Photo by Christopher Bronk
Street art stencil in spray paint, corner of Rt. 59 Frontage Road and Hazard, Houston, TX. Artist unknown.
Sometimes pictures really do add up to something more than words can convey. This is one of those times. On the way back to the Rice University campus from Times Barber Shop, I was arrested by this piece of street art stenciled on a light pole. I slammed on the brakes, put the car in park, hopped out, snapped a couple of pictures with my phone and immediately posted them to Facebook. My Baker Institute colleague Steve Lewis sent back speedy translation of the Chinese characters: “Overthrow the Qing, Restore the Ming,” a slogan of the Heaven and Earth secret society, which was organized in the 17th century.
Why is this picture here? Well, it’s all about this week:
• President Hu Jintao is visiting Washington, D.C.
• Indie documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” which covers the rise of the street art movement, is getting a lot of plays on Netflix.
• Julian Assange, who is either a traitorous rogue or the hero of a new global muckraking movement, just offered to pick up some the legal fees for Bradley Manning.
• The tea partiers reminded those they help get elected that they could work against them.
All are of these are relevant to how I interpreted this picture. To the critic, it may be great art or just ugly graffiti, but it sure says a lot to me.
Christopher Bronk is the Baker Institute fellow in information technology policy. He previously served as a career diplomat with the United States Department of State on assignments both overseas and in Washington, D.C.