Black Liberation Army

The eventual emergence of the Black Liberation Army was made possible by several clandestine organizations and an 'underground' armed wing of the Black Panther Party,{{Cite journal |last=Ujoma |first=Akinyele |date=1999 |title=Repression Breeds Resistance: the Black Liberation Army and the radical legacy of the Black Panther Party |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232940302 |journal=New Political Science |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=131–137|doi=10.1080/07393149908429859 }} dispersed throughout the United States, which prioritized armed self-defense and struggle against the police and white vigilantism.

One such organization was the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), founded in 1962 in close association with self-defense advocates like Queen Mother Moore and Robert F. Williams, but also communist intellectuals like James and Grace Lee Boggs. In 1964 Robert Williams published a study of the possibilities of guerrilla warfare in the United States in RAM's paper The Crusader,Ujoma 1999, p. 134 which helped popularize clandestine armed tactics in RAM and adjacent circles. It was the first step in a transition from armed self-defense to armed struggle against a political enemy.{{Cite book |last=Stanford |first=Maxwell |title=We Will Return in the Whirlwind: Black Radical Organizations 1960-1975 |publisher=Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-88286-314-6 |pages=115–16}}

The new concept is to huddle as close to the enemy as possible so as to neutralize his modern and fierce weapons. The new concept creates conditions that involve the total community, whether they want to be involved or not. It sustains a state of confusion and destruction of property. It dislocates the organs of harmony and order and reduces central power to the level of a helpless, sprawling, octopus. During the hours of day sporadic rioting takes place and massive sniping. Night brings all out warfare, organized fighting and unlimited terror against the oppressor and his forces.{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Robert |date=May 1964 |title=Revolution Without Violence? |url=https://ia801302.us.archive.org/0/items/thecrusader196405/Revolution%20Without%20Violence_text.pdf |journal=The Crusader |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=298}}

Armed defense guards would have to be formed throughout the land. These groups would be organized within the confines of the law and when possible become sporting rifle clubs affiliated with the National Rifle Association. They would function only as defense units to safeguard life, limb and property in the ghetto communities. Some form of central direction would be necessary. A tightly organized and well disciplined underground guerilla force would also have to be formed to perform a more aggressive mission.{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Robert |date=August 1965 |title=USA: The Potential of a Minority Revolution |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/1960-1970/crusader/7-1.pdf |journal=The Crusader |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=5}}

The Black Panther Party on the West coast "differed with RAM's clandestine posture" but nonetheless "organized an underground from its earliest days." This underground armed wing was decentralized, formed out of cells communicating on a need-to-know basis, all "part of a movement concept called the Black Liberation Army."Ujoma 1999, p. 136Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party, 2001. Its membership was broader than the BPP's, and incorporated gangs whose leadership had been folded into the Party. Bunchy Carter, as the BPP's Southern California Minister of Defense, incorporated some of the Slausons, a gang which he had formerly led, to build a clandestine armed wing for the Party. After Carter was assassinated in a FBI-orchestrated feud with the US Organization in 1969, Geronimo Pratt assumed leadership of the BPP's underground armed wing. In this capacity he organized underground formations throughout the United States, especially in the South.Ujoma, p. 136–7

Huey Newton's release from prison in 1970 would destabilize the fragile peace between the West and East coast Black Panther Party, and would reverse course on clandestine militancy in the South which Pratt had initiated during Newton's imprisonment. FBI counterintelligence operations were designed to inflame existing tensions and prevent cooperation between disparate representatives of the black liberation movement.Umoja 1999, p. 139 A combination of this meddling and the influence of BPP members convinced Newton to expel Geronimo Pratt from the Party, denounce the BPP membership involved in arming and training Southern cadre, and eventually expel the entire New York chapter of the Black Panther Party from the organization.Umoja 1999, p. 139Stanford 2007, p. 206 This expulsion took shape on tactical lines: Newton was uncomfortable with a national network of clandestine armed units answerable to Pratt but not to him, and was concerned that the armed wing was outpacing the Party's above-ground initiatives.{{Cite web |last=Vasquez |first=Delio |date=June 11, 2018 |title=Intercommunalism: The Late Theorizations of Huey P. Newton, 'Chief Theoretician' of the Black Panther Party |url=https://viewpointmag.com/2018/06/11/intercommunalism-the-late-theorizations-of-huey-p-newton-chief-theoretician-of-the-black-panther-party/ |access-date=December 13, 2024 |website=Viewpoint Magazine}}Ujoma 1999, p. 139–140.

