Kuwasi Balagoon

Kuwasi Balagoon (born Donald Weems; December 22, 1946 – December 13, 1986) was an American political activist, anarchist and member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army.

Radicalized by race riots in his home state of Maryland growing up, as well as by his experiences while serving in the US Army, Weems became the black revolutionary known as Kuwasi Balagoon in New York City in the late 1960s. First becoming involved in local Afrocentric organizations in Harlem, Balagoon would move on to become involved in the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party, which quickly saw him arrested and charged for alleged criminal behavior. Balagoon was initially part of the Panther 21 case, in which 21 Black Panthers were accused of planning to bomb several locations in New York City. Although the Panther 21 were acquitted, Balagoon's case was separated off and he was convicted instead of a New Jersey bank robbery.

While serving his sentence, Balagoon became disillusioned with the Black Panther Party and drifted into the more radical Black Liberation Army while also ideologically embracing Black anarchism. During the 1970s Balagoon would escape prison twice, and during his second period on the run, would be involved in breaking Assata Shakur out of prison in 1979. In 1981 Balagoon was amongst the several BLA, May 19 Communist Organization and Weather Underground members involved in the 1981 Brink's robbery, which resulted in the deaths of two police officers and one security guard. Following his capture in 1982, Balagoon would be tried and sentenced to life for his involvement. While in prison, Balagoon died of pneumocystis pneumonia brought about by AIDS on 13 December 1986. He was 39 years old.

Biography Early life Balagoon was born Donald Weems in the majority Black community of Lakeland in Prince George's County, Maryland on December 22, 1946. In the early 1960s the teenage Weems was influenced by Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge movement occurring in Maryland seeking civil rights for African-Americans. The Cambridge movement was noted for breaking away from "passive resistance" and becoming more militant, with Gloria Richardson defending active self-defence as a tactic. The Cambridge movement eventually led to the Cambridge riot of 1963, and the National Guard was sent into Maryland for a year as a result.

After graduating high school, Weems joined the US Army and was deployed to Germany, where he experienced racism and physical attacks from white officers and enlisted men. In response, Weems and other Black soldiers formed a secret group with the Army called "Da Legislators" which carried out revenge attacks. It was during this period in Europe that Weems visited London, England where he met African immigrants, Black immigrants from the Caribbean and other Black British people. Weems found the experience of meeting Black people of other nationalities stimulating and began embracing a more Afrocentric lifestyle. He was indicted on 2 April 1969, along with 20 other Panther leaders and organizers, on conspiracy charges; the 21 defendants became known as the Panther 21. Most of the defendants were released, but Balagoon was held without bail because of the more serious charges against him. Defence Attorneys counterargued that this accusation was based on the witness testimony of BPP member Joan Bird, who they alleged was beaten by police until she agreed to state that. After hearing of Bird's arrest and alleged beating, on the day he was charged, Sekou Odinga escaped police custody and went on the run. Odinga avoided an attempted arrest on April 2 and proceeded to flee the United States for Algeria, where Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver was now based. Balagoon was being held in Queens with Lumumba Shakur and fellow Panther 21 defendant Kwando Kinshasa where, during the rioting, seven hostages were taken. As authorities attempted to negotiate with the prisoners, who were demanding better conditions inside the prison and speedier trials, inside the prison Balagoon attempted to influence decision-making, believing decisions should be consensus-based. However, Balagoon ultimately felt that the prisoners allowed the Black Panthers to make the decisions, and began disengaging from meetings. The prisons were later retaken, and while Balagoon was disappointed with the outcome, he was evidently pleased with the experience, expressing the belief that the riots demonstrated ordinary people could overcome the power of the state.

Ideological changes It was during this time that Balagoon became disillusioned with the BPP leadership. He was particularly disappointed by the expulsion from the party of former Army ranger Geronimo Pratt, Pratt was a popular figure amongst the New York members of the Panthers and his expulsion demoralised their ranks.

1981 Brink's robbery

In January 1982, Balagoon was captured and charged with participating, along with other members of the BLA, M19CO, and the Weather Underground, in the October 20, 1981 robbery of a Brink's armored truck in West Nyack, New York. Two police officers, Waverly Brown and Edward O'Grady II, and money courier Peter Paige were killed.

In July 1983, Balagoon was placed on trial alongside David Gilbert and Judith Alice Clark, white accomplices who had helped during the robbery. During the trial, Balagoon dismissed legal representation and instead represented himself, using his speaking time to reject the authority of the court and to portray himself as a "prisoner of war". During Balagoon's examination of Odinga, Odinga confirmed that Balagoon and himself had been a part of the robbery and stated that the deaths that had taken place had been "justified." Previous to Odinga's testimony, none of the defendants had admitted any role in the robbery. and sentenced to life imprisonment. Following the trial, he wrote: "As to the seventy-five years in prison, I am not really worried, not only because I am in the habit of not completing sentences or waiting on parole or any of that nonsense but also because the State simply isn't going to last seventy-five or even fifty years."

Final years In an early 1980 television interview, Balagoon endorsed killing Black Liberation Army members who had become police informers and gave evidence used to convict BLA members such as Balagoon, Balagoon deriding them as "traitors." In the same interview, Balagoon described the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, in which two suicide bombers killed 307 people (mostly American and French peacekeeping forces) as "beautiful," "incredible," and that there was "a lot to learn" from it.

Death Balagoon died in prison of pneumocystis pneumonia, an AIDS-related illness, on December 13, 1986, aged 39. During his lifetime, Balagoon had been an openly bisexual man whose views on sexuality often intersected with his ideology. However, many of the groups he had been involved in, such as the New Afrikan People's Organization, omitted his sexuality and his cause of death in their official obituaries. In 2019, PM Press released Kuwasi Balagoon: A Soldier's Story. This collection of writings by and about Balagoon was edited by Matt Meyer and Karl Kersplebedeb and includes contributions from Sekou Odinga, David Gilbert, Meg Starr, Ashanti Alston, and other activists.

Since 2020, Black and Pink, a prison abolitionist organization supporting LGBTQ and HIV-positive prisoners, has run a "Kuwasi Balagoon award" for those living with HIV/AIDS.