On Saturday, April 11th, at the West Oakland Public Library, family, friends, and former Black Panthers celebrated Lil' Bobby Hutton Day in honor of the 17-year-old Black Panther murdered by Oakland police in 1968. Bobby Hutton was the first member to join the Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) after its founding by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland in the Fall of 1966. The group Family and Friends of Lil' Bobby Hutton have been marking the day since 1998, shortly after their work for the release of Geronimo Pratt was complete. Pratt was freed in 1997 after being wrongfully convicted and spending 27 years in prison. Family and Friends of Lil' Bobby Hutton are currently working on fund-raising and finalizing the design for a statue they intend to erect in Lil' Bobby Hutton Park (aka DeFremery Park) across the street from the West Oakland library.

Speakers included Joyce Hutton, Bobby Hutton's niece, Emory Douglas, Melvin Dickson, Billy X, Ronald Freeman, Jerry Abrams, and more. The celebration included a poetry contest and featured sketches and a clay study of the future statue to honor Bobby Hutton.

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See Also: Media, Revolution, and the Black Panther Party — Kiilu Nyasha Interview | Black Panthers History "Honoring Huey P. Newton", Berkeley, 2/22/09