Simultaneous with the establishment and breakdown of the Black Panther Party was the rise and plateau of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, which envisioned the establishment of a sovereign state in the Black belt. This project took on a project proposed by Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, and involved many of RAM's early supporters, including Queen Mother Moore and Robert F. Williams, along with former SNCC chairman H. Rap Brown.{{Citation |title=Republic of New Afrika |date=2015 |encyclopedia=The SAGE Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America |url=https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483346373.n253 |access-date=2024-12-10 |place=2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks California 91320 |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc. |doi=10.4135/9781483346373.n253 |isbn=978-1-4522-5821-8}} Veterans of the BPP, PG-RNA, RAM itself, and other local organizations would populate the BLA.

Because it was not an official organization, was not centrally coordinated, and consisted of multiple groups with different timelines, it is difficult to note exactly when and where the BLA emerged out of the pre-existing underground. In some cities, the Black Liberation Army was not connected to or aware of other more coordinated groups of cells, as was the case in Philadelphia, where the BLA formed out of repeat members of the Black Unity Council and the city's chapter of the Black Panther Party.{{cite web |date=7 December 2021 |title=The End of Rage |url=https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/social-justice/criminal-justice/the-end-of-rage |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528110955/https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/social-justice/criminal-justice/the-end-of-rage |archive-date=28 May 2022 |access-date=11 May 2022}} During its early years, as member Assata Shakur notes, it "was not a centralized, organized group with a common leadership and chain of command. Instead, there were various organizations and collectives working together and simultaneously independent of each other."{{Cite book |last=Shakur |first=Assata |title=Assata: An Autobiography |publisher=Lawrence Hill Books |year=1987 |pages=241}} At least by 1970, due to police and FBI sabotage, infiltration, internal disunity, mass imprisonment of members, lengthy prison sentences, and the assassination of key members including Fred Hampton, the party's membership was shrinking and its leadership was responding by closing ranks. Many former Panthers defected to the BLA after Eldridge Cleaver's expulsion from the Party during this period.{{cite web |date=2005-10-11 |title=Caged panthers |url=http://mondediplo.com/2005/10/14blackpanthers |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121203330/https://mondediplo.com/2005/10/14blackpanthers |archive-date=2020-11-21 |access-date=2016-04-13 |website=Mondediplo.com}} Others simply emphasized clandestinity and armed struggle in response to police repression and assassinations. The New York chapter of the BLA was committed to "defend Black people, to fight for Black people, and to organize Black people militarily, so they can defend themselves through a people's army and people's war."Ujoma 1999, p. 143

The BLA was initially decentralized and autonomous, split geographically and without pretense to ideological unity beyond endorsement of black liberation and typically revolutionary socialism. By the mid-1970s, however, ideological fractures had emerged within the milieu, and "a 'Call to Consolidate'" titled 'Message to the Black Movement' "was issued to create a unified organization. The majority of the BLA who accepted consolidation formed a completely separate group" referred to as the Black Liberation Army - Coordinating Committee; these members largely deferred to imprisoned leadership for strategic guidance and were "involved in the factional struggle" within the PG-RNA.{{Cite web |title=FALSE NATIONALISM FALSE INTERNATIONALISM (HTML Version) |url=https://readsettlers.org/fnfi/ch9.html |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=readsettlers.org}} The call to consolidate outlined the majority group's political stance, rejecting reformism as "based on unprincipled class collaboration with our enemy"{{cite web |title=Message to the Black Movement |url=http://archive.lib.msu.edu/AFS/dmc/radicalism/public/all/messageblackmovement/AAL.pdf?CFID=327481&CFTOKEN=39064116 |access-date=2016-04-13 |website=Archive.lib.msu.edu |format=PDF}} and asserting 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.

In this 1976 statement, the BLA-CC allowed "principled" and "tactical" unity with revolutionary whites; this would guarantee that the revolutionary Black organization made determining decisions both strategically and tactically during the collaboration and guarded against whites using the BLA for their own benefit.

A substantial number of New York Black Liberation Army members did not accept this consolidation effort, and continued to release communiques under the auspices of the BLA in general. By the 1980s, this minority grouping had formed the Revolutionary Armed Task Force, a fusion of veterans of the BLA on one hand and the Weather Underground Organization on the other. The latter were operating as the May 19th Communist Organization, a cell responsible for a series of bombings and robberies. It sought to re-energize the armed struggle in the United States and fund a retrenchment of Black nationalist revolutionary politics that had been eclipsed by the defeat of the movement in the mid-seventies.Anonymous, 1981: On the Strategic Alliance of the Armed Military Forces of the Revolutionary Nationalist and Anti-Imperialist Movement The alliance between the white anti-imperialist underground and the Black revolutionary nationalist underground caused a great deal of controversy among other groupings in the BLA and PG-RNA, amid accusations that members of the RATF were trafficking drugs and running prostitution rings, Kathy Boudin's guilty plea and dissociation from the movement in exchange for a more lenient sentence, and unsubstantiated accusations that the RATF had been a counterinsurgent 'pseudo-gang' directed by US intelligence.{{Cite web |title=FALSE NATIONALISM FALSE INTERNATIONALISM (HTML Version) |url=https://readsettlers.org/fnfi/ch9.html |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=readsettlers.org}}

