Kuwasi Balagoon (1946 - 1986)
Sun Dec 22, 1946
Kuwasi Balagoon was a queer New Afrikan anarchist and a member of the Black Liberation Army born on this day in 1946. A veteran of the U.S. Army, the racism he experienced in the military led him to begin tenant organizing in New York City, where he joined the Black Panther Party. He was one of the defendants in the Panther 21 case.
Balagoon later escaped from Rahway State Prison in New Jersey and went underground with the Black Liberation Army (BLA) in 1978. On October 20th, 1981, he was captured while participating in an armored truck robbery (known as the Brinks Robbery of 1981) which killed two cops and a money courier. Balagoon was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
Balagoon authored several texts while in prison, writings that have become influential among anarchists since first being published and distributed by anarchist prisoner support networks in the 1980s and 1990s. He died in prison of an AIDS-related illness on December 13th, 1986, aged 39.
- Date: 1946-12-22
- Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
- Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org