American activist Rakem Balogun gets jailed for posting about brutality on Facebook

According to The Guardian, On December 12, 2017, Rakem Balogun’s house was stormed by officers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the middle of the night.

He was arrested and held at gun point with his 15-year old son in the freezing cold over his harmless posts on Facebook. During his court hearing, special agent Aaron Keighley testified that he had been tracked since a 2015 rally of which he was a part.

The worst part is that, during his hearing, the FBI was unable to provide sufficient evidence of his participation than offering details of his Facebook post where he called a man who shot police officers “A hero” and saying, “They deserve what they got. I just mimicked their reactions to out killing.” They also offered evidence of derogatory anti-police slurs like, “oink oink bang bang” and “the only good pig is a pig that’s dead.”

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Subsequently, he was incarcerated for five months during which time, he lost his home and livelihood. He was working for an IT firm before his incarceration. Balogun, real name Christopher Daniels has long been an activist, co-founding two groups; Guerrilla Mainframe and the Huey P Newton Gun Club to confront police brutality and advocate gun ownership for black men. They also provide food and self-defense classes for black men.

Balogun had posted on Facebookover anger at the death of black people like Alton Sterling and Philando Castle.

Speaking to the Guardian in his first interview since release, Balogun called the entire affair, “It’s tyranny at its finest. I have not been doing anything illegal for them to have surveillance on me. I have not hurt anyone or threatened anyone.”

Before his interview of Balogun’s letter to them from jail, Balogun the Guardian from jail reports that he, felt “abducted by the FBI, a prisoner of war on free speech and the right to bear arms. Authorities were targeting him for promoting black-led community groups and fighting “government abuse”, he wrote, adding he was never a threat to anyone: “Violence is the method of our oppressor, our method is hard work, love and unity.”

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While Balogunhas not been named a black identity extremist, the language of his court hearing suggests the intention that he is. Though guns were found in his possession, there was no evidence that he used it or intended to use it against any police officer.

These actions are not dissimilar to the FBIactions under J. Edgar Hoover who championed the cause to bug homes of activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and other NAACP leaders. Asides losing his job, Balogun has missed half of his daughter’s first year.