According to a Justice Department report on BLA activity, the Black Liberation Army was suspected of involvement in over 70 incidents of violence between 1970 and 1976.{{cite web|url=http://www.assatashakur.org/forum//showpost.php?p%3D37245%26postcount%3D101 |title=Assata Speaks – Hands off Assata – Let's Get Free – Revolutionary – Pan-Africanism – Black on Purpose – Liberation – Forum |access-date=January 9, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928044405/http://www.assatashakur.org/forum//showpost.php?p=37245&postcount=101 |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }} The Fraternal Order of Police blamed the BLA for the murders of 13 police officers.{{cite web|url=http://www.nysfop.org/events/kathy_boudin.htm |title=New York State Fraternal Order of Police Criticizes Judge's Decision on the release of Kathy Boudin. |access-date=January 9, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060102131029/http://www.nysfop.org/events/kathy_boudin.htm |archive-date=January 2, 2006 }}

On October 22, 1970, the BLA was believed to have planted a bomb in St. Brendan's Church in San Francisco while it was full of mourners attending the funeral of San Francisco police officer Harold Hamilton, who had been killed in the line of duty while responding to a bank robbery. The bomb was detonated, but no one in the church suffered serious injuries.{{cite web|url=https://www.odmp.org/officer/5975-police-officer-harold-hamilton|title=Police Officer Harold Hamilton|access-date=July 20, 2021|archive-date=August 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803183115/https://www.odmp.org/officer/5975-police-officer-harold-hamilton|url-status=live}}File:Herman Bell (FBI).jpgOn May 21, 1971, as many as five men participated in the murder of two New York City police officers, Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones. Those arrested and brought to trial for the shootings include Anthony Bottom (a.k.a. Jalil Muntaqim), Albert Washington, Francisco Torres, Gabriel Torres, and Herman Bell.Elizabeth Solomont, [http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-arrests-in-a-decades-old-slaying-of-police/47292/ "New Arrests in a Decades-Old Slaying of Police Officers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220181954/http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-arrests-in-a-decades-old-slaying-of-police/47292/ |date=2016-12-20 }}, The New York Sun, January 24, 2007.

On August 29, 1971, three armed men murdered 51-year-old San Francisco police sergeant John Victor Young while he was working at a desk in his police station, which was almost empty at the time due to a bombing attack on a bank that took place earlier – only one other officer and a civilian clerk were there. Two days later, the San Francisco Chronicle received a letter signed by the BLA claiming responsibility for the attack.{{Cite web|title=Sergeant John Victor Young|url=https://www.odmp.org/officer/14631-sergeant-john-victor-young|access-date=2020-06-21|website=The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP)|archive-date=2020-06-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622074448/https://www.odmp.org/officer/14631-sergeant-john-victor-young|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/911518322|title=Crimes of the centuries : notorious crimes, criminals, and criminal trials in American history|author1=Chermak, Steven M.|author2=Bailey, Frankie Y.|date=25 January 2016 |isbn=978-1-61069-593-0|location=Santa Barbara, California|oclc=911518322|access-date=2020-06-21|archive-date=2020-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623105343/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/911518322|url-status=live}}

On November 3, 1971, Officer James R. Greene of the Atlanta Police Department was shot and killed in his patrol van at a gas station. His wallet, badge, and weapon were taken, and the evidence at the scene pointed to two suspects. The first was Twymon Myers (suspected to be one of the group's leaders{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/16/archives/slaying-of-one-of-the-last-black-liberation-army-leaders-still-at.html|title=Slaying of One of the Last Black Liberation Army Leaders Still at Large Ended a 7-Month Manhunt|date=16 November 1973|last=Kaufman|first=Michael|website=The New York Times}}), who was killed in a police shootout in 1973, and the second was Freddie Hilton (a.k.a. Kamau Sadiki), who evaded capture until 2002, when he was arrested in New York City on a separate charge and was recognized 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.fultonda.org/featuredarticle/30years.htm|format=PDF|title=Office of Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr.|website=Fultonda.org|access-date=2016-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160715141332/http://www.fultonda.org/featuredarticle/30years.htm|archive-date=2016-07-15|url-status=dead}}

