crime, violence, and vandalism.
“LL- I’m my generation, I feel like writing and along with Hiphop and all the
elements, it creates a division or a line between people that are trying to do some
silly stuff and people really caring about the future. From people that not just
want to get up and be recognized or they want to find a community and express
themselves in a certain way. I don’t know, its so much impact. For one, people
can’t ignore the youth. That’s one way people really can’t ignore the youth. You
go across the board in any major city in the hood, youth of color are under heard,
and nobody listens to us. Or if they do think we have something to say, they just
think we be on some silly stuff or not intelligent enough for us to express our
selves. Writing is one way where like they cant ignore us, its on your wall You
got to read it you got to look at it. You wanna buff it, you wanna do anything
that’s cool but you got to look at it cuz its in your face. And it won’t ever go away
until people start to pay attention to young folks and even then it will never go
away.”(L.L, personal communication, January,2015). 56
LL-The annoying part that everyone who owns property that don’t like it, its
gonna stay until they hear what we have to say and see how we feel and what we
going through. It has social aspects to it, economic aspects to it; I mean political
power in general. Because writing is the art of people who don’t have power,
socially and political power, yeah.“(L.L personal communication, January,2015).
LL provides a synopsis for the current context of Oakland’s “graffiti” problem and how it will persist if the city government does not address the oppressive nature of how the youth have to live in. He shows hoe writing is used as a social justice tool to promote and or force change to come. 57
“Hiphop ’.s' Aesthetics ”Youth using their opportunity to express the basis of
writing culture, letters. 2014
This shift in perception of “graffiti” as writing and a viable visual art form that can transform the aesthetical makeup and social conditions in communities impacted by oppression has brought greater access to careers and platforms for this visual discourse.
The photo above is an example of this aesthetic transforming the environment its placed in for the better. They all removed the trash within this lot and made the space a public display of what writing culture is really about. The youth all expressed their purpose of 58
illegal “street bombing”, which consisted of writing their new name on surfaces that actually bring attention to the conditions we have to live in and face on a daily basis.
Several youth went as far as to say that they purposefully tag on blighted buildings, abandoned property, public spaces that are restricted from public access, inadequate public transpiration, all of these surfaces become canvases for youth to express their opinions on how the city views them. Writing for these youth, has become a counter hegemonic project aimed at getting the community to become civically engaged in changing the way in which their visual and cultural surroundings are governed.
“JW- And if I write on a bus, it stank like piss its hella dirty, Ima make you fix it
by writing on it. You know? Most of the time it’s for me or I want you to do
something for me. That aint being greedy it’s just what you provide for me aint
good enough. That’s not what we deserve.(J.W, personal communication,
January,2015).
CC- Writing means that I’m writing for reason, to get my name up. To be known.
I don’t feel like I’ve been important my whole life. Nobody paid attention to me
so writing is the only way I feel I can get attention.(C.C personal communication,
January,2015). 59
JW and CC give their own versions of how they use writing as a form of social justice and as a social discourse. They engage their community in conversations focused on fostering change and healing.(J.W & C.C, personal communication, January,2015).
BF-A lot of people when they first know me they think I’m a guy. Because they never seen me you know? They just see my tag. But when they hear it’s a girl because of all the spots I usually hit is high and you know not a lot of girls do that at all? And its like oh, okay you’re her, their more in awe even though if it was a guy it wouldn’t be that awesome. It’s the fact that I’m a girl. And yeah, it’s hard to get into crews. Like if you wanna accelerate, some people just give you lower standards of where you are. If it was a guy, just levels are different. I don’t know how to explain it. The levels are different on how you be looked on as a girl doing it versus a guy doing it. Like I don’t want to be compared with women writing, I want to be compared with men writing. Because I want to be seen as the same thing so it makes me really want to do better then the people that I with. Like the guys that I paint with. Not women, they always compare me with a girl saying oh you paint way better then her. No, I want to be compared to male writers; I’m not 60
no different than you. I’m doing way better than these other toys. You know.”(B.F personal communication, January,2015).
BF explains her main way of using writing as a tool to shine light on social justice issues surrounding gender, “bum” the boys. She shows that gender biases are prominent in a patriarchal Hiphop environment but her solutions to the issue are transformative in terms of how she approaches her craft. (B.F personal communication, January,2015). 61
“Our Fruitvale ”Youth production next to Fruitvale Bart Station in honor of the
community, living and transitioned. 2014
“JW- like the wall we just did on 36, we painted the guy that got killed in front of
his restaurant. People sometimes don’t even notice it and you have to tell them
who that is. They think about it and see the message and start putting things
together. I see the Fruitvale, I see the Bart, I see Oscar grant, I see the murders
and stuff. It actual opens up how people look at stuff. “(J.W, personal
communication, January,2015). 62
JW speaks to the above photo that shows the youth working on the Fruitvale production, aimed at showing the neighborhood through the eyes of the community. This particular area of East Oakland has been one of the first to become gentrified and the youth have responded with critically conscious artwork speaking to how they want their neighborhood to remain. The history of the Fruitvale means something more to them than what the city sees fit for the area, commercially. (J.W, personal communication,
January,2015).
Gentrification has impacted communities of color in Oakland, in a major way, fostering a sense of agency amongst this group of writers to create a platform for dialogue centered on the preservation of their local cultures and communities. Their purpose in “getting up” is to provide a visual discourse intended to provoke conversations driven by solutions the youth are suggesting versus the adult remedies that haven’t been working for them. Concerning issues ranging from police terrorism to unhealthy living conditions, the young people in this study have transferred the energy of their illegal efforts into promoting safe spaces for development of their craft.
Through the urban arts programs offered within their schools and in their communities, these youth are creating their own businesses and spaces for social change.
Peer education and youth leaders sprouted from the authentic safe spaces the youth 63
created, offering the Hiphop apprenticeship the culture of writing has been based on from
its beginnings.
