Quanell X - Community Activist

Community Activist

Since becoming a leader of the New Black Panthers, Quanell X has made himself and his views heard through public demonstrations and assistance with the surrender of outstanding suspects to law enforcement agencies. In 1999, at the trial of John William King for the 1998 slaying of James Byrd, Jr., Quanell X and his entourage briefly disrupted proceedings.

Jeffrey Battle served as a bodyguard for Quanell X in Houston during the late 1990s. Battle was notable as one of the Portland Seven, a group of American Muslims who tried to aid the Taliban in Afghanistan following the events of September 11, 2001. In October 2002 Quanell X traveled to Portland, Oregon, to attend a court hearing for October Lewis, Battle's ex-wife. Lewis was released at the hearing. Battle was convicted of sedition, and is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence.

On March 30, 2004 Quanell X took the podium at a Houston City Council meeting and demanded that reparations for slavery be put on the council agenda. This demand had previously been denied by mayor Bill White. The exchange escalated enough that Houston police were called to remove Quanell forcibly from the chamber.

In June 2004 Quanell X was charged with evading arrest. He was on the phone with a Houston Police Department assistant police chief (Charles R. McClelland - now the HPD chief since 2010) when arranging the surrender of cop shooter Derrick Forney.

Quanell X is credited with helping officers in the March 2007 murder investigation of Texas A&M University student Tynesha Stewart. He helped obtain a confession from Timothy Wayne Shepherd, the suspect in the murder. He also criticized the Harris County sheriff's decision not to search for Stewart's body in a Humble, Texas area landfill. Stewart's body was later discovered to be unrecoverable due to suspect burning remains in two barbecue pits.

Quanell X called for Chuck Rosenthal's resignation following the email scandal that showed that he had sent and received racist messages, and organized a rally to take place outside the county courthouse January 24, 2008. On October 16, 2008, KTRK-TV reported that Quanell X was paid $20,000.00 to arrange these protests and to pack the courtroom during the related Iberra trial.

He was instrumental in having a murder suspect, Randy Sylvester Sr., reveal the locations of his missing children. After initially giving Sylvester the benefit of the doubt, he was convinced otherwise when he went with Pasadena police and Sylvester to an apartment he maintained separately from his family's that he called his "dog house." There, Sylvester engaged in drugs and pornography. Quanell X would not go into detail, but other things he learned in that apartment changed his mind about Sylvester. He convinced the suspect to "Do the right thing" and lead Quanell X and police to a location just outside of Pasadena, Texas in Houston, where the charred remains were located.

In March 2011 Quanell X traveled to Cleveland, Texas to support 18 men allegedly involved in the gang rape of an 11 year old girl. Quannel X spoke out against the victim claiming she did not do enough to prevent herself from being gang raped. He later went on to claim the girl's parents were also responsible for her assault.

"It was not the young girl that yelled rape. Stop right there -- something is wrong, brothers and sisters", "Where was the mother? Where was the father?"

On August 1, 2011, Quanell X pleaded with the residents of inner city neighborhoods to stop the "No Snitching" policy that institutes a bias of those who provide information to police after a series of crimes and murders have plagued the third ward area in recent weeks. He said, "The no-snitch policy does not work when you have having our elders and our women and our children live like hostages."

In November 2011, KHOU-TV, the CBS television affiliate in Houston, reported on complaints from individuals who asserted that they paid Quanell X for help they did not receive. Sandra Laday, a notable community activist in her own right, asked Quanell X to help her in finding out about her own son's murder. After giving Quanell X $600 she received no help from him and said “I feel like I was taken advantage of.” Also, Hilda Pete, who was the mother of a murder suspect, asked Quanell X to help in getting her son off murder charges. She reportedly gave Quanell X $9,000 and asserts he did very little to help her and her son. Quanell X reportedly often asks for the money upfront and in cash. Pete was quoted as saying "He's a con artist" when speaking about Quanell X.