On January 27, 1972, the Black Liberation Army assassinated police officers Gregory Foster and Rocco Laurie at the corner of 174 Avenue B in New York City. After the killings, a note sent to authorities portrayed the murders as a retaliation for the prisoner deaths during the 1971 Attica Prison riot. Two suspects died in "unrelated shootouts with cops — one in New York, and one in St. Louis, with Laurie's gun in his car" and a third was sentenced in 2016 to 21 years for selling heroin to undercover police.{{cite news|url=https://nypost.com/2016/01/07/final-suspect-in-infamous-cop-killing-heads-to-jail-for-dealing-heroin|title=Final suspect in infamous cop-killing heads to jail — for dealing heroin|publisher=Nypost.com|date=2016-01-07|access-date=2019-12-08|archive-date=2019-12-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209202205/https://nypost.com/2016/01/07/final-suspect-in-infamous-cop-killing-heads-to-jail-for-dealing-heroin/|url-status=live}}/ Another suspect, Henry Brown, was tried for the murders and found not guilty.{{cite web|url=https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/f0719/the-war-home-remembering-foster-laurie#/0|title=The War at Home: Remembering Foster and Laurie|website=NYPD|last=Conlon|first=Edward|date=19 July 2018}} Evidence found at the scene has since been lost.{{cite news|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-embarrassment-44-years-no-arrests-article-1.2507296|title=Evidence disappears in case of two NYPD officers killed in East Village by 3 members of the Black Liberation Army|publisher=nydailynews.com|date=2016-01-23|access-date=2019-12-08|archive-date=2019-12-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209202023/https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-embarrassment-44-years-no-arrests-article-1.2507296|url-status=live}}/

{{See also|American fugitives in Cuba}}

On July 31, 1972, five armed individuals hijacked Delta Air Lines Flight 841 en route from Detroit to Miami, eventually collecting a ransom of $1 million and diverting the plane, after passengers were released, to Algeria. The authorities there seized the ransom but allowed the group to flee. Four were eventually caught by French authorities in Paris, where they were convicted of various crimes, but one—George Wright—remained a fugitive until September 26, 2011, when he was captured in Portugal.{{cite news|url=http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/man_who_escaped_from_nj_prison.html|title=Man who escaped from N.J. prison 41 years ago is captured in Portugal|publisher=NJ.com|date=2011-09-26|access-date=2011-09-26|archive-date=2011-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930053948/http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/man_who_escaped_from_nj_prison.html|url-status=live}} Portuguese courts rejected the initial pledge for extradition. American authorities may still appeal this decision.

In another high-profile incident, Assata Shakur, Zayd Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were said to have 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; Assata Shakur was shot in the back and the arm. Following her capture, Assata Shakur was tried in six different criminal trials.{{Cite news| author = Joseph F. Sullivan|date=1977-04-26|title=Assault Charges Add 26 Years To Mrs. Chesimard's Life Term|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/04/26/archives/assault-charges-add-26-years-to-mrs-chesimards-life-term.html|access-date=2020-06-21|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2020-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623160153/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/04/26/archives/assault-charges-add-26-years-to-mrs-chesimards-life-term.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|author=Walter H. Waggoner|date=1977-03-26|title=Joanne Chesimard Convicted in Killing Of Jersey Trooper|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/26/archives/joanne-chesimard-convicted-in-killing-of-jersey-trooper-mrs.html|access-date=2020-06-21|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2013-10-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020022903/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70710FC3A5F167493C4AB1788D85F438785F9|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|author=Joseph F. Sullivan |date=1977-03-25|title=Chesimard Jury Asks Clarification of Assault Charges|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/25/archives/chesimard-jury-asks-clarification-of-assault-charges.html|access-date=2020-06-21|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2020-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623142435/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/25/archives/chesimard-jury-asks-clarification-of-assault-charges.html|url-status=live}} According to Shakur, she was beaten and tortured during her incarceration in a number of different federal and state prisons. The charges against them ranged from kidnapping to assault and battery to bank robbery. Assata Shakur was found guilty by an all-white jury of the murder of both Foerster and her companion Zayd Shakur, but escaped prison in 1979. Shakur eventually fled to Cuba and received political asylum there. Acoli was convicted of killing Foerster and sentenced to life in prison.{{Cite news|author=Richard J. h Johnston|date=1974-03-16|title=Squire Sentenced to, Life For Killing State Trooper|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/16/archives/squire-sentenced-to-life-forkilling-state-trooper-special-to-the.html|access-date=2020-06-21|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2020-06-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622222046/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/16/archives/squire-sentenced-to-life-forkilling-state-trooper-special-to-the.html|url-status=live}}

{{Main|1981 Brink's robbery}}

The BLA was active in the US until at least 1981 when a Brink's truck robbery, conducted with support from former Weather Underground members Kathy Boudin, David Gilbert and Judith Alice Clark, left a guard and two police officers dead. Boudin, Gilbert and Clark along with several BLA and May 19th Communist Organization members, were subsequently arrested.{{cite web|url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/brinks/1.html|title=The Brinks Robbery of 1981|website=the Crime Library|access-date=October 28, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209235659/http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/brinks/1.html|archive-date=February 9, 2015}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnviPrYJdSE&t=187s |title=Under Fire: The Death of the Black Liberation Army {{!}} The FBI Files S3 EP14 |via=YouTube |date=10 October 2020 |access-date=2022-10-21 |archive-date=2022-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021212609/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnviPrYJdSE&t=187s |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Black anarchism}}

