Editing Graffiti (section)

=== Offensive graffiti ===
[[File:Stop graffitti.jpg|thumb|Gang symbol markings on public property, [[Millwood, Washington]]]]

Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly).<ref name=halsey>{{Cite journal | last1 = Halsey | first1 = M. | last2 = Young | first2 = A. | title = The Meanings of Graffiti and Municipal Administration | journal = [[Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology]] | volume = 35 | issue = 2 | pages = 165–86 | year = 2002 | doi = 10.1375/acri.35.2.165 | s2cid = 145251151 }}</ref> Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as [[heteroglossia|heteroglot]] and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.<ref name=holqu>{{cite book | last = Holquist | first = M. | editor-last = Bakhtin | editor-first = M.M. | title = The Dialogic Imagination | url = https://archive.org/details/dialogicimaginat0000bakh | url-access = registration | chapter = Glossary | publisher = Austin: University of Texas Press | page = [https://archive.org/details/dialogicimaginat0000bakh/page/423 423] | year = 1981}}</ref>

A spatial local code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the [[herald]] of more serious criminal activity to come.<ref name=kelling>{{cite book | last1 = Kelling | first1 = G. | last2 = Coles | first2 = C. | title = Fixing Broken Windows | publisher = New York: Martin Kessler Books | year = 1996}}</ref> A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints),<ref name=barker>{{cite book | last = Barker | first = M. | title = The New Racism | publisher = London: Junction Books | year = 1981}}</ref> these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.<ref name=lynn>{{Cite journal | last1 = Lynn | first1 = Nick | last2 = Lea | first2 = Susan J. | title = 'Racist' graffiti: text, context and social comment | journal = Visual Communication | volume = 4 | pages = 39–63 | year = 2005 | doi = 10.1177/1470357205048935 | s2cid = 145493422 }}</ref>

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted [[caricature]]s of local officials with their mouths as [[pothole]]s, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schreck |first=Carl |date=19 June 2015 |title=Russian politicians mocked with guerrilla pothole portraits |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/19/russia-pothole-portraits-activists-banksy |website= New East Network |access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> In [[Manchester]], England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.<ref>{{cite news |date=29 April 2015 |title=Meet the man using penises to fill potholes |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11570595/Meet-the-man-using-penises-to-fill-potholes.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11570595/Meet-the-man-using-penises-to-fill-potholes.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website= The Telegraph |access-date=24 September 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>