“Hiphop Restorative Justice ”Youth using their opportunity to express the basis
of writing culture, letters while protecting their community from “vandalism ’’.2014
Impact 64
“LL-That is not to say its sloppy or nothing like that ,they know how to paint but
its like most of the time its not really saying nothing to nobody. Its this one mural
that has a bunch of animals on it, its not even letters it just looks like letter. And
some will say oh what does that say, and some one who write graffiti will say that
doesn’t have any letters in it. Its just symmetrical like one of those tribal tattoos
which would be dope if somebody was Samoan or something but most likely it
was somebody white who came in and decided to paint something like this, and it
was. They put animals on there and they get paid for it, and that’s the thing. Most
writers of color didn’t get into this to get paid, that’s the thing. They did this to
express themselves. They go on and get paid because they get good at it and it’s a
trade, that’s better then selling drugs. It’s a lot safer and better for the community
but we don’t do this to pimp our culture. We are not trying to get rich off of our
culture; we do this because we love it and stuff. As far as other people, they make
businesses, actual graffiti writing business as opposed to a collective of writers
trying get money while doing what they love.”(L.L, personal communication,
January,2015).
The above quote was a common theme amongst all ten of the young writers in this study, and also a very emotional one. Out of the ten youth that made comments about 65
the impact of out of towners coming into their city and destroying the aesthetics and also capitalizing off of their exploits financially, five became so emotional they came to tears.
LL is expressing his disdain for the exploitation of his community’s cultural aesthetics but also sheds light on the career pathways that young people can explore through writing. He also highlights the Hiphop approach to business as doing it for the love versus the fame and fortune, also a theme that all ten of the writers expressed equally.
(L.L, personal communication, January,2015).
Community rejects and or embraces this art form. There has become a divide within the culture, in terms of the approach and desired outcomes for two very distinct groups, local writers and “out of towners”. Many of the youth grew increasingly frustrated with the white writers gaining access to walls and services, many of which they have been historically and consistently denied access to. From gallery spaces to walls in the community, youth expressed their disdain for the misappropriation of their craft and culture through the production of murals in their communities depicting images of people of color only to be painted by white, out of town artists.
“RR-1 feel like it’s the number one link fro gentrification because people raise
property values and then certain murals in certain place, people want to move in
because they like stuff like that. People vandalizing the city makes people want
tom move out. You don’t want to live in a life a poverty and you trying to do 66
better and every you go all you see is big ass graffiti. A1 on your house, all on your local liquor store, on your car, on your truck. You trying to have your own business and people come into your city and tag on your truck?(R.R, personal communication, January,2015).
RR-Yeah, and also I feel like the art that I try to do and the group I do art with, we have inspired a lot of kids to wanna get up and write. Again, I feel it’s hereditary, we showed them how it is and what it actually is as opposed to what they see.
Showing people how to get up and say what they have to say. If its legal or not.
Like if people want to say HBD to MLK or don’t forget MLK or RIP mike brown, I feel like either way it goes, people doing it the right way it builds a lot of awareness too. We let people know about things going on in the community and the world. I say, that in the right hands, it can change the world. If people tag and don’t understand what they are getting into, or even worse people who know and understand what its used for and the vehicle that it is yet they do the opposite because they already know what benefit they can personally get from it. It really depends who’s hands its in.”(R.R, personal communication, January,2015). 67
RR is explaining the way out of towners are aiding and abetting in the gentrification process going on in Oakland, especially West Oakland and Downtown. He also brings attention to the local tradition of writing in regards to handing over the torch to the youth in the right light. His description of how his crew of writer’s approach the culture also speak to the community building aspects of writing that foster civic engagement around local social justice issues. They are making a different form of writing aesthetics “cool”.(R.R,personal communication, January, 2015;Thompson,2014)
“LL- To a greater extent, the state of writing in Oakland is to where, really
Hiphop is a black culture, and graffiti is a black culture. Its definitely been
influenced and there were also Latinos in the beginnings of its creation but its
definitely 100%, writing is definitely 100% a colored culture. So when someone
comes in writing Anal, you think about the race politics in this country, they grow
up making money doing our culture.
They make money doing our culture and when they write something that’s like
politically motivated they be like ah he’s so conscious. It could be racially
motivated and they will be like his so socially conscious he’s trying to make a
change, integration and stuff like that. But when we do it, we get criminalized for
the same thing and it’s our culture. We aren’t even stealing any thing its ours and
we get penalized for it, put in jail for it, time for it. Even if its something about 68
politics and we paint something about race, they be like why are you race baiting
its not about race, we are all one, the human race. But when someone white paints
something about race, their not race baiting their considered martyrs and
revolutionary, progressive thinker.”(L.L, personal communication, January,2015).
LL shows how writers of color face the same racial obstacles within their art world that they do within their normal daily encounters with society. The art is a reflection of their lives, and their critical race consciousness provides a loftier form of writing dynamic that aims at disrupting the degradation of their culture from outsiders.
He speaks to the sanctions the youth face based on the “toys”, unskilled taggers who do not know the codes and cultural history of writing, destructive habits.(L.L, personal communication, January,2015).
“C C-they wanna tag up our neighborhood and its just disrespectful and wack!
You coming into my house, opening my fridge without asking eating up all my
food. You come into my house walking around, taking up everything I own. Not
giving me anything to live with. You come over here tagging up and destroying
our city, at least ask us permission. At least if you asked but if you ask and we say
no, it’s a no. You still going to do it, then you gonna get checked for it. Its just a 69
matter of respect, you cant walk into someone’s house expecting to be the boss of
it.”(C.C, personal communication, January,2015).
CC confirms LL’s emotional response to the influx of out of towners and their tactics of writing ranging from defacement of local and historical murals, defacing local small businesses and homes, churches, schools, trees and nature in general. CC also speaks to the fact that these groups of people also take the legal walls from the local youth, which in turn takes up wall space that could be used for Hiphop restorative justice.(C.C, personal communication, January,2015).
