Graffiti: art or vandalism?

I've always admired Renaissance art in particular and preferred that to any kind of modern art type of movements, and graffiti was definitely a new movement. I saw it as a kind of vandalism because, by nature, I always liked to keep things in pristine conditions, and it always bothered me when people didn't appreciate what they had. So when I thought about graffiti, I saw it as an unnecessary measure. Why would people "destroy" public property? Why would you need to draw on trains, walls, or any other places?

I never thought of graffiti as art or a form of self-expression until now. Graffiti movement really reflects upon the African American and pop culture, and because of the negative media exposure, it has been viewed as harmful. As MICO says, "graffiti" was a term coined by the New York Times and the paper, "denigrated the art because it was invented by youth of color." I think it's definitely true when MICO said if the rich and the well-known artists had come up with graffiti, it would've been seen as a revolutionary and an avant-garde artistic movement because we are less familiar with African American culture in this country. 

In any case, I look at graffiti with a new perspective even though I still think it's a kind of vandalism (because I like keeping things in pristine condition). Rather than dismissing something new because the media reported it as harmful, I think we need to get the inside info on what that new thing is about and try to see it in others' perspectives.