On this day, 22 December 1946, bisexual Black liberation activist Kuwasi Balagoon was born in Maryland.
He joined the military, and faced violent racism both from officers and his fellow servicemen, as a result of which Balagoon and some Black comrades formed a collective called De Legislators: “From then on, every time a racial situation appeared, we did. Every time white G.I.s ganged a black G.I., we moved to more than even the score. One at a time we would catch up with them and beat and stomp them so bad that helicopters would have to be used to take them to better hospitals than the ones in the area. We were not playing. We would plan things so that we could kick something off inside a club that would instantly turn into a riotous condition—once everything was in chaos it was impossible to pick us out. We then broke faces and bodies of whoever we planned to get, and made our escape. Afterward we would have critiques, just like in the end of war games; get our alibis together; and keep the whole thing under our hats.”
Later returning to civilian life, Balagoon moved to New York City and got involved in grassroots tenant organising. He soon became involved in the Black Panther Party, and was subsequently arrested and put on trial as part of the notorious Panther 21 case, who were all later acquitted.
Balagoon then joined the urban guerrilla group the Black Liberation Army, and was imprisoned and escaped various times. He was eventually convicted and jailed for life for participation in the $2.8 million robbery of a Brink’s security outlet.
Balagoon kept up his radical activity in prison, authoring a number of texts, until his death from AIDS-related illness in 1986.
We have made available a collection of his writings, and the autobiographies of all of the Panther 21, here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/kuwasi-balagoon https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1881815385336936/?type=3