Response to Chaz Bojorquez's text

I always thought of graffiti as being art but I never formed an argument as to why. I am glad to have read Chaz Bojorquez’s article because it put my opinion into perspective. Art includes a historical context and varies in style. Bojorquez talks about the “Old School Cholo” style graffiti and the culture surrounding it. The Zootsuit culture formed during the 40’s when Mexican-Americans were being deported. Low-rider cars, pompadours, and fly suits shaped the landscape and Old School Cholo graffiti was the backdrop. Both influenced each other and, like art, graffiti was born from the pain of that era. Graffiti is Artivism, it was a “public announcement,” marking the territory of the people who were considered unwelcome. There was also Hip Hop style graffiti that spoke for the individual who wanted to make him or herself “exist.” Graffiti is rebellion and rebellion always leads to art. Graffiti may shout out a neighborhood or an individual to passers-by to make them know that they exist but I have always felt, and was unable to articulate until I read this article, that graffiti makes me feel that I exist also. I am able to identify, appreciate, and -though I do not write graffiti- feel a part of a rebellion that seeks to make themselves known in a world that tries to wipe us out. Just like the Zootsuiters, I am a part of a movement that shapes the letters painted on highways and buildings. I am living in an era where my people are being denied healthcare, my people are being deported, racially profiled, sold guns, and miseducated. I am marching amongst the rebellion that freestyles, shuffles, riffs, slams poetry, rocks kicks with zipped hoodies, and sprays all this on the wall to let folks know we refuse to be wiped out by consumerism and commercialism because we exist.