Twitter: @karanjakeita

Black August Resistance! Black August is a commemoration of the historical resistance, struggle, and continued work toward the liberation of New Afrikan people; a time in which fasting, studying, training, and preparation to fight are at the core. 

My first dedicated participation in Black August came as a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. As a relatively new member, I participated in the chapter’s study group, and it was here that I was first introduced to Kuwasi Balagoon. Our assigned text for the month was the third edition of A Soldier’s Story: Writing by a Revolutionary New Afrikan Anarchist. Soon, I would have conversations with Babas Akinyele Umoja, Sekou Odinga, and Ojore Lutalo, who all spoke highly of Kuwasi Balagoon. Each of these elders spoke of Balagoon’s commitment and consistency as a New Afrikan freedom fighter. Both Odinga and Lutalo knew Balagoon, and their insight into his life personalized what I had only read in text. Baba Akinyele’s extensive writing on Balagoon moved beyond mere cursory analysis and attempted to explore his radical thinking. However, when I moved out of these very specific circles of former Black Panthers, Black Liberation Army members, political prisoners, and New Afrikan scholars, I learned that not many knew of Balagoon.

Kuwasi Balagoon was a bisexual organizer, poet, revolutionary, urban guerilla, political philosopher, New Afrikan Anarchist, and committed soldier in the liberation of New Afrikan people. Balagoon was born Donald Weems in 1946 on December 22^, in Lakeland, MD. Following completion of high school, Balagoon would eventually join the United States Army, spending three years in Germany. Throughout Balagoon’s high-school years and time in the service, he saw and experienced the varied ways in which war was waged against New Afrikan people, and this contributed to his analysis of our condition as colonized subjects of the American empire. 

After the army, Balagoon would eventually settle in New York City. NYC provided grounding, direction, and motivation for him.  He would frequent the Yoruba Temple of Harlem, which made him eventually decide to take the name Kuwasi Balagoon: Kuwasi (Asante, from Ghana) for “male born on Sunday” and Balagoon (Yoruba, from Nigeria) for “warlord.” 

Balagoon’s organizing in NYC began around housing issues but would eventually move to working with the Black Panther Party. 

His life as a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, as well as a New Afrikan Freedom Fighter, reflect the ever-transforming human being we know today as Kuwasi Balagoon. Balagoon engaged various political perspectives, from nationalism to Marxism, and his experience as one of the Panther 21 moved him toward anarchism. 

In “Anarchy Can’t Fight Alone,” Balagoon outlines the significance of anarchism and states “[o]f all the ideologies, anarchy is the one that addresses liberty and equalitarian relations in a realistic and ultimate fashion. It is consistent with each individual having an opportunity to live a complete and total life. With anarchy, the society as a whole not only maintains itself at an equal expense to all, but progresses in a creative process unhindered by any class, caste or party” (p. 75). 

Further in the essay, Balagoon explains the condition of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) within the American empire by stating, “Third World colonies throughout the United States face genocide and it is time for anarchists to join the oppressed combat against the oppressors. We must support in words and actions, self-determination, and self-defense for third world peoples” (p. 79). Balagoon’s commitment to anarchism is clear as he argues, “If we truly know that anarchy is the best way of life for all people, we must promote it, defend it and know that the people who are as smart as we are will accept it. To expect people to accept this, while they are being wiped out as a nation without allies ready to put out on the line what they already have on the line is crazy” (79).

In December 1981, Kuwasi Balagoon was arrested and charged for participating in the attempted expropriation of a Brink’s armored car in Nyack, New York. Balagoon would eventually be convicted of murder, robbery, and possession of weapons; he was sentenced to life in prison in October 1984. Balagoon would return to the ancestors on December 13, 1986, due to pneumocystis pneumonia (an AIDS-related illness). As Rhamier Shaka Balagoon states, “Kuwasi Balagoon rejected bourgeois notions of love and sexuality, remained committed to his comrades, the struggle, and lived life to the absolute fullest demonstrating to many what a revolutionary of the highest order could be. He was committed to freedom and exercising self-determination by any means necessary.”  

