Reporting the Resistance: Graffiti, Race, and Social Control

• In Event: Social Movements and Criminal Justice: Movement Impacts and Perspectives on Advocacy

Abstract

This project looks at how national protest movements might shape local civic behavior by analyzing graffiti-related 311 reports in Minneapolis from 2018 to 2022. Using interrupted time series analysis and other statistical methods, I explore whether the murder of George Floyd in May 2020—and the widespread protests and public conversations that followed—sparked changes in how residents engage with their neighborhoods through reporting graffiti. Initial findings show a distinct increase in graffiti reports immediately after George Floyd’s death, coinciding with the peak of Black Lives Matter protests and widespread public discourse around racial justice and civic responsibility. These findings suggest that moments of heightened social consciousness may act as a catalyst for increased civic participation, as residents become more attuned to their local environments and feel a greater sense of accountability for community upkeep. Reports dropped off significantly after the summer of 2020, suggesting that this heightened engagement may have been tied to the intensity of the moment rather than a lasting shift, and raising pressing questions about how moments of social upheaval might temporarily reshape how everyday people take part in informal policing and neighborhood surveillance.

Author

• Cam Marsinelli, University of Massachusetts Boston