Following the collapse of the BLA, some members — including Ashanti Alston, Donald Weems (a.k.a. Kuwasi Balagoon), and Ojore Lutalo — became outspoken proponents of anarchism. Weems died in prison of an AIDS-related disease in 1986. Alston remains active in prison support and other activist circles. Lutalo was released from prison in 2009 after serving 28 years on charges related to a shootout with a drug dealer in 1981 (and parole violation stemming from his conviction for a 1975 bank robbery), during which time he was punished with solitary confinement for receiving anarchist literature. While incarcerated, the Anarchist Black Cross Federation gave him support.{{cite web|url=http://www.abcf.net/prisoners/lutalo.htm|title=Ojore|website=Abcf.net|access-date=2016-04-13|archive-date=2016-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416154835/http://www.abcf.net/prisoners/lutalo.htm|url-status=dead}}

On January 26, 2010, Lutalo was arrested for endangering public transportation while on an Amtrak train to New Jersey, after attending the Anarchist Book Fair in Los Angeles, being mistakenly identified as making terrorist threats on his cell phone. The charge was dropped for lack of evidence, and Lutalo settled a suit against the city of La Junta, Colorado, where his arrest was made, for an undisclosed amount.{{cite news|last=Cardona|first=Felisa|url=http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17388873|title=La Junta to settle lawsuit with man who was wrongfully jailed|newspaper=The Denver Post|access-date=2016-04-13|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085943/http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17388873|url-status=live}}

{{Main|San Francisco 8}}

In January 2007, eight men, labelled the San Francisco 8, were charged by a joint state and federal task force with John Young's murder.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/24/MNGDONO11G1.DTL|title=Ex-militants charged in S.F. police officer's '71 slaying at station|publisher=SFGate|date=2007-01-24|access-date=2016-04-13|archive-date=2011-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629053334/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F01%2F24%2FMNGDONO11G1.DTL|url-status=live}} The defendants have been identified as former members of the Black Liberation Army.[http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/01/black_liberatio.html Black Liberation Army tied to 1971 slaying] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212123434/http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/01/black_liberatio.html|date=February 12, 2009}} (via USA Today) A similar case was dismissed in 1975 when a judge ruled that police gathered evidence through the use of torture. On June 29, 2009, Herman Bell pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Sgt. Young. In July 2009, charges were dropped against four of the accused: Ray Boudreaux, Henry W. Jones, Richard Brown and Harold Taylor. That same month, Jalil Muntaquim pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit voluntary manslaughter, becoming the second person to be convicted in this case.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/07/BAKJ18JUNS.DTL|title=2nd guilty plea in 1971 killing of S.F. officer|publisher=SFGate|date=2009-07-07|access-date=2016-04-13|archive-date=2011-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629053438/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2009%2F07%2F07%2FBAKJ18JUNS.DTL|url-status=live}}

Black Liberation Army members were cited as an influence by founders of the Black Lives Matter movement.{{Cite web |title=A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement by Alicia Garza – The Feminist Wire |url=https://www.thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515182518/https://thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2 |archive-date=May 15, 2019 |access-date=2025-01-05 |language=en-US |quote="When I use Assata's powerful demand in my organizing work, I always begin by sharing where it comes from, sharing about Assata's significance to the Black Liberation Movement, what its political purpose and message is, and why it's important in our context."}}

Ex-BLA member and fugitive Assata Shakur is considered "a hero to many US left-wing activists."{{Cite news |date=2022-05-11 |title=Sundiata Acoli: US Black Panther wins parole after half a century |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61339182 |access-date=2025-01-05 |language=en-GB}} She is celebrated by some groups, including the organizers of the 2017 Women's March,{{Cite web |date=2017-07-18 |title=CNN pundit, Women's March organizers under siege for 'honoring' birthday of New Jersey cop killer Assata Shakur |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/cnn-pundit-womens-march-organizers-under-siege-for-honoring-birthday-of-new-jersey-cop-killer-assata-shakur |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Carrega |first=Christina |date=May 16, 2019 |title=Assata Shakur, convicted of killing a police officer, still wanted by FBI 40 years after fleeing to Cuba |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/assata-shakur-convicted-killing-police-officer-wanted-fbi/story?id=63076257 |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=ABC News |language=en}} and Black power group Assata's Daughters.{{Cite web |date=2017-12-14 |title=Who Are Assata's Daughters? A Q&A with Founder Page May |url=https://www.citybureau.org/stories/2018/3/1/who-are-assatas-daughters-a-qa-with-founder-page-may |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=City Bureau |language=en-US}}

