Rakem Balogun
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{short description|American activist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rakem Balogun
| image =
| caption =
| image_size =
| birth_name = Christopher Daniels
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| module = {{Infobox military person
| embed = yes
| embed_title = Military career
| allegiance = {{Flag|United States}}
| branch = {{flag|United States Marine Corps}}
| battles = Iraq War
| serviceyears = 2001 - 2004
}}}}
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.{{cite news |last=Alcorn |first= Chauncey |date=26 July 2018 |title=Black gun rights advocates criticize FBI's, NRA's response to Rakem Balogun |url=https://www.mic.com/articles/190283/black-gun-rights-advocates-criticize-fbis-nras-response-to-rakem-balogun |work=Mic |access-date=7 June 2019}}{{cite news |last=Simek |first=Peter |date=October 2018 |title=The Right to Bear Arms (And Say Shocking Stuff on Facebook) |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2018/october/the-right-to-bear-arms-and-say-shocking-stuff-on-facebook/ |work=D Magazine |access-date=7 June 2019 |quote=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.}} 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 .Simek, Peter (October 2018). 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. 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. However, during a 2019 interview on Klepper, Balogun is seen leading a demonstration including several participants in Huey P. Newton Gun Club paraphernalia.
2017 arrest
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.{{cite web |date=30 January 2018 |title=United States v. Daniels |url=https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-daniels-185 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807092428/https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-daniels-185/ |archive-date=Aug 7, 2023 |access-date=14 August 2023 |website=casetext.com |language=en}}
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 and praising Micah Johnson, the perpetrator of the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers. Balogun's firearm violation as well as his posts were cited as grounds for Balogun's arrest.{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/black-activist-jailed-facebook-posts-slams-fbi-article-1.3984603|title=Black activist jailed for Facebook posts slams secret surveillance and FBI for 'their tyranny' - NY Daily News|first=Jessica|last=Schladebeck|website=nydailynews.com|date=11 May 2018 }}{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/30/is-a-court-case-in-texas-the-first-prosecution-of-a-black-identity-extremist/|title=Is a Court Case in Texas the First Prosecution of a 'Black Identity Extremist'?|website=foreignpolicy.com|date=30 January 2018 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.theroot.com/is-this-the-first-victim-of-cointelpro-2-0-jailed-blac-1825968073|title=Is This the 1st Victim of COINTELPRO 2.0? Jailed 'Black Identity Extremist' Speaks Out|first=Anne|last=Branigin|website=theroot.com|date=11 May 2018 }}{{cite web|url=https://splinternews.com/the-fbi-reportedly-cited-a-black-activists-facebook-pos-1825962211|title=Activist Thought To Be First Jailed As 'Black Identity Extremist'|first=Katherine|last=Krueger|website=splinternews.com|date=11 May 2018 }}{{cite web|url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/rakem-balogun-black-identity-extremists-prosecuted-fbi-gun-owner.html|title=Feds Jailed Gun Owner for Making Politically Incorrect Facebook Posts|first=Eric|last=Levitz|website=nymag.com|date=11 May 2018 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/rakem-balogun-black-activist-case-dismissed/|title=Texas judge dismisses FBI case against 'Black Identity Extremist'|date=12 May 2018|website=dailydot.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/11/rakem-balogun-interview-black-identity-extremists-fbi-surveillance|title=Black activist jailed for his Facebook posts speaks out about secret FBI surveillance|first=Sam|last=Levin|date=11 May 2018|work=The Guardian}} According to Balogun he was exercising his right to free speech when he praised Johnson,[https://mic.com/articles/190290/meet-rakem-balogun-the-texas-man-whose-support-for-a-cop-killer-made-him-an-fbi-target#.kbBjP9DrI Meet Rakem Balogun, the Texas man whose support for a cop killer made him an FBI target, Mic, Aaron Morrison, 17 July 2018] and was not endorsing violence against individual police officers, but a general struggle against the Dallas Police Department.{{Cite episode |title=This Is My Gun, These Are My Rights |series=Klepper |first=Jordan |last=Klepper |network=Comedy Central |date=June 6, 2019 |season=1 |number=6 |time=14}}
The event made worldwide news due to Balogun being the first person to be publicly designated a "Black Identity Extremist" by the FBI, sparking a national debate on the appropriateness of that term.{{Cite web |last=Speri |first=Alice |date=2019-03-23 |title=The Strange Tale of the FBI's Fictional "Black Identity Extremism" Movement |url=https://theintercept.com/2019/03/23/black-identity-extremist-fbi-domestic-terrorism/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=The Intercept |language=en-US}} In May 2018, Balogun had all charges dropped against him.{{cite web|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/charges-dropped-in-first-case-against-black-identity-extremist|title=Charges Dropped in First Case Against 'Black Identity Extremist'|first=Martin de|last=Bourmont|date=11 May 2018|work=The Daily Beast}}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Balogun, Rakem}}
Category:2017 controversies in the United States
Category:Activists for African-American civil rights
Category:American civil rights activists
Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War
Category:Anti-black racism in Texas
Category:December 2017 in the United States