Can I finish my Thesis without getting arrested?

I have the evidence. It’s a small sheet of yellow carbon paper, and it’s from the Baltimore Police Department. All I had to do to get this evidence was drive down Edmonson Avenue, a beleagured section of road in the western district. I was collecting photographs of local Bail Bonds establishments with a fellow grad for the research project that has since grown into my master’s thesis, and we had been pulled over for the single reason that we didn’t “fit” in the neighborhood we were in. We stuck out, so we were stopped. And we have the official paperwork to show for it.

As a fan of the Wire, I can’t say some part of me wasn’t curious as to what my real-life experience with Baltimore’s finest would be like. Would they plant evidence on me? Would I decide to run for it at the last minute , punching the gas in my borrrowed 1995 Toyota Corolla station wagon just as the officer reached my window, and take my friend Joe on a high-speed tour of the city’s back alleys as I tried to elude my pursuers and set us up for fugitive status? Or would I simply hand over the information requested by the officer who stopped me, quietly and respectfully complying with his orders?

I didn’t run, and I’m not writing this from some criminal safehouse, and I’m not on the run from Johnny Law. And I’m glad I didn’t, not just for the fact that I really don’t think a criminal record and/or jail time for attempting to avoid arrest would help me in my post-graduate job search. I’m glad I didn’t run because it gave me insight into what was a surprising and unexpected turn of events. By the time the traffic stop was over, there were no less than 5 police cars at the scene, with 8-10 police officers on hand. Each was gracious, none were threatening, but it was made crystal clear that if we continued our current course of action, driving and photographing these businesses, we would be targeted for being stopped on sight, because they would assume we were in the neighborhood to buy drugs. This highlighted a disparity in the dna in the makeup of my city that I knew about but had never experienced first-hand. Being hassled and having to deal with having my car searched by gloved police officers purely based upon the assumption that I was up to no good due to the neighborhood I was driving in and the color of my skin. And despite the mileage I’ve gotten out of this story when people start sharing their Baltimore experiences, I didn’t like. Not one bit. Not what it said about my city, and not what it says about where we still are in terms tacit invisible boundaries that we are expected to respect or pay the consequences.

On the back of my citizen copy of my police experience, it says “You have been given this receipt to document the contact you had with a member of the Baltimore Police Department. In the event you have any questions or concerns regarding your contact, the following is provided.” A list then follows which includes all the of the main switchboard numbers for the city police districts. I’m even given the opportunity to really turn up the heat, as the last item on the page is the number for the “Internal Investigations Division”, ominously separate from the other information, suggesting that it has some unspoken weight. I’ve seen enough to know that IA is where the rats go when they have a problem, when they want to cross the thin blue line and turn the cops who police other cops loose.

I’m no rat. But I do have a few questions. Why is such a large portion of the city I live in off-limits to me? Why can’t two white men drive down Edmonson Avenue without being stopped by half of the Western district? And how am I supposed to document my thesis research if I can’t go into the neighborhoods that these businesses are located?

For one of my projects, I will utilize the yellow gator board signs that realty speculators post on vacant buildings as the medium for my message. As they are currently utilized, these signs tacitly signify economic hardship, disparity, neighborhood decline and dangerous living situations. In many ways, these signs demoralize those that are forced to live with them. The signs act as a constant reminder of the death of these city neighborhoods. I intend to subvert their tacit messaging by replacing the message on them. I will screenprint a series of messages that actively encourage the reader to make their own judgement upon the intent of the message makers. For instance, Johns Hopkins has been accused of “blockbusting” in Baltimore to exploit real estate loopholes, and I would like to create a binary poster system that relates to the idea of optimism versus pessimism in terms of neighborhood gentrification. These will be installed in appropriate city locations and fully documented. I also plan to explore the notion of Subversive Positivism as was coined by the “everything is ok” campaign created by Mine SF. This theory of design activism distorts context in a way that forces those that encounter it to re-evaluate how they engage with their environment. This is my ultimate goal for all of my design exploration in my thesis.

My thesis book will not merely present the results of my design interventions. I will feature my methodology, documentation, and reflection upon each individual project. It will be academic and a design object, and it will be a guidebook for me as I move forward beyond my graduate experience and implement and explore design activism in my professional career.

Second Person:
As a graphic designer, you are responsible for the effect your work has on society. Utilize your professional practice to contribute to, not detract from, ongoing social discourse. Encourage and foster a climate of change instead of a stagnant and unengaged approach. Be willing to address social issues such as poverty, crime and standard of living in your work.

Third Person:
According to the First Things First Manifesto, designers should put their problem-solving skills to a more worthwhile use by addressing urgent cultural and social issues, instead of devoting their time and energy primarily to advertising, marketing, and branding.

My thesis focus will not be a single take on this important subject, but will instead be framed as a series of investigations or probes which form the basis for my inquiry. My thesis will not be confined to an academic setting, but will utilize site-specific installations to engage the audiences affected by the public, social and urban issues that I am exploring. My thesis will not live only in a design context, but will be put into the public sphere to engage the audience affected by the issues that are being illuminated. My thesis will not be transitory and end with my final installation, but will instead be collected into a cumulative publication that relates the different projects into one overall body of work and investigation.

My thesis will not be an empty promise of easy solutions to difficult problems, wrapped up in a beautiful but ultimately empty design. Instead, it will cast a harsh light and create discourse around a difficult subject area that deserves more attention beyond the affected population.