BLACK AUGUST BUILDS ON OUR BLACK RADICAL TRADITION

words by Charles Brooks

The 31 days of August hold a particular and special meaning you will not find in the celebrations that come with Juneteenth, Black History Month or Kwanzaa. For 42 years now since 1979, Black August commemorates and highlights political prisoners and their crucial role in the Black liberation/freedom struggle.  Black August is directly tied to the Black prison movement that started in the San Quentin prison and through relentless organizing spread to other prisons as well as to the streets.  

The story of Black August  begins immediately behind the prison walls after Jonathan and George Jackson were killed in August 1970, and 1971 respectively, as well as W.L. Nolan (killed January 1970), James McClain, William Christmas (killed with George) and Khatari Gaulden (killed August 1st, 1978). Back in August 1979, the prison newspaper, Arm the Spirit, dedicated the first issue establishing Black August, “To commemorate the lives of George and Jonathan Jackson, Black prisoners at San Quentin have set aside the month of August as a month of Black cultural and revolutionary development. Through educational and other activities efforts will be directed toward transforming the Black "criminal mentality" into revolutionary mentality to making the popular prison masses conscious of their social, political, economic, and racial oppression, and to elevating the already existing revolutionary consciousness” 

From the beginning, Black August was intended to be cathartic, reflective and rooted in disciplined behavior. Early followers of Black August began to coalesce around guiding principles such as unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical training and resistance. From here, participants wore black armbands on their left arm, establish political education/study groups, refrain from using drugs, and alcohol while engaging in daily exercise, “It's a time to dedicate and rededicate ourselves to our freedom struggle and build and prepare ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually for the struggle ahead. August is most definitely a month of great historical and spiritual significance to our people and fasting during this month should keep this foremost in our minds,”  wrote the Arm the Spirit Editorial Collective.

During the early years as August 21st coalitions and committees were in formation and organizing Black folk in and outside of the prisons around Black August, these Black activists, radicals and revolutionaries were subjected to and targeted with relentless and harsh attacks via police harassment, brutality, surveillance, and arrest. Once arrested, and incarcerated, they were again targeted with vicious torture, hostility and mistreatment; deprived of sleep, medical care, and imprisoned in segregated housing units for 23 hours a day. But they maintained and advanced their political struggle behind the walls making demands for their human rights.  Supporters on the outside formed committees and filed lawsuits while the prisoners on the inside organized, went on strikes and rebelled. We saw this in Attica in 1972.

Photo credit: Nemo Rodriguez

This the foundation and legacy Black August set and 42 years later, the radical and revolutionary spirit of Black August continues to resonate more widely today. That is a result of the work of organizations such as the Black August Organizing Committee, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, New Afrikan Independence Movement, and the Jericho Movement, who are amongst those organizations and formations around the country committed to securing the freedom for all political prisoners. Along with month-long activities holding up political prisoners, Black August has evolved through the years to include historical markers in radical Black history also occurring in August that includes the arrival of the first African slaves in 1619, the Haitian Revolution in 1791, Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion, birth of Marcus Garvey and establishing the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and Watts uprising are just a few examples. 

Today, the issue of political prisoners brings into focus not only the devastating impact of COINTELPRO but the relationship between the prison industrial complex to Black people via racism, capitalism and imperialism on one hand and targeted surveillance, harassment, arrest and imprisonment, on the other. Today’s political prisoners serve the longest sentences and have to endure the harshest of prison conditions eventually leading to serious debilitating health issues that include tuberculosis, deteriorating skin disease, cancers, cirrhosis and now COVID.  

Ruchell Magee is 82 years old and is currently the longest held political prisoner serving 58 years in prison – and was recently denied parole, again.  Mumia Abu-Jamal is 67 years old, incarcerated since 1981, Russell Shoatz is 78 years old and incarcerated since 1972, Sundiati Acoli is 84 years old and incarcerated since 1973, Mutulu Shakur is 71 years old and incarcerated since 1986, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, formerly H. Rap Brown is 77 years old and incarcerated since 2000.  But the list doesn’t stop here, there’s more. 

