Houston, TX – The spark that began last September in Ferguson is now a prairie fire in Baltimore. Like people in many cities, Houston activists held an anti-police brutality rally in solidarity with Baltimore, April 29. Over 50 activists gathered in Houston’s Third Ward, a predominately African American neighborhood, to denounce the crimes of the Houston Police Department.

As elsewhere in the U.S., there is a long and continuing history of African Americans being brutalized by a racist police force. From when the Houston Police Department assassinated Carl Hampton, a leader of the Black Panthers in the 1970s, to the recent murder of African American man Jordan Baker. The police murder African Americans in Houston and get away with it.

The Houston police tried to be intimidating at the April 29 protest, with over 200 police, horses, a paddy wagon and an entire command station. The police threatened to arrest anyone crossing a Highway 288 bridge and closed all the major side streets. Police even flew a helicopter around, trying to scare the protesters away.

The activists were not intimidated at all and confronted the police, chanting, “Hands up, don't shoot!” “Black lives matter!” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, racist police have got to go.”

People in the community watching were very supportive, some joined the protest and others provided water for the activists. As the African American freedom movement builds momentum, there will be more protests in Houston.

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