I am writing to you on behalf of an article that ran Friday, Jan. 19, entitled, “Organizations try to clean up graffiti.” As both an Ohio State student and member of the Columbus community, I have to say I was deeply upset to see the connection between the written article and the photogrtaphs attached to it.
The article discusses the problems to which graffiti can be applied, for example, reducing business patronage, property values and causing citizen uneasiness. However, the photographs of graffiti accompanying the article actually contribute to none of these problems, and for a good reason, too.
The photographs were those of a mural for a deceased community member, Daymon Dodson, who passed away this summer because of epilepsy. Regardless, the mural was done at Tuttle Park, with granted permission, on Sept. 16, 2006. The mural was part of an all-day picnic and parade for friends, children and family members, to gather and pay respect to a friend to many people in the Columbus community. The acitivity was done with the full permission or Tuttle Park and the Columbus Division of Police, who were asked to accompany people in the parade.
Many people put much thought and work to make this happen, and I am appalled that the Lantern would wrongly label a mural as “vandalism.” The article discusses the need to come together as a community to try to clean up graffiti, but what it forgets to tell us (and wrongly shows through illustration) is the kind of graffiti that actually affects small businesses and members of the community.
Pictures of vulgarities on the sides of buildings, destruction to automobiles, bus stops and public spaces (like bathrooms or outdoor facades): these are true acts of vandalism. I am not sure why this picture was taken, but as journalistic writers and photographers, I beg you to do your research better. Seeing this article Friday deeply upset me and many friends of mine. I wouldn’t like to believe what family members would say if they had read it as well. So, from an avid reader or The Lantern, a student and community member, I demand an apology be given.
The article was written with the right frame of mind, but its context reads something totally different. A community created what you see in the background, and the article only disgraces what they have done. Again, the community deserves to know truly what this article is discussing, and an apology needs to be given immediately.
Thank you,
Whitney Moore
