Black August

A segment for the August 29th show

* Black August originated in the California penal system to honor three fallen freedom fighters, Jonathan Jackson, George Jackson and Khatari Gaulden. Jonathan Jackson was gunned down outside a Marin County, California courthouse on August 7, 1970, as he attempted to liberate three imprisoned Black Liberation Fighters: James McClain, William Christmas, and Ruchell Magee. Ruchell Magee is the sole survivor of that armed liberation attempt.

* George Jackson was assassinated by prison guards during a black prison rebellion at San Quentin on August 21, 1971. In an unsuccessful effort to cover up that state’s premeditated assassination of George Jackson, prison officials selected six Black and Latino prisoners to make scapegoats for their racist, murderous act. These prisoners became known as the San Quentin Six.

* Khatari Gaulden was a political activist who worked with the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. While in prison, he organized after George Jackson’s assassination. Gaulden was killed in the prison infirmary.

* Black August promotes a “non-sectarian mass based” resistance culture inside and outside the prison walls across the United States. The brothers who participated in the collective founding of Black August wore black armbands on their left arm and studied revolutionary works, focusing on the works of George Jackson.

* The brothers did not listen to the radio or watch television in August. Additionally, they didn’t eat or drink anything from sun-up to sundown, and loud boastful behavior was not allowed.

* The brothers did not support the prison canteen. The use of drugs and alcoholic beverages was prohibited and the brothers held daily exercises, because during Black August, emphasis is placed on sacrifice, fortitude and discipline.

* Black August is still a time to embrace the principles of 1) Unity; 2) Self-Sacrifice; 3) Political Education; 4) Physical training; and 5) Resistance!

* The first Africans were brought to Jamestown as slaves in August of 1619

* In 1843, Henry Highland Garnett called a general slave strike on August 22. William Still started the Underground Railroad on August 2, 1850, and the Afro-American Newspaper was founded on August 13, 1892.

* On August 3, 1908, the Allensworth Township for former slaves was established in California. The March on Washington occurred in August of 1963.

* Gabriel Prosser’s 1800 slave rebellion occurred on August 30. Nat Turner planned and carried out an August slave rebellion that commenced on August 21, 1831.

* During the Watts rebellions in August 1965, blacks took to the streets, and on August 18, 1971 in Jackson, Mississippi, the official residence of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA) was raided by Mississippi police and FBI agents.

* Further, August is a time of birth. International African leader Marcus Garvey and Dr. Mutulu Shakur, political prisoner and prisoner of war, were both born in August.

* August is also a time of rebirth. W.E.B. Dubois died in Ghana on August 27, 1963.

Let's also commemorate the passing of Marilyn Buck with a reading from the Bayview National Black Newspaper:

Marilyn Buck a former political prisoner and prisoner of war. Along with Mutulu Shakur, she was involved in the liberation of Assata Shakur from prison in 1979. She later went underground.

“In the ‘60s Marilyn participated in protests against racism and the Vietnam war. In 1967 she became part of Students for a Democratic Society. Marilyn became part of a radical filmmaking and propaganda collective, showing the films as an organizing aid at community meetings, high school groups, workers’ committees and in the streets. She also participated in international solidarity groups supporting the Vietnamese, Palestinians and the Iranian struggle against the Shah. She worked in solidarity with Native Americans, Mexicano and Black liberation struggles.

“As a direct result of all of this activity, she became a target of COINTELPRO. In 1973, she was arrested and convicted of buying two boxes of bullets. Accused of being a member of the BLA [Black Liberation Army], she was sentenced to 10 years, the longest sentence ever given for such an offense at the time. In 1977 she was granted a furlough and never returned, joining the revolutionary clandestine movement. In 1985 she was captured and faced four separate court trials. She was charged with conspiracy to support and free PP/POWs [political prisoners and prisoners of war] and to support the New Afrikan Independence struggle through expropriations. In 1988 she was indicted for conspiracy to protest and alter government policies through use of violence against government and military buildings and received an additional 10 years for conspiracy to bomb the Capitol.

She was released July 15, 2010, after 25 years as an anti-imperialist political prisoner. Then suddenly, only 19 days later, she was gone. Her comrade and fellow former political prisoner Linda Evans broke the sad news: “Our dear comrade Marilyn Buck made her transition yesterday (Aug. 3, 2010) at 1 p.m. EST peacefully and surrounded by friends.” Sister Marpessa Kupendua wrote: “Former political prisoner Marilyn Buck made her transition. Peace and blessings be upon her revolutionary soul! Let her passing motivate us to be on point for all those denied medical care within the walls. Serious illnesses ARE death sentences! Much respect to her struggle on our collective behalf and all those who loved her so strong in her final days!”

‘Black August’
by Marilyn Buck

Would you hang on a cliff’s edge
sword-sharp, slashing fingers
while jackboot screws stomp heels
on peeled-flesh bones
and laugh
“let go! die, damn you, die!”
could you hang on 20 years, 30 years?

20 years, 30 years and more
brave Black brothers buried
in US koncentration kamps
they hang on
Black light shining in torture chambers
Ruchell, Yogi, Sundiata, Sekou,
Warren, Chip, Seth, Herman, Jalil,
and more and more they resist: Black August

Nat Turner insurrection chief executed: Black August
Jonathan, George dead in battle’s light: Black August
Fred Hampton, Black Panthers, African Brotherhood murdered: Black August
Kuwasi Balagoon, Nuh Abdul Quyyam captured warriors dead: Black August
Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ella Baker, Ida B. Wells
Queen Mother Moore – their last breaths drawn fighting death: Black August

Black August: watchword
for Black liberation for human liberation
sword to sever the shackles

light to lead children of every nation to safety
Black August remembrance
resist the amerikkan nightmare for life