Movement says: 'Racist, sexist DA, go away'

A broad movement is building in Houston calling for the removal of not only the Harris County district attorney but his whole senior staff as well. Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in front of the criminal courthouse here on Jan. 31 calling on District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal to resign immediately.

Activists in Houston mobilize against District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal on Jan. 31. Photo: Jon Axford

Speaker after speaker denounced the racist, sexist and pornographic photos and videos found in e-mails on the district attorney’s work computer that have come to light in the last month.

One offensive e-mail showed a Black man lying in a street with an empty bucket of fried chicken, a watermelon and a soda next to him. It was called “Overdosed.” Other e-mails showed women in public places having their clothes ripped off their bodies.

The district attorney exchanged some of these e-mails with the spouse of prosecutor Kelly Siegler, chief of the Special Crimes Bureau.

Siegler recently came under fire for excluding a juror in the trial of activist and political prisoner Howard Guidry. She said she objected to the potential juror because of the church he attended, but information revealed that the African-American man was a member of the NAACP and this was the real reason he was struck. While Siegler apologized to his church for calling them “nuts and screwballs,” she has yet to apologize to the NAACP.

Standing on the front steps of the courthouse, Deric Muhammad of the Millions More Movement told the crowd, “We have a systemic problem. It is not just Rosenthal that has to go—the whole toilet must be flushed.”

Stephanie Connor, through her tears, told the protesters, “My brother had new evidence in his case but no court would hear it. He was innocent and his execution killed my momma shortly before my brother was put to death. I lost two people because of the injustice going on here in Harris County.” Stephanie’s brother, Johnny Connor, was executed on Aug. 22, making history for being the 400th person the state of Texas has executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Other speakers included Brother Quannell X, New Black Panther Nation; Minister Robert Muhammad, Nation of Islam Mosque #45; Ovide Duncantell, Black Heritage Society; Sister Jean Dember, National Black United Front; Jolanda Jones and Peter Brown, Houston City Councilpersons; and Deloyd Parker, S.H.A.P.E. Community Center.

After the rally, the militant crowd marched to the federal courthouse, where Rosenthal was in court facing a contempt charge because he had deleted e-mails that the federal judge had told him to produce for the court. Hundreds of protesters sat in court for the afternoon, filling the courtroom.

The criminal justice system in Harris County, Texas, in the country’s fourth-largest city (Houston), is as racist and as corrupt as they come in the United States.

Rosenthal has lost his credibility, not only with a vast number of people, but even with his Republican Party, which asked him not to run for re-election this year. He is now facing six months in jail for deleting e-mails, is being investigated by the Texas attorney general for using a work computer to promote his re-election campaign and could be removed from his job due to public outrage.

The Coalition for Social Justice is meeting weekly, holding town hall meetings and appearing on TV and radio shows. They have plans to tackle the lack of a public defender system in Harris County. They are filing petitions with the Justice Department for Rosenthal’s immediate removal. They are asking the U.S. Congress’ Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing in Houston to examine its criminal justice system. And they are planning more public protests.

The Coalition includes pastors and politicians, as well as organizations like the Millions More Movement, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, the New Black Panther Nation, the Harris County Green Party, the Nation of Islam Mosque #45, the Houston Peace and Justice Center and the Black Heritage Society.

The majority working with this new coalition, however, are grass-roots people who have never before been involved in activism. Many have family members who have been victimized by the courts or falsely imprisoned.

As Pastor D. Z. Cofield told a recent meeting, “We are in this for the long haul. We are serious about making systemic changes in Harris County. Join us!”