When the octet of rabble-rousers now known as the Huntsville 8 headed out to Walker County on the morning of June 22, 2000, to protest the execution of Shaka Sankofa, their intentions were simple. They were going to join up to 1,000 like-minded activists in the pursuit of abolishing the death penalty. Sankofa had been convicted of murder in 1981 by an all-white jury that had no physical evidence — no fingerprints, no gun, just a witness who claimed to have seen the crime from 40 feet away. Tonight some of Houston’s most adventurous artists — including Free Radicals, DRUM, Day After Yesterday, Zin, Chicken George, Psychedelic B-Boy and Sound Patrol — come together in support of the activists who were arrested and charged with criminal trespass after crossing a barricade outside the Walls Unit that day. Proceeds go toward the legal fees of these conscientious objectors.
This article appears in Sep 5-11, 2002.