Kuwasi Balagoon left us so much, and he represents the spirit of Black August through his commitment to the liberation of New Afrikan liberation and his consistent willingness to risk it all to transform our conditions.

Karanja Keita Carroll is a faculty member in Black & Latinx Studies at Baruch College (CUNY). He is an organizer with the NYC Chapter of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, North East Political Prisoner Coalition, and the Black Alliance for Peace.

---

Who are some amazing folks in the TGNCIQ (transgender, gender-nonconforming, intersex, queer) community whom you’d like to see featured in The Tea? Living or Ancestors. Well-known or Unsung. Nominate them here.

Since as early as the 1940s, the isolated eastern end of the beach at Jacob Riis Park, in Rockaway, New York, has been a popular location for LGBTQIA+ folks to gather, cruise, and be free—as opposed to experiencing the more conservative and less welcoming beaches in NYC. 

According to the LGBT NYC Historic Sites Project, in the 1940s the beach had become a “well-known destination for mostly white gay men to sunbathe and cruise.” The beach was said to attract poorer and working-class whites due to the accessibility made possible by proximity to local public transportation. A decade later, “Lesbian women also claimed a nearby area of the beach by the 1950s.” And by the 1960s, the “gay side” of Riis became increasingly popular, with a much more diverse LGBTQIA presence that included Black and Latinx folks. 

The Audre Lorde Project notes: “Audre Lorde herself writes about going to Riis in the 1950s, and Salsa Soul Sisters [the legendary Black lesbian group] used to throw annual Hot Summer Beach Day parties there in the 1980s.” Presently, Riis continues to be a gathering place for queer folks to have a safe reprieve from the city, celebrate birthdays, gather for Pride, organize around queer issues, and celebrate our existence with our community. Every day in the summer, especially on weekends, Riis is packed with queer and trans folks from all over the city, including BIPOC.

Though it’s deemed a safe space by many, there have been many accounts of police harassment at Riis. Queer folks at Riis have had to pull together to protect each other whenever that’s happened, and so far, the often overwhelming police presence has not completely dampened the significance and meaning of the space. [*Editor’s note: I recall an experience wherein police were illegally harrassing and searching queer Latinx folks whom they assumed were undocumented. Within minutes, word spread about what was happening, and several queer lawyers and organizers intercepted the police and eventually got them to leave without anyone being unjustly arrested.]

This small (but almost always packed) stretch of sand “giving life” to queer beach goers stands in front of a large abandoned building that is decorated in queer-affirming graffiti, anti-police messaging, and memorials decorated to pay homage to Riis beach icons, like Miss Colombia (who passed away and was found at Riis in 2018). The dilapidated buildings backdropping the beach were once part of a hospital and have been abandoned since the late 1990s; together, they almost serve as a landmark or symbol that you’ve reached the right place. Many believe “the facility was closed as part of a plan by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani to privatize public hospitals.” (The City) 

More recently, residents who live in the nearby, predominantly white, conservative neighborhood have documented that the debris from the abandoned buildings are a threat to nearby houses during storms. In order to protect the neighboring homes, the City of New York has budgeted $5 million for the buildings’ demolition. Though the buildings have remained standing throughout major storms and hurricanes over the years, they have now suddenly been deemed unsafe. The land is currently owned by the NYC Health & Hospitals Department, and its deed states that “the site may only be used as a public health facility or park.” The (very legitimate) worry in the community is that the folks who could decide what a future park or health facility could look like are not a part of our community and likely won’t consider the impact on BIPOC queer and trans folks. 

Ceyenne Doroshow, founder of GLITS, Inc., has announced that their proposal is that the queer beach be officially deemed a landmark in New York City, and the former hospital be converted into a land trust. 