The recent health concerns aggravated with contracting COVID, have prompted campaigns demanding their immediate release. The outright denial of the release for these aging prisoners in declining health during this horrific COVID period, not only deepens our clarity of the state’s sustained attack on political prisoners, and draws a picture of the fight ahead, but also deepens the resolve to secure their release from prison.  We’re reminded of what, former political prisoner Dhoruba Bin Wahad wrote his seminal essay, In Speaking Truth to Power: Political Prisoners in the United States, where he wrote in part: “The existence of political prisoners in the United States goes to the very heart of the racist nature of this society. To not deal with the issue of political prisoners in the U.S. is to not deal with the true 'nature of America”

Additional Reading:

In Speaking Truth to Power: Political Prisoners in the United States, Doruba Bin-Wahad

Arm the Spirit, August 1979 issue

Arm the Spirit, first issue, no date

Imprisoned Intellectuals; America's Political Prisoners write on Life, Liberation and Rebellion, Introduction by Joy James

The Case of the San Quentin Six and a Chronology of the Frameup

Take a look at my brief bio about my writing life and on social media:

Facebook page: The Brooks Blackboard

Twitter: @_charlesbrooks

   

More Clinton confidential papers released...

By Charles Brooks

“Courtesy, William J. Clinton Presidential Library.”

A fourth batch of confidential documents from the Clinton days in the White House was recently released for public view on April 18^th.  This release of documents contains over 100 files totaling approximately 7,500 pages - the largest set of documents released thus far. As noted in The Blackboard’s previous posts on the Clinton Papers, these confidential documents contain items such as email correspondence, presidential meeting schedules, handwritten notes, internal memorandums, transcripts, letters, and speech drafts.  This stream of confidential correspondence – hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents provides the public with a peek to the world inside the White House where candid thoughts and hard-line positions are debated and captured on paper. 

These confidential documents delve into a wide range of issues that do well to remind the public of the hot-button policy issues as well as the tabloid scandals and political crises. The public can now view these internal memos that can provide some insight into the administrations’ thinking and approach to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the genocide in Rwanda, the aftermath of the horrific Oklahoma City bombing, and contentious relations with the Republicans.  In reviewing several of the released files, The Blackboard uncovered a few rather revealing items.  For instance, the White House relationship with the press: “We are really caught in a pull and tug with the magazine, I agree with some of LIFE's comments, but strongly disagree on others.  I agree with their reordering of the text, and I think it comes close to my first draft: opening with the personal Boys Nation anecdote, moving to the timeless lessons to be drawn from Kennedy's administration. My argument is not with the story they want, but the way they want the story told. The tone they seek from the President is so self-centered, it's actually solipsistic.”

Mandela joins the ancestors

As you know by now, Nelson Mandela has died at the age of 95 years old. I want to share links about Madiba that I tweeted out last night. The Internet is full with tributes to the first black president of South Africa. I will only add that Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner - that context should never be forgotten - he was imprisoned for nearly thirty years for his political beliefs that was in sharp contrast to the South African white supremacy that manifested itself through apartheid. He will be remembered for being a man of peace, a man who did not hold on to anger or bitterness after spending twenty-seven years imprisoned for his role in bringing about a South Africa free from the shackles of apartheid through armed stuggle. As we bear witness to the many tributes and shared memories of Nelson Mandela - we must not forget his militancy, that he was a freedom fighter...and that he was a political prisoner. We can honor his legacy by raising awareness to the plight of political prisoners held by America - and supporting their release. This post will be continually updated with new content via links on Nelson Mandela.

AMANDLA AMANDLA AMANDLA



                                       UPDATED WITH NEW CONTENT

This is a link to a memorial page for Mandela at a South Africa paper - Mail & Guardian

To see all that is happening at Nelson Mandela's memorial service: as it happened

An article about Mandela entitled Freedom Fighter Madiba: Let's Not Forget The Mandela Who Prepared To Defeat Apartheid With Arms

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South African President Jacob Zuma announces Mandela's death

Statement from Thabo Mbeki on Mandela's death

Ohio University Professor Zakes Mda wrote an OP-ED in the New York Times titled: The Contradictions of Mandela

Letter addressed to the Minister of Justice from Robben Island Prison

South African Broadcasting Company (SABC) coverage of Nelson Mandela
The Guardian coverage of Nelson Mandela

Watch the FRONTLINE documentary: The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela online.