• Kojo Bomani Sababu (formerly Grailing Brown); convicted of bank robbery in 1975.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/30/black-panther-radicals-still-in-jail|title=The 19 black radicals who are still in prison after four decades|website=The Guardian|date=30 July 2018|access-date=19 February 2022|archive-date=19 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219130537/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/30/black-panther-radicals-still-in-jail|url-status=live}}
• Kamau Sadiki (formerly Freddie Hilton); convicted on October 13, 2002, and was sentenced to life in prison for the 1971 murder of Atlanta police officer Jim Greene.{{cite web|url=http://www.odmp.org/officer/5711-officer-james-richard-greene|title=Officer James Richard Greene, Atlanta Police Department, Georgia|website=Odmp.org|access-date=2016-04-13|archive-date=2016-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425024521/http://www.odmp.org/officer/5711-officer-james-richard-greene|url-status=live}}
• Fred ‘Muhammad’ Burton; one of the Philadelphia Five.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/30/black-panther-radicals-still-in-jail | title=The 19 black radicals who are still in prison after four decades | website=The Guardian | date=30 July 2018 | access-date=19 February 2022 | archive-date=19 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219130537/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/30/black-panther-radicals-still-in-jail | url-status=live }}
• Joseph Bowen.{{Cite web |url=https://prisonersolidarity.com/prisoner/joseph-joe-joe-bowen |title=Joseph "Joe-Joe" Bowen{{!}}prisonersolidarity.com |access-date=2022-05-11 |archive-date=2022-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527155000/https://prisonersolidarity.com/prisoner/joseph-joe-joe-bowen |url-status=live }}

File:Arthur Lee Washington, Jr.jpg

• Assata Shakur (formerly JoAnne Chesimard); named on the Most Wanted list by the FBI—the first woman ever to make the list.{{cite web|last1=US Department of Justice|first1=Federal Bureau of Investigation|title=Most Wanted|url=https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists|website=FBI Most Wanted Terrorists|publisher=US Department of Justice|access-date=August 28, 2015|archive-date=August 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805104029/https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists|url-status=live}} She is believed to be living in Cuba under political asylum. She escaped custody in 1979 after being convicted in the May 2, 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster.{{Cite news |last=Adewunmi |first=Bim |date=2014-07-13 |title=Assata Shakur: from civil rights activist to FBI's most-wanted |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/13/assata-shakur-civil-rights-activist-fbi-most-wanted |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
• George Wright; escaped convict and 1972 hijacker; living in Portugal, which has refused to extradite him to the U.S.
• Arthur Lee Washington Jr.; FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive #427, wanted for 1989 attempted murder of a New Jersey state trooper. Removed from list in December 2000 as no longer meeting criteria.

