About Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin
Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin (born March 30, 1947) is an American writer, activist, and Black anarchist. He is a former member of the Black Panther Party and Concerned Citizens for Justice. He was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and has lived in Memphis, Tennessee, since 2010. == Youth and early activism == Ervin was born Lorenzo Edward Ervin Jr., on March 30, 1947. He joined the NAACP youth group when he was 12 and participated in the sit-in protests that helped end racial segregation in Chattanooga. He was drafted during the Vietnam War and served in the army for two years, beginning in Mannheim West Germany, where he formed a group called Black GIs United to address racism within the U.S. Army. Developing an anti-war stance, he took place in anti-Vietnam demonstrations with West German students, and encouraged GIs who were being sent to Vietnam to desert in protest. Shortly after, Komboa himself was drafted to go to Vietnam and chose to go AWOL. After being captured, kicked out of the army and sent home. In 1967 he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and, a short time later, the Black Panther Party. == Hijacking and incarceration == In February 1969, Ervin hijacked a plane to Cuba to evade prosecution for allegedly trying to kill a Ku Klux Klan leader.
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