Several tagging crews such as Oakland's Those Damn Kids (TDK) were some of the originators of "graf art" on the West Coast. It was during this time in 1983 that TDK's King Dream (born Michael Francisco) surfaced out of the graf art world. Francisco utilized his pieces to celebrate, express and educate from his own Filipino American background in order to promote tolerance while simultaneously strengthening bonds with others from differing cultures, eventually achieving international recognition. Now deceased (Dream was murdered in 2000), he is considered by many to have been one of the greatest and most influential graf writers whose work had been expressive of his urban environment while focusing on social issues concerning not only Filipino Americans, but also other people of color in America such as police brutality, racism, nationwide liberation and rebellion.