File:Mutulu Shakur.jpg

• Sundiata Acoli (formerly Clark Edward Squire); convicted along with Assata Shakur of the murder of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973.{{Cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/10/sundiata-acoli-black-panthers-released-prison | title=Former Black Panther Sundiata Acoli to be released from prison after 49 years | website=The Guardian | date=11 May 2022 | access-date=11 May 2022 | archive-date=11 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511130931/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/10/sundiata-acoli-black-panthers-released-prison | url-status=live }} Released in May 2022.{{Cite web |url=https://eu.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2022/05/26/sundiata-acoli-convicted-nj-trooper-foerster-werner-death-released-prison/9942815002/ |title=Sundiata Acoli, convicted in NJ state trooper's death, released from prison |access-date=2023-01-18 |archive-date=2022-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712170608/https://eu.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2022/05/26/sundiata-acoli-convicted-nj-trooper-foerster-werner-death-released-prison/9942815002/ |url-status=live }}
• Timothy Adams; died in shooting 1973.
• Ashanti Alston; convicted for bank robbery in 1974. Released 1985.
• John Clark Andaliwa; died in shooting, 1976.
• Atlanta cell
• Ronald Anderson; member of the Atlanta cell.
• Robert Brown; member of the Atlanta cell.
• John Leo Thomas; leader of the Atlanta, GA cell.
• Avon White; member of the Atlanta cell.
• Kuwasi Balagoon (formerly Donald Weems); one of the Panther 21 and later convicted for involvement in the 1981 Brink's robbery. Died in prison 13 December 1986.
• Silvia Baraldini; convicted in 1983 for participation in BLA actions. Repatriated in 1999 and paroled in 2006.
• Dhoruba bin Wahad (born Richard Earl Moore); one of the Panther 21, co-founder of the BLA, and established the Campaign to Free Black and New African Political Prisoners. Convicted for attempted murder in 1973 and released in 1990, subsequently winning lawsuits against the FBI and NYPD.
• Marilyn Buck; convicted for participation in the 1981 Brink's robbery, the escape of Assata Shakur, and other incidents. Released and died in 2010.
• Safiya Bukhari (formerly Bernice Jones); convicted on multiple charges in 1975, escaped 1976, recaptured 1977, paroled 1983.
• Alfred Butler; died in shooting 1975.
• Ronald Carter; died in shooting 1972.
• Judith Alice Clark; convicted for participation in the 1981 Brink's robbery. Released in 2019.
• Jacob John Dougan Jr.; convicted of two murders of random Caucasians in Florida. Currently on death row.{{cite web | url=https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/crime/2017/02/15/new-jacksonville-trial-starts-scratch-1974-racial-killing-white-devil/15742908007/ | title=New Jacksonville trial starts from scratch for 1974 racial killing of a 'white devil' }}
• Frank 'Heavy' Fields, died in shooting 1971.
• Cliff 'Lumumba' Futch
• David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin; both sent to prison for their role in the 1981 Brink's robbery.{{Cite news|last=Lubasch|first=Arnold H.|date=1983-09-04|title=4 of 6 Are Guilty in U.S. Brink's Case|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/04/nyregion/4-of-6-are-guilty-in-us-brink-s-case.html|access-date=2020-06-21|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2020-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200624213611/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/04/nyregion/4-of-6-are-guilty-in-us-brink-s-case.html|url-status=live}} Gilbert was released in 2021.{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/andrew-cuomo-new-york-martin-luther-king-names-san-francisco-b1984697.html | title=At parole hearing, David Gilbert described radical journey | website=The Independent| date=30 December 2021 | access-date=11 May 2022 | archive-date=11 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511132938/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/andrew-cuomo-new-york-martin-luther-king-names-san-francisco-b1984697.html | url-status=live }} Boudin was released in 2003 and died in 2022.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/the-radical-life-of-kathy-boudin | title=The Radical Life of Kathy Boudin | magazine=The New Yorker | date=7 May 2022 | access-date=11 May 2022 | archive-date=8 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508182809/https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/the-radical-life-of-kathy-boudin | url-status=live }}
• Bashir Hameed (formerly James Dixon York) (died in prison August 30, 2008) and Anthony LaBorde (a.k.a. Abdul Majid) (died in prison on April 3, 2016); convicted of the murder of a police officer in 1981.
• Robert Seth Hayes; convicted of the murder of a NYC Transit Police Officer. Released in 2018 and died in 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://blavity.com/former-black-panther-robert-seth-hayes-dies-at-72|title=Former Black Panther, Robert Seth Hayes, Dies at 72 – Blavity|access-date=2022-02-19|archive-date=2022-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219130538/https://blavity.com/former-black-panther-robert-seth-hayes-dies-at-72|url-status=live}}
• Wayne 'Musa' Henderson; died in shooting following a prison escape, 1977[https://archive.org/details/liberationimagin0000unse/ Liberation, imagination, and the Black Panther Party : a new look at the Panthers and their legacy (pgs.137-38)]
• Phyliss 'Oshun' Hill
• Ruchell 'Cinque' Magee; perpetrator of Marin County Civic Center attacks, released in July 2023.{{Cite web |last=Marques |first=Natalia |date=2023-07-21 |title=Ruchell Magee wins his release after 67 years in shackles |url=https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/07/21/ruchell-magee-wins-his-release-after-67-years-in-shackles/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=Peoples Dispatch |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722044530/https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/07/21/ruchell-magee-wins-his-release-after-67-years-in-shackles/ |url-status=live }}
• Arthur 'Cetawayo' Johnson