“JW- they are not Hiphop to me, because they are not doing it for the community,
they doing it for the fame. They trying to get known and most of the time those
that get known are wack! So what’s the point, that’s not Hiphop? Maybe getting
up, that’s a part of Hiphop but it depends on how you do it and how you feel
about it. If you into it and you like it and you do it for the love, then you know
maybe you are doing it for Hiphop. But if you just doing it for the fame and to get
up and be around certain people, you trying to big then it aint no point. What’s the
point in doing it?”(J.W, personal communication, January,2015). 70
JW reflects on the true nature of what Hiphop culture means to him as well as the concept of community. He exposes the true focus of Hiphop for him, which is community and writing has become his vehicle for change.(J.W, personal communication,
January,2015).
“AK- there was a magazine published a couple years ago that Oakland is
supposedly the place to bomb. After I read that it made sense once I saw the date
because I can remember when there was an influx of white boy out of towners
coming in the city like its good. Taking all the spots. Out boys, that’s what I call
them. “(A.K, personal communication, January,2015).
AK illustrates the propaganda in the media that perpetuated the gentrification of their art world and city. He even goes as far as to give them their own moniker, “out boys”, meaning their not only out of towners but they are also out of bounds or encroaching.(A.K, personal communication, January,2015). 71
“RR-The medias helped push them here along with the gentrification that’s taking
place in Oakland. People that paint all over the country, they will go and stay in
West Oakland because there are a huge influx of white people coming into there.
They live in Oakland for a few months and pass this info on to their wack friends
and I feel like all of this is adding their wack presence to the writing scene but
also to the community. Not only are people coming out here to bomb they are
coming out here to live out here and paint. They be from Texas Virginia, I met a
white boy from Iowa and I Asked him, what made you come out here? He said
just to write and paint for a while.”(R.R, personal communication, January,2015).
RR further explains the impact of gentrification in their community and how the writing culture in Oakland has been impacted. He provides a personal encounter to show how often he meets these, “out boys”(R.R, personal communication, January,2015).
“LL-1 feel like in Oakland the state of writing culture is just being co-opted on so
many levels that it doesn’t make sense, even though we do live in a capitalist
country. In Oakland you see like murals that are done from people that rent from
Oakland so the question is kind of funny. Because the state of writing in Oakland
is slowly becoming less and less Oakland, and turning into a lot of out of towners 72
doing stuff that isn’t or doesn’t connect to the social, economic, and political
background of the people that live here in those areas. Not in they areas like the
downtown areas and the Piedmont areas, like the rich areas you don’t see pieces
up there but you see a lot of it in our neighborhoods.”(L.L, personal
communication, January,2015).
LL points out the co-option of writing culture in Oakland but juxtaposes it to
other areas of the city where they cannot paint in due to the class and racial make up of
those neighborhoods. Many of the times these walls are produced, they are presented as if the community has been involved in the design and implementation process.(L.L, personal communication, January,2015).
The youth know the truth of the matter is not such, so their disdain developed into
determination to motivate their peers in accessing walls in the community to do counter
productions, if you will. To counter the gentrification of their art world and community,
the youth use their form of Hiphop restorative justice. This process is where the young
writers for the exterior walls of their businesses solicit community businesses. Once the
productions are painted, these businesses become cultural landmarks and aesthetical
stances against gentrification. 73
“Grown From Concrete ”Youth taking control of the blight in their community,
with permission from the community. 2014
By using these legal productions as a means of Hiphop restorative justice and community beautification, the dialogical praxis involved in creating safe spaces with the communities’ input and support has resulted in some of the cities most talked about
“productions”. The impact of these urban hieroglyphic productions ranges from the creation of safe spaces in the community to raising awareness around social justice issues that plague the city of Oakland. 74
“RR- The first thing I plan to do is preserve my city even if that means painting murals of people who are gone. Just so people will know this is what we remember and this is what we stand for. From the panthers to musicians, even painting a representation of an area of the city. Also to keep up passing it on to people. Also let people know, who aren’t representing it the right way that they aren’t doing it right and there are consequences to that. At the end of the day I feel like graffiti on the street and vandalism is easier to influence kids in the classroom so you have to let those people know when you see them really quick because they really think they are doing it the right way. “(R.R, personal communication,
January,2015).
“RR-Another thing I would like to do is for the people that are doing it who started off like I did, to make sure I reach out them. Because they are just like the position I was in and I feel like I should talk to them, I feel like my life would have been a lot easer. If older writers in Oakland would have said something to me about the way we tagged or the spots we hit, because you could save someone’s life like that. There’s so many duties that goes with writing in a place like Oakland where’s there’s not any Oakland writers left, any real Oakland 75
writers left. There’s a lot of work to do. It’s an everyday thing.”(R.R, personal
communication, January,2015).
RR describes the importance of legacy building but also carrying on tradition by holding the same integrity for the craft as the elders before them had. Teaching the youth was a common theme amongst eight of the ten writers interviewed, as well as both focus groups. (R.R, personal communication, January,2015).
“LL- Using it as a tool to teach possibly, and also as a tool to promote political
propaganda that has to do with our lives, what we live in and what we need to
change. When I paint a wall, I want people to walk away saying man that does
need to change. When I think of writers, and artists in general they are really
aware of their environment. They can see and feel everything and for a lot of us
we have been going through the bullshit so long we are desensitized to it. So it’s
the artists job to take all those feelings and put it into whatever art, so when the
people see it, hear it, or feel it in any type of way, they will be like oh man that is
actually going on with me and that needs to change. That’s something we should 76
do something about we cant keep that going on.”(L.L, personal communication,
January,2015).
LL alludes to the pedagogical opportunities that writing culture provides for the practitioner and the community. The impact the that an artist can have on the community by capturing the emotions of the people was clearly illustrated here.(L.L, personal communication, January,2015).
