Back in January 2008, the African Student Union at UCLA held a memorial for Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, two Black Panthers who were shot and killed in UCLA’s Campbell Hall on January 17, 1969. While appearing to be the result of a power struggle between the Black Panther Party and the Us Organization (led by Ron Karenga), the FBI’s Cointelpro had a manipulative hand in setting up the shooting deaths of Carter and Huggins. Bunchy Carter formed the So. California Chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968, and both Carter and John Huggins were Deputy Ministers of the L.A. Chapter.
Ericka Huggins (John Huggins widow) and Elaine Brown were featured speakers for the day-long memorial event. Elaine Brown asked the people in the audience to raise their hands if they were there that day. I raised my hand, even though I arrived at Campbell Hall several hours after the shootings had happened and only the hush of death was left. In those days, Campbell Hall was always full of life—the halls were filled with members of the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, Brown Berets, and Yellow Brotherhood. The stillness of Campbell Hall on that fateful day and what I was to later learn about John Huggins and Bunchy Carter has left a lifelong imprint on me.
Later that day, I wanted to give copies of Asian Americans: The Movement and the Moment, to Ericka and Elaine, as a way of thanks to them for the inspirational role that the Black Panther Party had played for the Asian Americans in the 1960s, which helped the development of the Asian American Movement from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. As people were gathering for the afternoon workshops, Ericka saw me and said “You were there that day…” and gave me a hug. I felt like I was truly blessed by angel at that moment. Ericka passed on that trademark Black Panther love for the people, and continues to give life to the spirits of John Huggins and Bunchy Carter.
I dedicate this blog to the memory of Bunchy Carter and John Huggins who gave their lives in the fight for bettering the lives of all oppressed people. The Carter/Huggins memorial is now an annual event as part of a movement to rename Campbell Hall to Carter-Huggins Hall and to educate the local community on the tactics of the powers-that-be when they are threatened by a strong people’s movement for change.
My encounter with Ericka Huggins prompted me to include her in some way in Amerasia’s women’s issue, which I was co-guest editing with Stephanie Santos. Our call for papers was focused on women involved in social movements. To have Ericka talk about the roles of women in the Black Panther Organization would certainly be a highlight that would help bond women of color. When I approached Ericka to write something, she countered with a suggestion to do a conversation with Yuri Kochiyama—our own human bridge between Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders and African Americans.
This conversation took place on another historic date—August 8, 2008, opening day of the Beijing Olympics. As Yuri and Ericka compared notes on women’s organizations, Ericka mentioned an African American women’s group named Black Women Stirring the Waters. Yuri exclaimed, “That’s a good name…” And Ericka shared how the group’s name came from a Sojourner Truth quote—“I am glad to see that men are getting their rights, but I want women to get theirs, and while the water is stirring, I will step into the pool.” The published conversation was titled “Stirrin’ Waters and Buildin’ Bridges.”
It was coincidental that the women’s issue was published during the 40th anniversary of UCLA Ethnic Studies. A year long calendar of activities celebrated the growth and development of all four ethnic studies centers at UCLA. The Asian American Studies Center sponsored an event to highlight this Amerasia Journal women’s issue on November 5, 2009 as one of our 40th anniversary events, as well as to bring people to see the “Breaking Ground” exhibit at Powell Library. The title of the event “Buildin’ Bridges and Stirrin’ Waters.”
As it turned out, featuring Ericka Huggins as our keynote speaker was a great magnet for this event. The fact that it was a “bridge building” event, and it was celebrating women of color activism, there was no trouble getting involvement from staff and students at the Asian American Studies Center. Members from the Asian American Studies Graduate Student Association, AASC staff, and undergrad workstudy students all helped to produce an enthusiastic celebration. Students, faculty, staff, and community members—about ninety people filled a room just off the Powell Libary Rotunda, with food, laughter, and good energy.
So from the premature deaths of Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, Amerasia gained the insights of two women who are joined by the tragic losses of revolutionary Black leadership—as Yuri was holding the dying Malcolm X that devastating day of February 21, 1965 at the Audubon Ballroom, four years later Ericka was a widow with a two-week-old child.
In closing, respects to the memory of Bunchy Carter and John Huggins this January 17, 2011. May their souls continue to inspire younger generations to struggle for a more just world to live in.
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