Planned protest outside Saavedra's home fails (FIZZLES) Quanell X still hopes to stage protest

Houston Chronicle ^ | Oct. 12, 2007, 11:40PM | ERICKA MELLON

[cbkaty]

In the beginning, black activist Quanell X pledged a protest like those in the civil rights era.

He would bus students from Key Middle School to the tony, tree-lined neighborhood of Houston Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, and they would demand an equal education.

Instead, on Friday afternoon, the activist offered free food and a visit from a "surprise platinum hip-hop artist" to persuade about 50 students to board a chartered bus pointed toward Montrose.

But the bus never moved. And the artist never showed.

Quanell X said he canceled the plan to bus the children from Key to Saavedra's Montrose-area house because he was unable to reach the mother who apparently had all the students' parental permission slips.

"I didn't want to take that chance with the liability," said Quanell X, adding that he plans to reschedule the protest for next week.

The students and staff from Key have been at nearby Fleming Middle School for three weeks while environmental experts study what might have made numerous people sick at Key.

But the merging of the schools has sparked complaints that Fleming is too crowded and that the Key students are being deprived of a good education. On Friday, though, some students said classes had improved since Saavedra sent 10 temporary classrooms to Fleming this week.

"It's better," said Jacqueline Ortiz, a sixth-grader. "But I like my old school."

Quanell X's plan to protest how the district handled the Key situation hit its first roadblock earlier in the week. The activist initially asked students to skip school Thursday but abandoned that idea after district officials threatened that students would be charged with truancy and their parents would be taken to court.

The activist's backup plan — to bus the children from northeast Houston to Saavedra's house — didn't pan out much better.

After school let out early Friday, the Key students lingered while Quanell X and a few parents debated whether to board the buses without the signed permission slips.

"Be patient. Don't leave," Quanell X told the students around 1:40 p.m.

About 20 minutes later, with some teens starting to walk away, he told them, "We have food and drinks for everybody. Go to the bus."

Parents had bought fried chicken, so about 50 students sat on a big chartered bus and ate. Around 3 p.m., Quanell X told reporters he was canceling the protest.

Still, for a few minutes, students and several parents marched outside Key and chanted, "Save our school."

ericka.mellon@chron.com

[Admin Moderator]

No ebonics please.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

X promised the kids a platinum hip-hop artist who never showed? Uh oh

[TexasCajun]

Quanell Jefferson Evans - Houston's own little black panther muslim Jesse Jackson wannabe.

Quanell X (born Quanell Jefferson Evans on December 7, 1970 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the New Black Panther Party and a community activist in Houston, Texas.

His parents were both Nation of Islam members from Los Angeles. After his parents' divorce, Quanell moved to Houston with his mother and younger brother.

Quanell was a drug dealer in the Sunnyside community of south Houston, Texas.[1]. In May 1989, Quanell spent a brief time in jail and received 10 years probation for possessing and dealing crack cocaine.

It was during this time that Quanell had a life changing conversion and decided he would devote his life to the betterment of African-Americans in Houston.

Once a "young street thug" according to himself, Quanell polished up his image to set a better role model for the people he leads. He always appears in a suit and tie to show young Black men that it is important to be respectable and to command respect in appearance.

Quanell is a skilled speaker and also began to use his skills in oratory to help lead his organization.

Once a hustler, always a hustler!

[cbkaty]

No Ebonics please

It is apparent you have never heard Quanell nor uderstand his limited grasp of the english language, or his arrest record....

Quanell X was a drug dealer......

[cbkaty]

No ebonics please.

It occurs to me that the former 1st lady has used it even in church, kids of all colors use it everyday in most inner city school settings, adults use it, but poor old cranky cbkaty can't....

Hmmmmm....some must just me more equal than old cbkaty.....(tongue firmly planted in cheek)

Hillary Clinton stated...and I quote, "Aww don't feel noways tired. I come too faarrr frum where I started frum. . . . Aww could have listened all day luung."

R U certain U want to ban Ebonics?

[Inspectorette]

Yes - we are under a microscope. We're in good company - witness what Rush has had to endure over the last couple of weeks.

DU and MoveOn types are monitoring every word on FR - eager to jump on even the perception of any -ism of which they can accuse us.

[TexasCajun]