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    • Nov 26, 2011

Police Critic Fly Benzo Keeps Catching Hell Since Police Murder of Kenneth Harding

November 24, 2011


From SF BayView:


You are listening to the Minister of Information on Hard Knock Radio (broadcast on KPFA Nov. 17, 2011). Today we’re going to be talking to San Francisco activist DeBray Carpenter aka Fly Benzo, as he’s known on the streets and in the rap world, about what’s been going on with police terrorism in Hunters Point.



Fly Benzo (DeBray Carpenter), a straight-A student at City College and lifelong resident of Hunters Point, has been beaten and jailed repeatedly since he spoke out against the police murder of Kenneth Harding over a $2 T-Train transfer. Fly is currently out on $95,000 bail, still owes the bail bondsman $4,000 and is raising funds by selling T-shirts.


by Minister of Information JR:


Fly has been very active and his family has been very active in the Hunters Point community. He has been one of the frontline soldiers in this fight for justice in the case of Kenneth Harding, an unarmed 22-year-old Black male who was murdered in Hunters Point by the San Francisco PD over a muni transfer. Fly, what’s happening with you?


Fly Benzo: What’s up?


M.O.I. JR: Can you tell the people a little bit about your history in activism? Can you tell people how did you get active and a little bit about your family and who they are in Hunters Point?


Fly Benzo: My father has been an activist for a long time; his name is Claude Carpenter. My mom (Barbara Banks), she was the first female contractor in San Francisco and she was African American. I really started with my activism when they built the T-Train Line on Third Street around 2003 and I was too young to even work but I was fighting for my people’s rights because it was none of my peoples working that T-Line.



This serene scene in Mendell Plaza, in the heart of Hunters Point at Third and Palou, with DeBray Carpenter aka Fly Benzo (far right) and his father, Claude Carpenter (center), and other residents enjoying community solidarity, is where police have been beating and arresting Fly.