The Death of Carl Hampton: Murder Or Self Defense? (Please See Page 2) the Police Allowed Her to Keep the Money
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~ A Journal of Free Voices 25t :c A Window to the South ~ August 21,1970 . The death of Carl Hampton: Murder or self defense? (please See Page 2) The police allowed her to keep the money Dowling and Tuam streets. "Dowling 28," in jail and come up with some more By Larry Lee as the block is known, is a center of charges to hold me indefinitely with no prostitution and bootlegging. The bond. And I would live in jail six, seven and Mitch Green storefront' was across the street from months." Emancipation Park, a park used primarily During this period of time, the PP2 by the Negro residen ts of the members became increasingly bold in their Houston neighborhood, which is at the southeast display of weapomy at and around the Carl Hampton, also known as Carl corner of downtown Houston. storefront. Police kept their distance, often Hamilton, was the 21-year-old chairman of utilizing one of their helicopters at an Peoples Party II, an ad hoc black militant ~ THE EVENING of Friday, altitude of 500 to 1,000 feet to monitor organization in Houston. Its membership July 17, policemen R. L. Cantwell and J. activities at the intersection of Dowling appeared to total approximately 30. Its R. Davis halted James Aaron, a PP2 and Tuam. informational materials exclusively have member hawking "The Black Panther" At least one source close to the entire been those of the Black Panthers, with newspaper on Dowling, a heavily travelled affair says that disarmament negotiation whose Chicago office the Houston street. The police said they wanted to tell attempts were made by the office of Mayor organization was aligned. Peoples Party II the youth it was dangerous to stand in the Louie Welch through representatives of the is' associated with The John Brown street; it is not illegal to sell newspapers in model cities program. Welch himself was Revolutionary League, a handful of white this manner in Houston, however. vacationing in Europe throughout the militants led by Roy Bartee Haile, 24, and Aaron ran into the party office. two-week period. with the Houston chapter of the Hampton and two other men, all of them At approximately 6 p.m. on the evening Mexican-American Youth Organization armed, emerged from the building. The of Sunday, July 24, police tried to arrest (MA YO) in Houston's version of a police report on the incident says Hampton two young blacks - Herbert Joseph Gerac, Rainbow Coalition. threatened to fire. Within 45 minutes, 19, and an unidentified 15-year-old - who In June, Peoples Party II opened a about 30 other officers were on hand. were carrying weapons on Dowling. The storefront headquarters at the corner of Police withdrew at that point and, the next two youths ran into the rear door of St. day, Hampton was charged with assault John's Baptist Church, which is one block Larry Lee and Mitch Green work for with a weapon and with carrying a pistol. north of (and on the same side of the street KPFT, the Pacifica listener-sponsored FM For the next week, Hampton remained as) the PP2 office. Churchmen disarmed station in Houston. Lee is a contributing in the storefront, staying there, he said, the two and police arrested them. editor of the Observer and a former because he feared he would be harmed if By 7 p.m., approximately 150 persons Observer associate editor. Green has jailed. "They don't want to accept bond had gathered at the PP2 headquarters and worked for KQED-TV/FM in San from my lawyer," he said the following on the other corners of the intersection to Francisco, KRAB in Seattle, and WYSO in Friday. "They want me to appear hear speeches by Hampton and others. Bail Yellow Springs, Ohio. personally. So we feel they want to get me for the arrested pair was raised by PP2 EDITOR Kaye Northcott GENERAL MANAGER CO-EDITOR Molly Ivins EDITORS AT LARGE Elroy Bode, Ronnie Dugger, C. R. Olofson THE Bill Hamilton, Bill Porterfield OFFICE MANAGER Irene Wilkinson Contributing Editors: Winston Bode, Bill Brammer, Gary EMERITUS BUSINESS MANAGER TEXAS Cartwright, Lee Clark, Joe Frantz, Larry Goodwyn, Harris Sarah Payne Green, Bill . Helmer, Dave Hickey, Franklin Jones, Lyman Jones, Larry L. King, Georgia Earnest Klipple, Larry Lee, The Observer is published by Texas . OBSERVER Dave McNeely, Al Melinger, Robert L. Montgomery, Willie Morris, James Presley, Charles Ramsdell, Buck Ramsey, John Observer Publishing Co., biweekly from ©The Texas Observer Publishing Co. 1970 Rogers, Mary Beth Rogers, Roger Shattuck, Robert Sherrill, Austin, Texas. Entered as second-class Ronnie Dugger, Publisher Edwin Shrake, Dan Strawn, John P. Sullivan, Tom Suther matter April 26, 1937, at the Post Office at Austin, Texas, under the Act of March land, Charles Alan Wright. A window to the South 3, 1879. Second class postage paid at Austin, Texas. Single copy, 25c. One A journal of free voices We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the year, $7.00; two years, $13.00; three truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the years, $18.00; plus, for Texas addresses, Vol. LXII, No. 17 Aug. 21, 1970 41f..