GLITS, Inc., “creates holistic solutions to the health and housing crises faced by TGBLQIA+ individuals experiencing systemic discrimination at intersecting oppressions impacted by racism and criminalization, through a lens of harm reduction, human rights principles, social justice and community empowerment, imbued with a commitment to empowerment and pride in finding solutions in our own community. Centering Black trans leadership, GLITS is committed to building future community leaders and is grounded in a multi-generational approach to growth.” 

The vision GLITS is proposing is that any facilities created in place of the old hospital would need to prioritize programming that would meet the complicated and nuanced needs of queer and trans folks, specifically the Black and Brown LGBTQIA community, who are disproportionately and systematically oppressed in our country. 
The official mission statement for “The “People’s Beach” is “to secure Riis Beach in perpetuity for long-term, sustainable community use and preserve both its history and cultural importance to the diversity of New York City.”

This beautiful but dilapidated stretch of land has been a queer home to many, and it’s only right that, as stewards of this land, we have a say in what happens to it. The opposing result could mean that the land is developed without us in mind; becomes overpoliced; invites the larger, conservative community to take it over; and according to GLITS, “turns into something that doesn’t represent the beach or the culture that has been saturated there.” According to The City, “a NYC Health + Hospitals rep said they looked forward to working with community stakeholders and with the Parks Department on renovating the land.” 

GLITS has been leading the charge in organizing for “The People’s Beach,” specifically on behalf of the Black queer and trans community. To learn more about how you can support their efforts, visit their page and sign the petition, and/or donate here! 
To read more about Riis, check out these great articles/photo journals that we sourced for this segment: “As Seen on Riis Beach: Dancing, smoking, and playing all summer long at New York’s queerest seashore.” (2021); “14 Stunning Photos of New York’s Queer Beach During Pride” (2018); and “Demolition of Long-Abandoned Medical Center Could Leave Queer Beachgoers Exposed” (2022) .

It’s been six months since the WNBA basketball phenom Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia. Last week, she was convicted and sentenced to nine years by a Russian judge, who stated that he believed Brittney had “criminal intent” when bringing vape cartridges into Russia. Brittney has stated that she simply “made a mistake, and had no intention of breaking any laws.” There have been some optimistic reports that a potential “prisoner exchange” may grant Brittney her freedom. In the meantime, her legal team is working to appeal the wildly unjust sentence…which could take months. The most ideal scenario is that a deal between the U.S. and Russia will be reached before an appeal is granted (or denied), so that Brittney can be freed before then.  

We all want this nightmare to be over for Brittney. She’s been denied the right to speak with her loved ones on the phone, and it’s been said that her only communication with her wife is through handwritten letters. We don’t know what her mental state is. Her family, friends, teammates, and fans have been worried, saddened, and outraged by her unlawful detainment, and have been demanding that the U.S. government prioritize expediting her release.

According to them, ​​”the U.S. government proposed a prisoner exchange to free Brittney Griner from captivity in Russia, officials have confirmed. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that President Biden proposed a deal ‘weeks ago’ to secure the release of Griner” (and Paul Whelan, a former Marine convicted by Russia for espionage). The exchange was said to be for a Russian arms dealer, known as the “Merchant of Death.” This happened prior to her conviction and hasn’t yet been accepted by Russian authorities. 

The dehumanization of a “prisoner exchange” is an outrage and also confirms suspicions that this situation has been about political power, and even worse, the disposability of Black, queer bodies. Nothing about this situation is fair or just. Brittney Griner is arguably one of the greatest basketball players in our history, and is still a victim of anti-Black racism and the rippling effects of the international war on drugs. The Russian government has not shown signs of accepting the deal, while stateside, we all remain hopeful. 

Last month, we put out information about BG’s detainment and the anti-Black, homophobic implications behind her being held in Russia. ICYMI, here are 5 things you need to know/share about Brittney Griner’s detainment. 

According to ABC News, “Griner took the stand on July 27, telling the court she did not mean to violate Russian law when bringing vape cartridges into the country. She testified that she has permission to use medical cannabis and used a certificate to buy it in the U.S. Two weeks earlier, one of Griner’s attorneys presented a letter from an American doctor in court, giving her permission to use cannabis to reduce chronic pain.” Many professional athletes use marijuana to manage pain. 

