Black Liberation Army

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Logo of the Black Liberation Army
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Logo of the Black Liberation Army

The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was an underground, black nationalist-Marxist organization that operated in the United States from 1971 to 1981. Comprised largely of former Black Panthers (BPP), the organization's program was one of "armed struggle" and its stated goal was to "take up arms for the liberation and self-determination of black people in the United States." [1] To this end, members carried out a series of bombings, robberies (what participants termed "expropriations") and prison breaks.

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[edit] Formation

The conditions under which the Black Liberation Army formed are not entirely clear. It is commonly believed that the organization was founded by those who left the Black Panther Party after Eldridge Cleaver was expelled from the party's Central Committee. [2] A fallout was made inevitable between Cleaver and other Panther leaders after he publicly criticized the BPP, among other things accusing Panther social programs of being reformist rather than revolutionary.

Others, including black revolutionary Geronimo ji Jaga, assert that the BLA "as a movement concept pre-dated and was broader than the BPP," suggesting that it was a refuge for ex-Panthers rather than a new organization formed through schism. [3]

The newly formed BLA believed that "the character of reformism is based on unprincipled class collaboration with our enemy" [4] and asserted the following principles:

1. That we are anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist, and anti-sexist.
2. That we must of necessity strive for the abolishment of these systems and for the institution of Socialistic relationships in which Black people have total and absolute control over their own destiny as a people.
3. That in order to abolish our systems of oppression, we must utilize the science of class struggle, develop this science as it relates to our unique national condition.

[edit] Theory

The Black Panther Party dissolved partly because of police and FBI pressure (see COINTELPRO). Other factors included Infiltration, sectarianism and lack of solidarity from white liberals and the wider left which had many activists coping with the criminalization of the Black Power movement, including long prison sentences and deaths of key Black Panthers, among them Fred Hampton, at the hands of police. This reality convinced many former party members of the inevitability of an underground existence, including the assumption that a new period of violent repression was at hand.

BLA activists operated under the assumption that only through covert means, including but not limited to violent acts, could the movement be continued until such a time when an above ground existence was possible. In this sense, the BLA's reasoning approached that of the Weather Underground.

[edit] Activities

According to a Justice Department report on BLA activity, the Black Liberation Army was suspected of involvement in over 60 incidents of violence between 1970 and 1976. [5] The Fraternal Order of Police blames the BLA for the murders of 13 police officers. [6]

On the 3 November 1971, Officer James R. Greene of the Atlanta Police Force was shot dead in his patrol van at a gas station. His wallet, badge and gun were taken, and the evidence at the scene pointed to two suspects. The first was Twymon Meyers, who was killed in a police shoot out 1973, and the second was Kamau Sidiki, who evaded capture until 2002, when he was arrested in New York on a separate charge, and was recognised as one of the men wanted in the Greene murder. Apparently the two men had attacked the officer to gain standing with their compatriots within Black Liberation Army. [7]

In another high-profile incident, Assata Shakur, Zayd Shakur and Sundiata Acoli allegedly opened fire on state troopers in New Jersey after being pulled over for a broken taillight. Zayd Shakur and state trooper Werner Foerster were both killed during the exchange. Following her capture, Shakur was tried in six different criminal trials. According to Shakur she was beaten and tortured during her incarceration in a number of different federal and state prisons. The charges ranged from kidnapping to assault and battery to bank robbery. Shakur was found guilty of the murder of both Foerster and her companion Zayd Shakur but escaped prison in 1979 and eventually relocated to Cuba.

The BLA was active in the US until at least 1981 when a Brinks truck robbery, conducted with support from Weather Underground members Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, left a guard and two police officers dead. Boudin and Gilbert, along with several BLA members, were subsequently arrested. [8]

Following the collapse of the BLA, some members (including Ashanti Alston and Kuwasi Balagoon) became outspoken proponents of anarchism. Balagoon died in prison of an AIDS-related disease in 1986.

[edit] Members and associates

BLA members who remain in prison (as of January 2006), include:

Other high-profile BLA members and associates:

  • Arthur Lee Washington, Jr., FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive #427, wanted for 1989 murder of a New Jersey state trooper, presumed deceased from AIDS as of 2000
  • Assata Shakur

[edit] References

  1. ↑  MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base. [9]
  2. ↑  Le Monde diplomatique, Caged panthers, 2005. [10]
  3. ↑  Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party, 2001.
  4. ↑  The BLA Coordinating Committee, Message to the Black Movement: A Political Statement from the Black Underground. [11]
  5. ↑  Blast from the Past, 1979. [12]
  6. ↑  New York State FOP, New York State Fraternal Order of Police Criticizes Judge's Decision on the release of Kathy Boudin. [13]
  7. ↑  Fulton Co. District Attorney Report,.[14]
  8. ↑  CourtTV Crime Library, Ambush: The Brinks Robbery of 1981. [15]
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