“RR-. Legally I just like to enhance the community. I feel like it be negative to
see a bunch of sloppy graffiti everywhere but a word like unity, or keep your head
up would just change someone’s day. What we live in, like that madness and
chaos 24/7, if you see something like that stop and take a picture it could really
change your day. And if it’s by your house it will probably change your life if you
keep seeing something positive everyday because there’s not much positivity in
your house, it would probably change your life. You would probably want to get
involved. I feel like in my hands I use it for a lot of change, representation and
reminders for people to just keep going in life. And to hand down the culture to 77
the people too. Because there’s a lot of people dead and gone and we can learn
from those people. Because everyone I feel knows something and if we aren’t
handing it down to people then it will all be over. So I feel like keeping writing
alive.”(R.R personal communication, January,2015).
RR examines the ways in which he can enhance the aesthetics in his community while also reaching out to the next era of writers. He also gives a snapshot of the oppressive conditions youth in Oakland live in yet they create some of the most dynamic productions in the city.(R.R, personal communication, January,2015).
The photo on the following page depicts the sense of family values and community the young people possess. They painted this wall in tribute to their mothers while simultaneously working on a project thirty blocks down from this wall, the One
Earth production. One young mans mother passed away the following week this wall was finished, making it a sacred freedom space for this collective of artist. 78
“Everyday Is Mother’s Day” Youth take over blighted buildings and write their
mothers names in honor of the children they are loosing.(El)2014
The youth have impacted the communities they paint in, as well as their families, in terms of shifting their perceptions of what “graffiti” is and can be used for. In the city of Oakland, the ordinance aimed at eradicating graffiti in the city through the criminalization of the youth, city officials wield their power on small businesses by fining them for not cleaning up the graffiti on their walls by a certain time period. 79
“Everyday Is Mother ’sDay” Youth take over blighted buildings and write their
mothers names in honor of the children they are loosing.(E2)2014
Due to this ordinance, many community members who own small businesses have been severely impacted by the influx of out of towners and ignorant locals who use their walls for their narcissistic pursuit for fame. The community bares the economic and legal brunt of the ‘graffiti” problem while the people responsible gain more access and economic success through art shows and museum exhibits. The youth have used their frustration concerning these aspects of the local writing scene to motivate them towards 80
changing the perceptions and aesthetics of their community with their own version of writing culture.
“CC-. I’m not a writer that gets up. Because of the risks, I’m Cambodian and
Cambodians are at the top of the drop out rate, something like 87%-92% of
Cambodians and Polynesians either drop out, join gangs, or die. And I’m not
trying to go to jail. See I’m the first generation of Cambodian to be bom in
America in my family. So it puts a lot on me feel me because I have to make a
path for my little brothers, sisters, cousins, and I got to guide the way. If I don’t
do it who will?”(C.C, personal communication, January,2015).
CC explains the importance of being a South East Asian writer but also a man in a community that depends upon him. He also shows that writers look at their lives as full of value and attributive to society if given the fair chance at choosing their paths. (C.C, personal communication, January,2015).
“DR-1 don’t like them. Some of the shit that I’ve seen lately I’ve never seen
before until all these out of towners came and started doing that shit. When Ref 81
disrespected the Hiram mural, that’s out of line. So according to my
understanding there was a video shoot or something. And they were shooting at
the guy who was actually orchestrating the video shoot; they were shooting at the
actual artist. And in those shots which the artist wasn’t hit from, but the child was
hit and actually killed from that. There was a mural done for the baby that died.
And the person that, too my knowledge, is not from Oakland one. Second, their
art is garbage. Third they don’t know where their art came from, which is why
their doing what they’re doing and have no regard for what it is their doing. So
that’s out of line, things like that don’t fly and I’ve never seen things like that
from people that are actually of the community and know of these things. Which
is exactly why people shouldn’t come stepping into communities they know
nothing about.”(D.R, personal communication, January,2015).
DR became emotional about the lack of concern and historical knowledge many writers have about Oakland. He expressed extreme disdain for the aesthetical changes in his community while giving a clearer picture on why the “toys” write on things in such a different manner as the traditional local writers.(D.R, personal communication,
January,2015). 82
“AK-1 feel like when we do productions, a mural but not a mural. It’s made of
the letters, characters background caption message. This is one way we combat
that. A lot of other people that do productions and or murals in the town, I feel
they just do it to do it. They do it to put their name up there. I fell that when we do
it we try to send a message. Or when the kids that I go to in a hood that’s not
mine, like IM from the 30’s, we will paint in the 60’s and some kids will be like
that’s dope can I paint with yall? And we are always like yeah come on go head. I
try to teach them, so they don’t spray too much. Do different strokes. I try to get
the community involved because in a way I’m lightweight foreign to them and
that area of the town. Like I wouldn’t just go into your house and act like it’s my
house. You gonna have to respect wherever you go. The out of towners don’t
respect anything.”(A.K, personal communication, January,2015).
AK explains the group’s way of getting the community involved in their creative process. AK also brings the connection to community to a participatory action model of behavior, in terms of engaging the youth in the process while teaching them to respect their environment.(A.K, personal communication, January,2015). 83
JW- Illegal is always gonna be around but some people do it just to do it with no
meaning to it. Legal graffiti some people do it with a meaning its just that others
do it for fame or just trying to wash brains. Some people do put it in there but
only just to do it. They don’t have any meaning or background in it, maybe they
have a pyramid but they don’t know what it was used for or what it means, you
know what I mean? People claim that know what it is and brag about how they
did but they don’t know what really went down in there, what people used it for
who do it. I see a lot of that in Oakland. Some artist just do it and they aint even
Latinos and they just do it. Maybe cuz its an urban environment if they put some
Latinos and blacks on the wall, they will relate to it but their not Latinos or blacks
so its no point for them, to do it you know?”(J.W personal communication,
January,2015).
