(Black)
graffiti artist whose death by strangulation in
1984 at the hands of (white)
police and their subsequent
acquittal bore a sharp rise in
political street art in
New York City protesting a growing climate of
police brutality. Notably among them is the "
La Lucha Continua" mural project wherein Stewart’s murder was brought to light in the same vein as, and entwined with, themes such as
apartheid,
evictions,
US intervention in Central America, the disappeared in
Guatemala,
homelessness and finally, the power of
grassroots community organizing.
Throughout the eighties up until his death Stewart was part of a core group of artists and political activists which transcended all ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds for whom art was indeed life. His death remains one of the most jarring examples of what can go wrong in America