Houston’s Carl Hampton
Honoring a Black Panther leader
By
Gloria Rubac
Houston
Published Aug 4, 2011 8:05 PM
“Houston’s Black Panther leader Carl Hampton was assassinated by
the Houston police 41 years ago today, and we are here at his gravesite to
honor Carl and remember his contribution to the fight we are still waging in
the Black community for justice and equality. We will never forget Carl,”
Sensei Benton told the crowd of activists at Golden Gate Cemetery on July
26.
Ayanna Ade called on the elders for permission to begin the memorial
celebration. Libations were poured by young community activist Ivory Townsel as
people called out names of ancestors who had passed on — Geronimo ji
Jaga, Shaka Sankofa, Malcolm X, Fanny Lou Hamer, George Jackson.
Both Ade and Benton spent years in the Black Panther Party in Oakland, Calif.,
and Houston.
Several people who had known Hampton spoke of his leadership in the work the
Panthers did in the Houston community. As tributes were spoken, a saxophone
played by Brother Enoch sang soulfully in the quiet, wooded cemetery. Hampton
was an accomplished musician as well as a revolutionary activist and played the
sax.
Hampton was shot from the roof of St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church on
the hot night of July 26, 1970, by Houston police as he walked down the street
in front of the Panther office. In the ensuing shootout, three others were
injured; two of them were later charged with attempted murder of a police
officer.
On Dec. 18, Hampton’s birthday, the Carl Hampton Memorial Committee will
place a ledger stone — with Hampton’s picture, information and a
large Black Panther image — on the deceased leader’s grave.
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