JW showing his disdain for those that know not what they are doing but exploit what it is that these young writers aspire to do. He describes these “out boys” as imposters, artists using people of color’s cultures’ to make a personal profit. (J.W, personal communication, January,2015). 84
“Self Determination” Youth at Safe Passages making their products. 2014
These young people above have used their sense of self-determination to explore their craft beyond the sketchbooks and into creating career pathways. Once the youth established a presence within the mural scene in Oakland, they went even further by creating this collective to show the youth that you can make a career out of writing and maintain your “coolness”(Thompson). The youth are all currently designing clothing and 85
other merchandise, which they have been selling to community members like city officials, storeowners, family, and peers. The range of their market spans the social and economic make up of Oakland, as well as the local arts community.
Access
Youth have gained access to community spaces and media time to express their purpose and perception of writing culture here in Oakland. All ten youth made constant reference to their ability to be entrepreneurs based on writing. Three writers were still thinking about what career pathway they would go into based on writing, while the rest were focused on getting better at their craft, giving back, and having clothing lines. By utilizing the community spaces and school-based programs centered on urban arts, the youth have gained access to non-profit organizations that advocate for their aspirations as writers here in Oakland. The youth have not only driven their urban arts programs at Safe
Passages, the young people play a key role in the decision making and development of the program Get Active.
“CC- My crew is basically like my second family. Because everyone in my crew
loves each other, support one another, if I need food money they will give me
that. If I need protection they will protect me. At the same time my crew is more
than just a crew, it’s a brotherhood and a sisterhood because we do have female 86
representatives. We are grown from concrete; we are young people growing from concrete like Tupac said in his poem.(C.C, personal communication,
January,2015).
AK-I felt like when I was younger I was never really denied anything. The writers
I looked up to were like oh yeah you want a sketch here you go. My partners used to do sketches throwies and tags for me. Give me pointers on my fill-ins. I fell like I had a supportive environment so I fell like if someone asks me for help I’m going to help him or her, or try to help him or her. I’m trying to give back to the next generation because the older generation gave to me. And my generation gave back to me so I want to also give that to the next generation. I get paid to do it as well. But I was just speaking in general because that’s what we do. (A.K, personal communication, January,2015).
AK-My friends started going to Khufu’s class and I started going. I started seeing that I started taking it more seriously because I met Kufiie and he took it more seriously. He opened it up to me. Even though I liked writing and stuff. Tagging and everything, I never looked at it as more then I could do this stuff, I could really paint and make money out of this. I can really dedicate my time and I’m 87
going to get something out of this. I thought I was drawing just to draw besides it
helping me as my outlet I started realizing you could do a lot more with your
writing. So I started to take it more seriously once I met Kuf.” (A.K, personal
communication, January,2015).
CC and AK speak to the empowering and supportive nature of having a crew as well as access to elders in the various elements in Hiphop. These youth express their love for the writing circles they frequent and see the value in having access to so many pioneers and style masters.(C.C & A.K, personal communication, January,2015).
RR- you can learn it but the secrets are with the older people. They got all the
knowledge, so if there are no black people tagging there’s no one to let them
know. This is also a part of Hiphop, this is what we used to do but they are not
doing it like that. And also because people don’t really understand how they can
make money off of Hiphop. It’s not like selling out but if it’s your culture you
should be able to use it to sustain yourself at least. Especially if you do it all the
time. People rather get money because they feel like you cant money tagging or
doing art. “(R.R personal communication, January,2015). 88
RR further supports the concept of tapping into the elder’s wisdom and bringing that back to their own circles and youth in their tutelage. Below is a photo displaying several of the youth in this study with their elders of the craft, one of which being the legendary Skeme from the infamous documentary, Style
Wars (R.R, personal communication, January,2015;Stylewars,1982).
“Build With The Elders” Youth with their mentors, Khufu & Skeme.2013 89
The youth in this study have been educated by the elder writers they gained access to through these after school programs. In turn, these young people had the sense of agency to request the purchase of various supplies that would teach them the craft but also position them towards careers in the arts. By using the professional illustration pens and markers, acquiring the knowledge of airbrushing by hands on experience, and using the best brands of aerosol on the market for writers, gave these youth an edge over their elders. The youth also knew that by getting better within the confines of a safe community space, with the guidance of elder writers who are knowledgeable of the history of the culture, they would be possibly above and beyond the skill level of their predecessors. 90
“BlackLife: Means Something” Peace In The Parks Event.2013
One of the key aspects of about this group’s development as writers is their knowledge and emphasis on culture being a driving force in their works. The above photo depicts the final product of young African American and Latino writers from this study teaching the local youth how to paint with a purpose. Whether legal or illegal, the youth either strive to import they’re own or their communities culture within their visual discourse in the public. The youth have all stated that writing for them, is one of the five main elements in Hiphop culture along with one of the most powerful due to its incorporation of the other four within its creative drive and visual presentations. From 91
break-dancers, deejays, and emcees, to ancient African symbols, Mayan hieroglyphs, and
Cambodian script, these youth have incorporated all of the elements in Hiphop within their writing.
“RR-Writing is Hiphop element, I know so. It goes hand and hand. One ay I like
to think, writers were drawing people dancing and if you look at people dancing
you can really see letters. There’s so many similar things with writing and Hiphop
like rapping. There’s bars, there’s flows, you write when you rap you write when
you write, it all goes hand and hand. Some black dude sat down, I liked to meet
this dude, and thought it out. You can’t see the similarities. There’s so many
connections there so you can’t say that there’s not. “(R.-R., personal
communication, January,2015).
“JW- Writing is an element of Hiphop, its like a tree. It’s a branch, its there, you
know. It, it just adds to Hiphop. If you use your like break-dancing you use it on a
letter. You know what I mean. How you move, you use that on a letter and stuff
like that. I think its like about yourself you know, knowledge of self. That’s one
of the laments you know, so Hiphop it’s a thing but it’s more about like you, you 92
know? If you aint Hiphop, then what you doing aint Hiphop you just doing it. It’s
more like its just there.”(J.W, personal communication, January,2015).
RR and JW emphasize the role and actual element that writing plays in Hiphop.
The youth all were adamant about stating that writing is Hiphop and a vital force to be acknowledge within the culture as a whole. (R.R & J.W, personal communication,
January,2015).
