Quanell X case ends in people's victory
By Gloria Rubac
Houston
It was a people's victory on Nov. 15 in the racist state
district court in Houston when the district attorney failed to
convict New Black Panther Party activist Brother Quanell X of
felony evading-arrest charges.
Last June Brother Quanell was taking a young African
American man accused of shooting a police officer to the police
station. The youth had been the subject of a 2-day manhunt and
terror campaign against the Black community. He was afraid to
turn himself in, so Brother Quanell offered to take him to the
station and had worked out an arrangement with the police
chief, who is African American.
Some white cops got wind of what was happening and entrapped
Brother X as he was on his way to the police station.
A broad citywide coalition, People for Justice, was formed
to support Brother Quanell. The courtroom was packed each day
of the trial. Hundreds and hundreds turned out on the first
day, forcing the court to use concert-type roping to keep the
crowd in a line. Overt racism and hostility dripped from both
district attorneys and also the judge. DA Denise Nassar
compared Brother Quanell to O.J. Simpson. Nassar's husband is a
police homicide detective who had been looking for the suspect.
The judge's father is the sheriff of Houston. There was only
one African American on the jury.
After the victory, Minister Robert Muhammed of the Nation of
Islam Mosque #45 said, "Everyone in Houston knew that Quanell
was innocent and this trial lasting over a week was a waste of
taxpayers' money."
After the trial, Brother Quanell, who was prohibited from
talking to the media during the 6-month ordeal, invited the
community and the media to a celebration at the New Black
Panther Party office. Quanell spoke for the first time.
"This case was bigger than just me. They wanted to teach
other leaders and me a lesson. Many Blacks and also white
people knew that this was wrong. When the common whites see in
the system what our people have experienced for over 400 years,
this country will be destroyed not from without but from
within. My case was a small part of bringing about a
realization of the corrupt criminal justice system.
"I wasn't afraid of going to jail. I would have gone in and
organized the brothers and the Hispanics and even the whites in
that jail. The system is now angry and frustrated. They want to
get rid of brothers who are leaders and who stand up to the
system. We're upsetting their world order. Two white jurors
have called me and told me they knew I was innocent but there
were two others that wouldn't listen to reason so that's why
they compromised and convicted me of a misdemeanor one step
above a traffic ticket.
"I thank all of you for your support and this is our
victory."
Reprinted from the Dec. 23, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page