October 27 March to End Executions : Houston Indymedia

Samba beats and chants for justice filled the streets of Third Ward on Saturday, October 27 as death penalty abolition activists from around Texas gathered for the 8th annual state march to end executions.

Gloria Rubac and Deloyd Parker started off the event at Emancipation Park where they invited representatives of Journey of Hope, the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, the Black United Front, SOS radio and state representative Dora Olivo to kick off the march with opening remarks.

The SHAPE community center elders and Free Radicals Protest Samba band led the crowd through Dowling Street, stopping for a few moments to mark the assassination of Black Panther party member Carl Hampton and then marching on to SHAPE for a rally.

In keeping with the march's theme, "Celebrating Our Victories, Remembering Our Losses; Continuing the Fight", the rally featured a range of speakers, from activists involved in past and current struggles to free death row inmates to families of the executed. Both supporters and family members made powerful speeches highlighting the injustice of the current system and urging the march attendees to work towards abolition everyday.

It's first time in Houston, this year's march brought out an incredibly diverse crowd of supporters including, but definitely not limited to: family members of those executed, families of death row inmates, family members of murder victims, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, members of the SHAPE community center, the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, People's Party 3, CRECEN, Austin members of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the Service Employees International Union(SEIU), SOS radio, the Green Party, and the Houston Peace & Justice Center.

Organizers urge abolition supporters to continue the fight and come out to these upcoming events:

Nov. 6 : Meeting of the Abolition Movement - we will be having a film and discussion on The Execution Tapes; Georgia's Secret Audio Recordings of Two Executions, a film from the July 17, 2007 program of Democracy Now.

We will also be planning a fundraiser for Brother Clarence Brandley, making plans for our annual card signing and holdiay treats pot luck on Dec. 4 and our literature / tee shirt table for the first day of KWANZAA on Dec. 26.

Of Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement and SHAPE Center

The man with the microphone spent 18 years on Uganda's death row until the man he was convicted of killing turned up alive.

Carl Hampton, Chairman of the People's Party II, was shot and killed at this intersection by an HPD sniper on top of St John's Baptist Church.