April 1, 1967: 56 years ago, Apr 1 1967, Denzil Dowell, a Black 22-year old, was killed [...]

56 years ago, Apr 1 1967, Denzil Dowell, a Black 22-year old, was killed by a Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department officer in North Richmond. The struggle for justice for Dowell’s family would become the first major campaign of the new Black Panther Party for Self-Defense

Prominent local civil rights activist and leader of the Oakland Direct Action Committee Mark Comfort informed the BPP of Dowell’s killing shortly after it occurred. Over the following weeks, the BPP organized a series of armed rallies in North Richmond’s Black community

At the North Richmond rallies, the Panthers led armed community members in a successful stand-off with police, who backed off without firing a shot. During this campaign, the BPP’s membership grew from a small handful of activists to several hundred members

North Richmond would be an important early base for the Panthers, who also led an unsuccessful campaign to incorporate it as an independent, Black-majority “Freedom City”