“RR- One thing I make sure I do, I want to make sure the kids know in my urban
arts class the difference between writing and vandalism. I have to make sure they
know because some of them just want to leam how to tag and aren’t really serious
about the art form. I tell them if you guys don’t do this and get to my age, let the
next generation see it and leam it then it will just be gone. So I have to teach them
the authenticity of what it is, its not just tagging. I have to let them know also that
it’s a transferable skill, you guys can profit from this. Just like I am, I’m teaching
you guys how to draw everyday even though you might not want to listen and be
hard headed.”(R.R, personal communication, January,2015). 93
“RR- At the end of the day, I’m only hear to pass this down to you. Also it taught me how to use my art skills for something greater then me just being mad, and not having anything to do and going out tagging. Now I feel like if something isn’t going right for me, if it works out I could just get a wall to paint. Or if I need some money I know how to draw something that I could create and sell. Also I feel like through writing I learned a lot about the world. I don’t think I would have made it this far if I hadn’t been writing. There’s a lot of stuff I feel like I could have been doing. I just learned life through tagging.”(R.R, personal communication, January,2015). 94
“The Earth’s ”Close up of the One Earth Production.2014
RR’s latter descriptions pertain to the backgrounds the youth place their words or
“pieces” in and how young people can make a living being creative and
promoting positivity.. From Africa to Aztlan has been a reoccurring theme within
all of their group works that they refer to as “productions”, which defines their
actual core group or “crew” which is predominately Black and Latino, with South
East Asian being the other ethnic membership. The access to career pathways for 95
the youth were gained through their dedication to their craft and communities.
Several of the youth actually work for the programs they participated in, with three of them actually teaching after school urban arts and the art of emceeing classes following in the footsteps of their mentors. (R.R, personal communication,
January,2015).
“Each One Teach One’’ Scribes educating the youth in the community. 2014 96
AK, RR, and LL are the three young men who teach after school urban arts, the art of rap, and academic enrichment at two of the elementary and middle schools here in
East Oakland. The above photo is an example of LL doing his work in the community with the youth, fostering the next generations’ appetite for aerosol. These three young men within cohort b have taken their craft and become employees of the actual after school program that offered them urban arts classes in high school. RR and LL are actually involved in the campaign to save the school from being closed and changed to a charter due to low enrollment. AK has been instrumental in bridging the gap and creating the linkage to mental health services for the elementary youth he teaches urban arts and academic enrichment to.
“AK- I’m trying to start a clothing line but I haven’t had any big ideas yet in
terms of shirt designs. Besides that, just teaching the craft because that’s what I’m
currently doing know. Little side jobs here and there like legal walls that I’m still
trying to get. I’m trying to get on that legal hype that way no one can tell me what
I can and cant put on the wall. I like the fact that I’m getting paid to do something
I love to do. That’s what I used to look up to. I used to always think in school, I
don’t know what I’m going to grow up to be. And it’s cool that I’m getting paid
right now to be me, basically. Drawing, teaching little kids how to play with
colors and stuff. - You get paid to do what we always wanted to do, I mean we
used to get in trouble for this shit and now yall get paid to do what we do. I feel 97
like the only people that look at it negatively but don’t say anything are the
parents of the kids. They find out that there in my class, they don’t know what I
really teach they just see that I teach art. But when the kids tell them, He teaches
me graffiti. The moms will look at me like what? Some of the kids have told me
that their dad told them it’s for like cholos and stuff. “(A.K, personal
communication, January,2015).
AK shows how Hiphop saves lives and pays the bills when your authentic and honest in your approach to the community. He has also laid out a part of his entrepreneurial, aspirations while providing a tangible example of writing’s career pathways to the youth, he teaches afterschool programs.(A.K, personal communication,
January,2015).
“LL- Well my patna RR runs a class at the middle school I teach at too where he
teaches the writing bars and stuff. And they do pieces and stuff so a lot of times,
see I do the rap side, so I’m in there with my students and they ask if I could help
out. Because he has a lot of students I go help out, and go in and say bring this
down straighter, or I like this curve just make it smoother, simple things because I
like it when people develop anything their doing. It doesn’t matter if they are on 98
their own just go and smooth out your edges you know.”(L.L, personal
communication, January,2015).
LL is talking about the classes that he teaches around emceeing and the art of rap.
He also shows the youth that when you practice the first element of Hiphop, knowledge of self, then you can enter into the other elements. (L.L, personal communication,
January,2015).
“RR- Being Black and writing, without guidance it can be discouraging. I’ve had
a lot of non black people tell me I shouldn’t be tagging, calling me weak and shit
like that. I don’t know why but, I feel like its because I’m black. That may not be
true but that’s how I be feeling. First off, naturally people are afraid of you cuz
you black and you tagging. Black people have been tagging, this is our thing and
they try and hide that from us. So when you see someone who’s not black tagging
and they notice you are black and tagging they look at you like why are you
tagging? And I’m looking at them like why are you tagging? Its funny people
associate the same racism you face in the world you face in writing. They gonna
think you a thug, you trying to fight them, steal their paint. Also being a black
writer I have to make sure I influence as many black writers as possible. Again 99
there’s not that many black writers so there’s so much to do so little time. I try to
influence my cousins when I see them out there doing what they do. I tell them I
would rather see you tagging then stealing cars. Because I can’t stop them from
what they do I can be an influence. It would be easier if I just geared them
towards tagging because stealing cars and it and getting shot at 14 aint cool. I feel
like it be a lot better if they would be tagging. The only way I started reading was
because of writing so putting them on to this would just be positive. That’s the
only way I got for you guys.”(R.R, personal communication, January,2015).
RR describes his discouragement being a Black writer in Oakland and the lack of concern being paid towards carrying on tradition. He suggests that youth choose writing as an alternative to other criminal activities and as a way to assist their community in solving some of the social toxins that plague many urban neighborhoods. (R.R, personal communication, January,2015). 100
“Elev8 Oakland” Youth prepare for another Get Active art exhibit.2014
These youth refuse to walk in someone’s shadow which sets them apart from average writers being that they envisioned their art exhibits as pathways to careers in the schools, business ventures in clothing and graphic design, along with their commitment to local, national, and global pursuits for social justice for oppressed peoples of color.
