Chico

I have been reading the local papers often and finding myself commenting on interesting articles I read in them lately. And one interesting sentence in an article that caught my eye today was "You never see me draw guns. I want to make the neighborhood something nice to look at. If I see a negative message or mural, I go up to that person and say we need to change something." That sentence is an excerpt in this weeks The Villager titled "Still keeping it real on L.E.S.: Chico's message is indelible." Chico makes his mark a positive on the Lower East Side. Antonio "Chico" Garcia is a graffiti mural artist who has painted thousands of colorful murals on walls throughout the Lower East Side neighborhood in New York, now the East Village for real estate marketing purposes maybe, over the past few decades. The neighborhood is his gallery and he is recognized as a pioneer in graffiti art. The article goes on to say that Chico is tired of graffiti that glorifies drugs and violence, and even made the personal decision some years back to stop doing the neighborhood mural memorials to those lost to violence that launched his career. This article sticks in my mind because Chico speaks for peace and end to violence. As I have written in what seems like every other blog posting, who invented guns? Guns are the worst invention ever. And the news stories are endless of persons losing their lives on a daily basis as the news story was yesterday and the news story will be tomorrow with no end in sight for no reason at all. I could cut and paste my appeal to banish the gun industry and guns from every human being on planet earth and to end the use of the images of guns in all forms of advertising and marketing as I have written in blog posts of the past. I am only one blogger, one voice. Is another world possible. Peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind. And what does this have to do with a No Police State?