The themes of Wednesday's protests (8/16/2000), were the issues of Police Brutality, the Death Penalty, Political Prisoners, and mass incarceration. At the Staples Center, some 2,000 LAPD Riot Squad Officers were deployed to intimidate the demonstrators. The LAPD were heavily armed with 12 Gauge Shotguns, Tear Gas guns, and Rubber Bullet guns. I took this photograph of a Riot Cop toting a 12 Gauge Shotgun, he was not the only one to display such weaponry. The fact that protestors stood their ground in the face of such intimidation speaks volumes for their courage and commitment. For more photographs and artworks dedicated to social justice, please visit the ART FOR A CHANGE Web site!

DAmn i fell in love with thousands this week, and I walked away from Downtown LA Thurs. night, I could hardly believe what unity I possesed as an individual, And yet what anger i still felt towards the "MAN" my eyes were open to issues in some way I once helped contribute to...I AM PART OF SOMETHING AND SO ARE YOU!!BUT this is just a begining of FIghts we independantly HAve to carry on back to Our homes and Lives If I stand Tall refusing to Fall alone here in CALI and U stand tall IN PHILLY and my sister in CUBA or wherever, Although we share passions for different issues We MUST KEEP OUR VISIONS IN CONTACT and Unity with one another and sacrifice many things in our ordinary lives, IF we are just weekend warriors then our voices will fade like the 60's did...DAAMN BELIEVE ,THIS ISNT POETRY OR A TRENDY FASE IF YOU WALKED AANY RALLY EVER in your life NO matter for What..I'll SEE YOU AT THE NEXT CALL TO ACTION, Keep in touch, LOVE AND strengh from LA

The disinformation campaign from downtown has already begun. "LAPD Gets High Marks," says the Times. Most people I've talked to can show you the marks they got from LAPD. In the real world, they call them lacerations and contusions.

It's going to be hard to fight this. The Big Lie works as well as ever. The money just keeps grinding down the people.

I know the cops read this, so I thought I'd make it easy to start another file on me. First name, Hugh, common spelling, last name Stegman, I spell Sam, Tom, Edward, George, Mary, Adam, Nora. KMA.