Several of the youth not only volunteer at many community based non profits aimed at addressing social justice issues in Oakland, the entire group has also worked as interns creating their own art co-opt. They established a name and logo for their collective, along with a website and have established a strong presence within the community and public schools, in terms of their products and skill sets. 101
Their collective is called the ONE Collective, which means Oakland Never
Expires. The youth are all experiencing the affects of the “out of towners”, as they call them, in terms of space, economics, and political power. The actual name of their company was in direct response to the appropriation of cultures as commodities and gentrification of various ethnic enclaves going on in Oakland.
The young people have adopted the approaches their elders took towards writing culture and enhanced and or adapted their application of the art form to further the culture as a whole. All of the young writers expressed their desire to become better at their craft and develop career pathway for their crew and themselves. The opportunities to paint around the world have opened up to them in terms of access, due to their participation in a major art exhibition known as Aerosoul. 102
Live Youth Art , Airbrushing & Illustration Tables lZpm-Spm Youth Art Exhibit Slideshow & Videos oS Youth In Action 6 p m - 9 p m www.aerosoulart.com Donate # www.klckstarter.com/projects/aerosoulart/aerosoul
“Aerosoul :Africa to Aztlan ”Example of youth art exhibitions. 2012
This series of art shows showcased the Black writer experience in writing culture, a narrative that has been seldom told and or exhibited exclusively. The show expanded to 103
Black and Brown writers to be showcased and the unification of various crews was enormous. All of the international artists invited the American writers to their festivals in the respective countries. From this exchange, the youth were able to witness the career opportunities involved in this art form but also the impact it has had on the world.
Conclusion
“CC- Writing has been in Oakland since the early 80’s, and I feel like it brings
more flavor into the city. While some say its vandalism or its ugly chicken scratch
but I feel like it brings more flavor. Something I like that someone said is that if
you wanna know more about your city look at the writing on your city walls. I
feel really connected to that because most of the time we write on the walls,
people in the city really don’t get it.”(C.C, personal communication,
January,2015).
CC’s statement above brings this research to the most fitting conclusion, Oakland is the city of “funk” and that aesthetic of “cool” must be held sacred and passed on. He speaks of the way Hiphop culture has been the real daily news channel for the globe and
Oakland has more than just violence and “vandalism”. To know a city, you must engage 104
in the visual discourse and embrace the aesthetics of the urban landscape instead of altering them for your own personal gain.(C.C, personal communication, January,2015).
Writing culture has been described and defined from various vantage points, predominately framed on adult archetypes, which promoted my research to be centered on the youth practitioner. The young people have taken the act of “graffiti” and transformed it into a social justice tool and a career pathway, both of which were not always the intent of “getting up”. “I didn’t start writing graffiti to go to Paris or do canvases. I started writing graffiti to bomb, destroy all lines”(Wild Style, 1982) This statement Skeme made at sixteen was also made by all the writers I interviewed, in the beginning of their writing careers. But once they saw legal avenues to “get up” and reach a wider audience, they jumped to it. Now they are getting up in academia through this thesis which contributes not only to Ethnic Studies but also to Hiphop culture as a means of social change, pedagogical advancement in schools, and community building through
Hiphop restorative justice.
The scorn within their own art community was heavy in terms of how they would be perceived as “legal” writers. But the impact on the community’s perception of
“graffiti” as more than just vandalism was enormous, garnering wall space, employment, and an effective form of dialogical praxis. These youth have no problems outreaching to local property owners and gaining permission to paint their walls with what ever the 105
youth desire. The youth in turn, use this opportunity to dialogue with the neighbors and business owners in that area about what they may like as an aesthetic in the community.
From the exchange with the owners, the community, and their art collective, these youth draw out their blue prints and alert their supportive non-profit of the supplies needed. Once the youth receive their supplies they execute these “productions” through out the city, at times simultaneous to one another. The impact on the apprenticeship aspect of writing culture here in Oakland has also been dynamic in terms of young children aspiring to be like the cohort of young people recruited for this research. These young people have become community leaders in their own right, using their talent and craft as a tool for liberation, education, and self-determination.
The youth are making the “legal” writing pathway “cool” to the younger generation which impacts our communities in such transformative ways by altering the imposed aesthetics surrounding our daily movements. By painting these community businesses, the youth have taken back landmarks for “graffiti” and made them cultural landmarks and strongholds against the on going gentrification of Oakland. These
“productions” do not get defaced nor does the businesses or property owners have to worry about their walls turning into blight.
The youth were also a part of an art exhibition called Brighter Than Blight, where they assisted one of their most influential elders in painting the facade of a condemned 106
public housing complex historic for the spoils of oppressive conditions. This particular show gave the youth an intimate understanding of how city leaders and politicians use their art form for their personal and political agendas. The following page displays a photo of one of the walls they assisted in painting, which also is a replica of an historical
Hiphop landmark mural done by Del Phresh of TDK. This African American writer is one of the first on the city of Oakland to write as well as one of the legendary style kings in the West Coast.
“Oakland Is Proud Tribute ’’ Youth apprenticeship with elder writer Khufu.2014 107
The young people expressed their disdain for this process but also the teachable moments of the benefits of self-sufficiency and their own outreach. The youth used this experience as a catalyst to have their voices heard at community forums centered on
Oakland’s graffiti problem. The youth were instrumental in providing city leaders and community members with a more holistic perspective on what writing is. The youth also made it clear that the vandalism the city docent like is actually being done by people not from this city or even this state yet the city ordinances are legal and economically affecting the local youth and their families. The youth have taken their roles as writers and dedicated their aspirations towards using this visual discourse as a platform to use
Hiphop the way it was intended, to evoke change.