• Jamal Joseph; American writer, director, producer, poet, activist, and educator. Member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. He was prosecuted as one of the Panther 21 and spent six years incarcerated at Leavenworth Penitentiary.Joseph, Jamal, Panther Baby. New York: Algonquin Books, 2012, {{ISBN|1565129504}}, pp280
• Robert 'Saeed' Joyner
• Melvin Kearney; died in escape attempt, 1976.
• Ojore Lutalo; convicted following a shootout with a drug dealer, released 2009.{{cite web |title=Arrest on Colorado Amtrak train over alleged threat |url=https://abc13.com/archive/7246824/ |website=ABC13 Houston |access-date=27 March 2023 |language=en |archive-date=16 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316175433/https://abc13.com/archive/7246824/ |url-status=live }}
• Twymon Ford Myers, died in shooting 1973.
• Jalil Muntaqim (formerly Anthony Bottom); one of the New York Three convicted of killing two policemen. Released from prison in October 2020 after over 49 years of incarceration and 11 parole denials.{{cite web |url=https://atlantablackstar.com/2020/10/04/former-black-liberation-army-activist-granted-parole-after-49-years-and-numerous-requests-impending-release-sparks-backlash/ |title=Former Black Liberation Army Activist Granted Parole After 49 Years and Numerous Requests, Impending Release Sparks Backlash |last=Harrison |first=Ishek |date=4 October 2020 |access-date=18 December 2021 |archive-date=6 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006045518/https://atlantablackstar.com/2020/10/04/former-black-liberation-army-activist-granted-parole-after-49-years-and-numerous-requests-impending-release-sparks-backlash/ |url-status=live }}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-eleventh-parole-hearing-of-jalil-abdul-muntaqim |title=The Eleventh Parole Hearing of Jalil Abdul Muntaqim |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 25, 2019 |accessdate=March 12, 2019 |archive-date=February 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228065208/https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-eleventh-parole-hearing-of-jalil-abdul-muntaqim |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=https://eu.democratandchronicle.com/in-depth/news/2021/03/30/can-former-black-panther-anthony-bottom-jalil-muntaqim-escape-his-cop-killer-past/4591089001/ |title=When will atonement come for Jalil Muntaqim? |date=30 March 2021 |access-date=2023-01-19 |archive-date=2022-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323135930/https://eu.democratandchronicle.com/in-depth/news/2021/03/30/can-former-black-panther-anthony-bottom-jalil-muntaqim-escape-his-cop-killer-past/4591089001/ |url-status=live }}
• Sekou Odinga (formerly Nathaniel Burns); one of the Panther 21 and later convicted of six counts of attempted murder for participation in the 1981 Brink's robbery and other incidents. Released 2014.
• Susan Rosenberg; convicted in 1985 for possession of explosives, released 2001.
• Harold Russell; died in shooting 1971.
• Mutulu Shakur (formerly Jeral Wayne Williams); charged with conspiracy in 1979 BLA prison break of Assata Shakur, FBI's top ten Fugitive #380. Captured in 1986 and convicted in 1988 of participating in the 1981 Brink's robbery, he received a 60-year sentence in a federal prison. Incarcerated in Victorville, he was released in December 2022.{{Cite web |url=https://mixmag.net/read/2pac-stepfather-released-prison-tupac-rap-news |title=Safiya Bukhari's "Lest We Forget"{{!}} |access-date=2023-01-18 |archive-date=2023-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118173349/https://mixmag.net/read/2pac-stepfather-released-prison-tupac-rap-news |url-status=live }} He died in 2023. Shakur was stepfather to the late rap artist Tupac Shakur.
• Zayd Malik Shakur (formerly James F. Coston); died in shooting 1973.
• Russell Maroon Shoatz (August 23, 1943 – December 17, 2021); convicted of the murder of a police officer in 1972. Was granted compassionate release due to advanced cancer and died less than two months later, in 2021.{{cite news |last1=Wright |first1=Bruce C. T. |title=Russell 'Maroon' Shoatz, Former Black Liberation Army Soldier And Prison Abolitionist, Dies At 78 |url=https://newsone.com/4261924/russell-maroon-shoatz-dies/ |access-date=18 December 2021 |publisher=Newsone |date=17 December 2021 |archive-date=18 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218015000/https://newsone.com/4261924/russell-maroon-shoatz-dies/ |url-status=live }}
• Samuel Smith (a.k.a. Mtayari Shabaka Sundiata); died in shooting, 1981.
• William Turk (a.k.a. Sekou Kambui); convicted of two murders in Alabama. Released 2014.
• Albert Washington (died in prison April 28, 2000) and Herman Bell (released 2018); two of the New York Three convicted of the murder of two New York City police officers in 1971.{{Cite web|url=https://theappeal.org/police-unions-fight-to-rescind-parole-for-former-black-panther/|title=Police Unions Fight to Rescind Parole for Former Black Panther|date=26 February 2019|access-date=19 February 2022|archive-date=19 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219130539/https://theappeal.org/police-unions-fight-to-rescind-parole-for-former-black-panther/|url-status=live}}
• Anthony White (a.k.a. Kimu Olugbala), and Woodie Greene (a.k.a. Changa Olugbala); died in shooting 1973.

• Badge of the Assassin
• Black Anarchism
• Black Guerrilla Family
• Black Revolutionary Assault Team
• George Jackson Brigade
• May 19th Communist Organization
• New Black Panther Party
• Propaganda of the deed
• Republic of New Afrika
• Symbionese Liberation Army
• Vanguardism
• Weather Underground

• Foster and Laurie by Al Silverman. Published by Little and Brown, 1974. {{ISBN|0316791164}}.
• Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence by Bryan Burrough. Published by Penguin Publishing Group, 2016. {{ISBN|0143107976}}.

{{Commonscatinline}}

• [https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?page=1&casualties_type=&casualties_max=&perpetrator=3497&count=100&charttype=line&chart=overtime&ob=GTDID&od=desc&expanded=yes#results-table Incidents attributed to the BLA on the START GTD database]

{{Black Panther Party}}

{{Weather Underground}}

{{American New Left}}

{{Authority control}}

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