Rakem Balogun
Born
Christopher Daniels
NationalityAmerican
Military career
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service2001 - 2004
Battles/warsIraq War

Rakem Balogun, whose legal name is Christopher Daniels, is an American activist, best known for his involvement in a Facebook-related incident that occurred on December 12, 2017, which became headline news in the United States.

Background

Balogun enlisted as a US Marine in 2001 and served in the Iraq War in 2003.[1][2] Balogun cites his time serving in the US Marine Corps as alienating due to the behaviour and racial attitudes of white officers, and left the Marine Corps 3 years into an 8-year contract on an "Other Than Honorable" discharge .[3] Balogun became a founding member of groups such as Guerrilla Mainframe in 2016 after a fallout with the Huey P. Newton Gun Club which he allegedly co-founded in 2014, both based in Dallas, Texas. Balogun cites the killing of unarmed black men by police officers as the motivation for creating these groups.[3] In 2016, Balogun distanced himself from the Huey P. Newton Gun Club, as he felt it had become too influenced by New Black Panther Party (also based in Dallas), which he identifies as being a Black Separatist organisation, something which clashed with his Socialist outlook.[3] However, during a 2019 interview on Klepper, Balogun is seen leading a demonstration including several participants in Huey P. Newton Gun Club paraphernalia.[4]

2017 arrest

Balogun was startled awake in his Dallas home by a large crash and police officers screaming commands on December 12, 2017, when he and his 15-year-old son were forced outside of their Dallas home dressed only in their underwear. Balogun was handcuffed and learned FBI agents were investigating domestic terrorism and had been monitoring him for years for posts on Facebook criticizing police.

In November 2017, agents found out Balogun was in possession of a firearm, compelling a warrant for his arrest, because he was a prohibited person, due to a domestic violence conviction for assault against his ex-girlfriend.

Agents then prepared to arrest him for the firearms violation which was grounds for Balogun's arrest.[5] Violent criminals are not allowed to possess firearms, especially in cases of domestic violence.

His organization, then reached out to several other organizations and news outlets seemingly as a form of propaganda, to make it appear he was some political prisoner or a first Black Identity Extremist arrest as a form of damage control for the domestic violence case, because beating women is frowned upon.

But he wasn’t arrested for BIE, he was arrested according to his case, for a firearm violation by a prohibited person;

“Daniels was prohibited from firearms due to a previous domestic violence charge, case document reads “Daniels intended to attend a training event in Detroit in November 2017. On the flight to Detroit, Daniels packed a .38 caliber handgun in his checked luggage and, as part of the airline's required protocol, disclosed that he had done so. When his luggage was delayed on his return flight, Daniels asked the airline to deliver his bag—containing the .38 caliber handgun—to his apartment. …The FBI also discovered that Daniels had previously been convicted in Tennessee of a misdemeanor domestic violence offense. This state court judgment specified that Daniels could not possess a firearm. After obtaining a warrant, FBI agents searched Daniels' apartment on December 12, 2017…”.[5]

Balogun with a criminal history of violence, praised other violent offenders such as Micah Johnson, the perpetrator of the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers. This is one of the things that brought his attention to the FBI.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] According to Balogun he was exercising his right to free speech when he praised Johnson,[13] and was not endorsing violence against individual police officers, but a general struggle against the Dallas Police Department.[4]

The propaganda campaign made worldwide news due to suggesting that Balogun was being the first person ever to be publicly designated a "Black Identity Extremist" by the FBI. Though there was never a charge against him for that at all, not even to this day.

The BIE idea sparked a national debate on the appropriateness of that term.

References

  1. ↑ Alcorn, Chauncey (July 26, 2018). "Black gun rights advocates criticize FBI's, NRA's response to Rakem Balogun". Mic. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  2. ↑ Simek, Peter (October 2018). "The Right to Bear Arms (And Say Shocking Stuff on Facebook)". D Magazine. Retrieved June 7, 2019. Daniels enlisted in the Marine Corps in June 2001. Three months later, the World Trade Center towers fell. By 2003, he was in Ramadi, Iraq, serving in an artillery unit.
  3. 1 2 3 Simek, Peter (October 2018).
  4. 1 2 Klepper, Jordan (June 6, 2019). "This Is My Gun, These Are My Rights". Klepper. Season 1. Episode 6. Event occurs at 14. Comedy Central.
  5. 1 2 "United States v. Daniels". casetext.com. January 30, 2018. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  6. ↑ Schladebeck, Jessica (May 11, 2018). "Black activist jailed for Facebook posts slams secret surveillance and FBI for 'their tyranny' - NY Daily News". nydailynews.com.
  7. ↑ "Is a Court Case in Texas the First Prosecution of a 'Black Identity Extremist'?". foreignpolicy.com. January 30, 2018.
  8. ↑ Branigin, Anne (May 11, 2018). "Is This the 1st Victim of COINTELPRO 2.0? Jailed 'Black Identity Extremist' Speaks Out". theroot.com.
  9. ↑ Krueger, Katherine (May 11, 2018). "Activist Thought To Be First Jailed As 'Black Identity Extremist'". splinternews.com.
  10. ↑ Levitz, Eric (May 11, 2018). "Feds Jailed Gun Owner for Making Politically Incorrect Facebook Posts". nymag.com.
  11. ↑ "Texas judge dismisses FBI case against 'Black Identity Extremist'". dailydot.com. May 12, 2018.
  12. ↑ Levin, Sam (May 11, 2018). "Black activist jailed for his Facebook posts speaks out about secret FBI surveillance". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ Meet Rakem Balogun, the Texas man whose support for a cop killer made him an FBI target, Mic, Aaron Morrison, 17 July 2018
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