Balagoon moved to New York City after he was honorably discharged in 1967. As a member of the Central Harlem Committee for Self-Defense and Yoruba Temple, he took the Ghanaian name “Kuwasi,” meaning born on Sunday, and the Yoruba name “Balagoon,” meaning “warlord.” In 1968, Balagoon joined the Black Panther Party and was arrested the following year as part of the NY Panther 21 conspiracy. However, he refused to stand trial and joined the BLA underground instead. Upon his capture by authorities, he spent much of the 1970s in prison, even though he managed to escape twice. In the wake of his second escape, Balagoon joined a revolutionary cell of the Black Liberation Army that collaborated with anti-imperialist white radicals to expropriate armored trucks.

In October 1981, Balagoon and several revolutionaries were arrested and sentenced to life in prison following a Brinks car robbery that killed two cops and a guard. During his incarceration, he wrote several essays that were later collected in A Soldier’s Story: Writings by a Revolutionary New Afrikan Anarchist (2001), which describe his political activities and anarchist philosophy. According to Balagoon, Black people must engage in armed struggle to free themselves from white settler colonialism and racial capitalism. As a result of complications resulting from the AIDS virus, Balagoon died on December 13, 1986; however, he continues to be an inspiration to all future generations of Black freedom seekers.

Written By Anthony Ratcliff @blkintellectual