The young people in this study approach the art form and Hiphop culture as a whole, from the same mindset as youth in Dakar, Senegal. During this research, I was privileged to be invited as an African American writer to participate in the FestiGraff urban arts festival in Senegal. During my stay I was working everyday on a different production with local youth and local writers, along with international writers. This whole process was life changing as an aerosol artist but in terms of my research, it was the most impactful experience I have had as a writer. The youth in Dakar expressed their perspective, impact, and access to the world through writing almost identically to the youth in my sample population. 108
For future research, my goal is to explore the writing culture of youth in Dakar and compare the phenomena to here. I would also like to start some form of Hiphop exchange where the youth collective from this research can travel to Dakar and the youth collective in Dakar travel here. The impact that BF has been having in the local writing scene, legal and illegal, has been gaining more depth which promotes my desires to do further research on the young women writing experience. There are starting to be more young ladies involved and for longing durations of time which gives researchers like myself the opportunity to document their trajectory while providing them with a platform to have their voices heard beyond the walls.
Beyond future research, this study will be used to further the work the youth have been doing with Safe Passages. By using this documentation to gain more grant funding for their programmatic plans, the youth will be able to gain access to a permanent physical space where they can hold their programs with greater confidence in their longevity. Being bounced around from schools to community centers has promoted Safe
Passages to house most of the programmatic aspects of Get Active. Being that the space is small, the youth fill up the building fairly quickly and artwork becomes harder to produce. 109
Out of the ten writers in this group, eight of them have been working with elder writers in the community through Get Active averaging three to five years of participation. Below is a quote from one young man who has been with the program for five years and reflects on how his time was up but through his self-determination he stuck with his craft and the program, wherever it was housed.
“JW-1 was 12 and it was an after school urban arts class at my school. And I
started going to it, at first I wasn’t really into it, I would just stay there, do what I
got to do and go home. But then like, I liked what was going on and I went from
there cuz my time was up and I had to get out of middle school. But I still liked
doing it because that’s how I expressed myself. There were a lot of things going
on and that’s how I took it out. “(J W, personal communication, January,2015).
By using this research as an outreach tool for private and public funders who are interested in providing youth with outlets of expression and alternative education, I believe the youth will gain the freedom space they aspire to obtaining. From an outlet of expression, cultural awareness, community building, social justice, civic engagement, to a stance against gentrification, a viable element in Hiphop, and a career pathway, these youth have shown us the danger in homogenously labeling what they do “graffiti”. They 110
are aerosoul technicians, engaging in the sacred art of being a scribe who produces urban higherglyphics. (Phase2, 1996).
“Dream Justice ”Youth Battle at Life Is Living Event. 2013
Above, the youth are doing a production based on their collective concepts and inspired by their youngest crewmember, a ten year old. These scribes deal with race, class, and gender in ways that adults have yet to explore making their art work some of the most impactful work done in the city by youth since its inception. Carrying on tradition here in Oakland is a major concept beyond writing, but for these writers that I ll
concept is so serious for them that the protection of their communities has become their obsession. This study is a testament to their work but also a part of their stance against the appropriation of Hiphop culture and the outcomes of this appropriation being exposed for the public to see and stop supporting.
My hopes are that those who come in contact with my work will take a deeper and more hands on inquiry into the writing culture in Oakland before they discount the approach or findings. The young people in this study all knew and were humbled by the fact that writing culture was created by youth of color who were African American and
AfroLatino. They also saw this as opportunities to create bonds and bridges of communication amongst other youth of color in their adoration for being a part of Hiphop history. They all see the strong need for the dominant narratives to showcase and write about the African American pioneers so that the truth can bring more African American youth back into the practice. 112
“We Are Writers!” working on community production. 2014
The above photo demonstrates the gender equality within the crew but also the praise the young men show for their fellow writer, without gender biases. She was painting a bit better and faster than the more “experienced” writers on the wall that were on ladders, but never was stigmatized as being good for a girl or having an edge because 113
of her gender. The youth also see the need for more young women being a part of the movement and the need for the dominant narratives to focus on the women with more a more critical consciousness.
Appropriation was the biggest theme the youth expressed and that theme dealt with the rules of writing being broken by those who have no concept of what writing is all about nor the actual rules involved. People are just painting anything on anything with no direction in their work other than their own narcissistic desires for pseudo fame. This work will promote discussion and intense arguments in some circles, but the goal is to provoke concern and engagement in the only art form ever created by children for the world’s eyes and ears to open.
Writing culture is our spirituality and we want to share the richness and resolve that this practice and art form brings to us. The healing properties in writing are holistic and an integral part of any of the elements in Hiphop because when you write, dance, deejay, emcee, or produce the music, those watching and those that helped provide any of the resources for you to do what you do in Hiphop, they all are being affected by the out put.
Youth programs locally, nationally, and abroad can use this research to promote the transformative outcomes of providing young people with this outlet of expression.
With grant funding for the arts being more available and open to aerosol art, youth programs can use this research to show the growing need for urban arts programs in 114
community spaces and school sites. The impact on the community and the potential career pathways that can be obtained through writing culture are examples of how this research can benefit youth, family, community, and the cultural aesthetics of a city.
We are all a part of Hiphop, and when the youth see their roles as leaders in this process instead of docile followers living in the shadows of disgruntled elders who gave up on their dreams, they take their opportunity very serious. The passion the youth have, I have also tried my best to harness that energy and infuse it within this research paper with the intent that you will too feel the desire, passion, commitment, transformation, and the funk involved in Oakland’s urban hieroglyphics. 115
“Lets Uplift Oakland”, Peace In The Parks Event 2014
Uplift Oakland was a theme the youth expressed at every community event they participated in through out this research. The media provides images that shape the publics perceptions on race, class, and gender that impact the access and approach to writing youth choose in America. By teaching the youth the historical backdrop to
Hiphop and providing them with a space to create and define their version, this will truly uplift Oakland and the community’s perception of what Hiphop really is. 116
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