Sometimes, bits of area graffiti have a “stickiness factor,” and their images or messages haunt me.  I remember, for example, when I first saw the strange face that is the trademark of Obey Giant, which touts itself as an experiment in propaganda.  Or one on a trash can near Wild Oats market, which inspired me finally to plant a vegetable garden:  “Grow Food, Not Lawns.” Recently, however, I have noticed a new rash of graffiti off I-71:  “Habeas Corpus, RIP, 1250-2006.”

In the event that you have seen that one, too, but don’t know to what it refers, I thought I’d put together a small media round-up as part of my “Graffiti Watch.”

Wikipedia, as usual, has a nice entry for Habeas Corpus ("the name of a legal instrument or writ by means of which detainees can seek release from unlawful imprisonment"), and a specific subsection relevant to the graffiti in question:  ”Suspension in the United States during the War on Terrorism.” Here is an excerpt:

Here is an excerpt from the article linked above in footnote [3]:

I just think it interesting when people use spray paint to make a point.

UPDATE: Okay, it looks like I remembered the date incorrectly—and that it should have been 1215 and not 1250, but two local blogs have decided to pick up on this TWO FULL WEEKS AFTER we broke the story!

Neither blog credits The Beacon:

http://www.andrewwarner.org/2006/10/guerilla-artwork.html

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/gov/2006/10/cryptic-graffiti.asp

Socializer!

del.icio.us

Furl It

Anonymous comments are allowed, but you can log in above to stamp your name and to avoid typing the anti-spam code.

If you are not familiar with our rules for leaving comments, click here!

1. one advocate says:
   10 Oct 2006  at  11:44 pm | #

   Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.
   Heaven help us, we are forfeiting “God given rights” and those things we hold to be true and “sacred.”

2. says:
   11 Oct 2006  at  09:01 am | #

   In 1946 the U.S. Supreme Court refused the Japanese General Yamashita’s request for a fair trial and basically said that as long as the i’s were dotted and the t’s were crossed, the U.S. could do what it liked to him.  I should also note that he was neither a U.S. citizen nor on U.S. soil.  In his dissent, Justice Murphy said:
   

   The immutable rights of the individual, including those secured by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, belong not alone to the members of those nations that excel on the battlefield or that subscribe to the democratic ideology.  They belong to every person in the world, victor or vanquished, whatever may be his race, color, or beliefs.  They rise above any status of belligerency or outlawry.  They survive any popular passion or frenzy of the moment.  No court or legislature or executive, not even the mightiest army in the world, can ever destroy them.

   If I had my choice, that quote on a plaque in every courtroom in America.

3. says:
   14 May 2007  at  09:13 am | #

   those where fun to paint

4. anne says:
   10 Oct 2007  at  10:13 am | #

   I did see this on the way to a soccer game about a month ago, and it delighted my wonkish heart.

   Graffiti can be quite telling. I used to represent clients in a state mental hospital back when George Allen was a mere governor. Two patients escaped from Central State in Richmond. Central State housed more of a criminal population than Western State, where my clients were. The escape caused widespread panic. Allen retooled the entire commitment system to focus on “public safety.”

   The biggest impact was felt by inmates, I mean patients, themselves, particularly those who were not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI): suddenly they were under lockdown. (He got rid of parole in prisons, too, which had a similar effect.)

   Well, NGRI patients were in all the hospitals, not just Central State. Mental hospitals are heavily addicted to behavior modification—that is, patients earn privileges via their own good behavior. So, like good Catholics after Vatican 2, overnight none of that behavior meant anything. Regardless of their progress or current privileges (some had weekend passes, jobs in town, etc.), no NGRI patient could even walk the grounds on their own.

   Soon after this I was walking down a stairwell and saw, scrawled on the cinder block wall in tiny letters: “I hate Gov. Allen!”