No matter what the reasoning is for Brittney allegedly carrying a vape cartridge, being arrested, detained for five months, and sentenced to nine years in prison is wildly unjust and inhumane, in any country. This is an American crisis, and we must hold the U.S. government accountable for its role in creating a world that allows this to happen. We must also hold the WNBA accountable for the horrendous pay discrepancies between WNBA players and NBA players (who are paid seven times more). Brittney “might not even have been playing in Russia if it weren’t for this pay discrepancy.” 

You can still take action by joining the #BringBrittneyHome campaign. Our folks at Black Feminist Future (BFF) have been holding the line in combatting this injustice. Read their demands, sign the petition, and download their toolkit here! 

Until we are all free, none of us are free.

---

What are the issues that are most important to you in the Black TGNCIQ community that you’d like to read more about in The Tea?

We believe the future is in great hands. Black queer and trans kids are changing the world for the better! This generation of young folks have been courageous in their expression and unapologetic in holding adults accountable, as they lead movements, fight for our planet to survive climate change, and so much more. In honor of their brilliance, the September issue of The Tea: M4BL’s Queer AF Newsletter will feature Black queer youth voices from all over the country, and we need your help!

Nominate yourself to be highlighted and/or Submit your work. If you are doing positive things in your community (whether they have a big or small impact) go ahead and nominate yourself for our spotlight! We are also taking submissions for written works, artwork, poetry, film, plays, or any other form of expression.

In order to be considered for the issue, you must be Black, identify as LGBTQIA+ and be 24 years old or younger. All young people under 18 will need parent or guardian permission. Up to five folks may be selected to be featured in this issue and will individually receive a $100 giftcard! The deadline to submit is 8/31 at 11:59pm ET. Follow this link to submit: http://m4bl.link/youthtea

NOMINATE YOURSELF or SUBMIT YOUR WORK HERE 

_{^{*Please note: We will not keep or store your personal information.}}

Each month, we feature our favorite TGNCIQ folks from our community who are doing amazing things, our favorite reads, and things we love to watch!

By Jeffrey Masters, The Advocate 

Here’s an excerpt (below); read the full interview here: 

JM: You always go out of your way to make it clear that your work and activism includes trans people. That stands out, frankly, because that’s not always the case for older generations. The awareness and understanding of trans people has not always been as great as it is today. 

Angela Davis: This emerged from the work we were doing in critical resistance. And I can remember very clearly that the first stage was a kind of defense of the rights of trans people in prison. And then we recognized the degree to which the experiences of trans people represented an institutional gendering of the prison industrial complex. We had to think about this focus on gender as structural, therefore, I think I’m not the only one whose awareness was expanded by involvement with trans people in prison. And at the same time, I was involved in campaigns against gender violence. And those campaigns that developed in defense of trans women, such as CeCe McDonald, especially trans women of color helped us to understand the structural nature of gender violence. And I can say that TGIJP, the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project that Miss Major led for such a long time here in the Bay Area, had a profound impact on my thinking with respect to the absolute centrality of defending trans people.

Getaway, EP

We love this project by Orion Sun! Listen now to catch a vibe. According to The Fader, “the New York-based singer’s EP Getaway is filled with tender meditations on love, grief, queerness, and family.”

Featuring Tony Washington, Motown’s openly queer Lead Singer 

The Dynamic Superiors were “a sterling singing quintet from Washington, D.C., fronted by Tony Washington, an openly gay singer who wasn’t afraid to sometimes perform in drag or revise Billy Paul’s hit “Me and Mrs. Jones” to “Me and Mr. Jones.” 

The Dynamic Superiors on Soul Train:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg8dUW3MqZc

“LEARN’d,” Tony Washington:

*The Tea is written and edited by Ryann Holmes, M4BL TGNCQI Comms Strategist.
Contact email: ryann@weareresonance.com.