So it turns out there actually are New Black Panthers in Houston. While they’ll be at the polls this year, the leader of the New Black Panther Party in Harris County said they wouldn’t be tolerating any of the type of behavior that took place in Philadelphia back in 2008.
“I want to say to all Houstonians and all people voting in Harris County, no member of the New Black Panther Party will have a nightstick or a billy club in their hand. That will not be tolerated, I can assure you of that,” Quanell X told Fox in Houston.
“But what I can promise the King Street Patriots is that we will not tolerate any intimidation tactics coming from them against our elderly, our women and our young people,” he added.
Quanell X also said — like the King Street Patriots and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee — he and the New Black Panther Party welcome federal elections monitors.
The head of the King Street Patriots had inaccurately said at a meeting that the headquarters of Houston Votes, a project aimed at registering voters, was the location of the New Black Panther Party’s office. Houston Votes received threatening and racist e-mails after it was targeted by the King Street Patriots and their True the Vote project.
The conservative-controlled U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is voting today on a draft of their 2010 enforcement report which focuses on the Justice Department’s handling of a civil voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.
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Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.