% sales tax. Foreign, except rights of man as the foundation of democracy; we will take APO/FPO, 50c additional per year. Air Incorporating the State Observer and orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we the East Texas Democrat, which in tl'm overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of mail, bulk orders, and group rates on incorporated the Austin Forum the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. request. Advocate. The editor has exclusive control over the editorial policies Change of Address: Please give old and contents of the Observer. None of the other people who and new address, including zip codes, Editorial and Business Offices: The are associated with the enterprise. shares this responsibility and allow two weeks. Texas Observer, 504 West 24th St., with her. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not Form 3579 regarding undelivered Austin, Texas 78705. Telephone for anything they have not themselves written, and in copies: Send to Texas Observer, 504 W. 4'17 -0746. publishing them the editor does not necessarily imply that 24th, Austin, Texas 78705. she agrees with them, because this is a journal of free voices. members and supporters who solicited from cars which slowed at the intersection. Editorial reaction to AT 7 :30 P.M., the day shift of the Houston Police Department was ordered held over for night duty and approximately Hampton shooting 250 others were summoned to go in to operation using riot-control techniques "0 they recently had learned. For the first "0 e.. 0 o· c::: ('l) time since May 6-7,1967, when 300 police ("') ·rushed a dormitory housing snipers at ('l) 0- Il> ::l on ~ black Texas Southern University, the on 0 Il> Il> ("') department was utilizing "sniper squads." (Jq ~ 0 0 As the rally broke up - probably about 5· 0 ~ § 0- IO p.m., the time still is not clear - ('l) '-'. 0' ::l 0 Hampton and his colleagues received ::I 0" reports that police armed with rifles were - on the roof of St. John's Baptist Church. It appears that Hampton was shot in the o second investigative sortie from the Post/ conservative daily storefront, and Bartee Haile, in a third. Chronicle/conservative daily o No marked patrol cars were in evidence and no call to surrender was heard from Tribune/extremely conservative weekly o police before the shooting began. Reports are entirely in conflict as to Voice of HOPE/liberal black weekly o who fired first. The Houston Chronicle on Aug. 9 published a selectively edited set of Forward Times/moderate black weekly o excerpts from a · tape recording made by Howard Dupree, a KTHT radio reporter Space City!/radical biweekly o who was on the roof of the church with Cougar/University of Houston o plainclothes officers J. O. ("Bo") Norris, L. C. Kitzmann, D. A. Barnard, R. G. ·Blaylock, and R. Q. Blackburn, all of the Criminal Intelligence Division. found himself the object of suspicion by dropped in court on the motion of the It ' is clear that the crowd at the many blacks. The Rev. Earl Allen, a state prosecutor. intersection scattered as firing began, and Coalition spokesman and head of the that a long period of silence ensued until independent anti-poverty group, HOPE 2 shortly after II p.m., when all 250 of the Development Inc. , accused him and "Houston's antipoverty agency is speciallY-Qutfitted police (flak vests, another black of working for "the man," confronted with the ticklish job of defining submachine guns) entered the then-empty and Duncantell, the most visible and how far its employes may go in public storefront and began taking Panther audible of the men surrounding the dead protest. Its problem is prompted by the buttons as souvenirs and ripping posters off Hampton, continued his harangues against appearance of Ovide Duncantell, a Harris the walls. These police then arrested 52 the police. PP2 members and others state it County Community Action Assn . employe, members of the crowd on Dowling, striking was Duncantell who told Hampton of the before City Council Dec. 17. Duncantell many with rifle butts in a swift police on the church; Duncantell states it accused police officers of unnecessarily unannounced sweep which followed their was not. gunning down a black high school student riot instruction to the letter.