Graffiti Glorified

Re “Graffiti Artist Wants Legal Walls to Come Down” by Zan Dubin (Oct. 2), a glorification of graffiti artist Raul Gamboa:

I judge Ms. Dubin to be a very liberal young lady. My definition of a liberal is a hypocrite who enjoys spending other people’s money.

It is beyond my understanding why someone of this ilk (Gamboa) is invited to speak to at Rancho Santiago College. He bragged that he writes on railroad cars, school buildings and freeway retaining walls. He also said, “If I call it art, it is art.”

In his early youth he had an unpleasant home life, so he turned to writing graffiti at night and robbing homes during the daytime as an outlet for his anger. I cannot understand how writing graffiti or creating murals on a short strip of seawall at Huntington Beach is going to cure this serious problem. At least 98% of graffiti is scribbling done by gang members who are warning other gangs to stay out of their turf. It’s like putting a Band-Aid on the finger of a seriously injured man involved in a car accident.

Practically every city of any size in Southern California has a full-time crew of men with paint and sandblasting equipment to try to eradicate this hideous form of so-called art. It’s costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year just to try and stay even with the problem.

Personally, I do not see why it was necessary to portray Gamboa as a rebel hero in a 7-by-3 picture with a can of aerosol paint in each hand. If these so-called graffiti artists would devote a small part of their energy to staying in school and studying to get a diploma, they would be a lot more useful to their community and themselves.

R. BROWN

Anaheim

Zan Dubin replies:

Mr. Brown says “at least 98% of graffiti is scribbling done by gang members who are warning other gangs to stay out of their turf.” According to R.K. Miller, a detective with the Huntington Beach Police Department assigned to gang investigations, “much less than” one-fourth of the markings near or on the Huntington Beach retaining wall under consideration for a public art program “are probably” gang related. No violence in connection with that graffiti has been reported, Miller added.