Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin

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Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin (born 1947 in Chattanooga, Tennessee) is an African American writer, activist, and Black anarchist. He is a former member of the Black Panther Party.

Contents 1 Youth and early activism 2 Hijacking and incarceration 3 Post-prison activism 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Youth and early activism

When he was 12, Ervin joined the NAACP youth group and participated in the sit-in protests that helped end racial segregation in Chattanooga. He was drafted during the Vietnam War and served in the army for two years, where he became an anti-War activist. In 1967 he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and, a short time later, the Black Panther Party.

[edit] Hijacking and incarceration

In February 1969, Ervin hijacked a plane to Cuba to evade prosecution for allegedly trying to kill a Ku Klux Klan leader. While in Cuba and Czechoslovakia, Ervin became disillusioned with state socialism. After several unsuccessful attempts, the American government eventually extradited Ervin and brought him to the U.S. to face trial. Ervin's trial, at which he faced the death penalty, was held by a white judge before an all-white jury.^{[citation needed]} Ervin was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ervin first learned about anarchism while in prison in the late 1970s. He read numerous anarchist books, and his case was adopted by the Anarchist Black Cross, a political prisoner support organization. While in prison, Ervin wrote several anarchist pamphlets, including "Anarchism and the Black Revolution," which has been reprinted many times and may be his best-known work.

Eventually, Ervin's legal challenges and an international campaign led to his release from prison after 15 years.

[edit] Post-prison activism

Ervin returned to Chattanooga after his release, where he became involved with a local civil rights group called Concerned Citizens for Justice, fighting police brutality and the Klan. In 1987, Ervin helped file a class action civil rights lawsuit that resulted in the restructuring of the Chattanooga government and the election of several Black city councilmembers.

As of December 2006, Ervin lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

[edit] References

• A Short Biography of Lorenzo Komboa Ervin.
• Biographical Sketch.
• P.J. Tobia, Liberal-On-Liberal Antagonism, A terminated employee calls one of Nashville’s leading liberal activist organizations a racist 'progressive plantation', Nashville Scene, December 14, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Essays by Lorenzo Komboa Ervin (maintained by Infoshop.org)
• Essays by Lorenzo Komboa Ervin (maintained by Libcom.org)
• Anarchism and the Black Revolution and other writings, interviews, audio, and related material