Black Panther Party Rally Goes Peacefully
Handful of members march off-campus to lacrosse house
About 30 members of the New Black Panthers Party held a demonstration outside Duke University's Chapel Drive entrance Monday morning before marching to an off-campus house where a rape allegedly occurred at a March 13 party.
Speakers during the hour of speeches just off West Campus included Durham School Board member Jackie Wagstaff, local activist Victoria Peterson and Malik Zulu Shabazz, the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party.
"We have not come to play the race card," Shabazz told members of the media, who outnumbered his New Black Panther Party contingent, as the 10:30 a.m. demonstration began. "Racism existed before we got here. Racism existed at Duke University long before we got here."
Shabazz unveiled eight demands by the group, which included the "vigorous" investigation and prosecution of the alleged sexual assault that occurred during the party held by Duke men's lacrosse players, the expulsion of all Duke students involved and an end to "private" meetings between Duke President Richard H. Brodhead, North Carolina Central University Chancellor James H. Ammons and Durham Mayor William Bell.
Nearly 60 members of the Durham community, including university employees, students and faculty, strained to hear the speeches over the din created by two TV station helicopters hovering overhead.
After the speeches were completed, Shabazz requested permission to march onto campus. Robert Dean, director of the Duke University Police Department, citing a prior agreement that the demonstration would not enter campus property and the desire of the university to avoid disruption during the start of the exam period for students, denied that request.
Shabazz and his followers then marched along Duke University Road, across campus on Anderson Street and up Hillsborough Road and Markham Street to the house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.
The nearly 50-minute walk, which was uneventful, was followed by a 40-minute demonstration on the home's front yard. About 80 people gathered, including employees, students and neighbors, many of whom sat on or stood behind stone wall that rings much of East Campus.
Once the speeches were completed, members of the New Black Panther Party stepped into a waiting convoy of vehicles and drove away.