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Black August 1997

A collection of statements
22 August 1997

Black August Statement 1997

Black August '97

Black August is a month of great significance for Black People throughout the African diaspora, but particularly here in the US where it originated.

It was first organized to honor our fallen freedom fighters, George and Jonathan Jackson, Khatari Gaulden, James McClain, and William Christmas, as well as the sole survivor of the August 7th Courthouse Slave Rebellion, Ruchell Cinque Magee.

Jonathan Jackson, Christmas and McClain were killed by prison guards during their armed liberation attempt in Marin County on August 7, 1970. George Jackson was murdered on August 21 a year later, and Gaulden who carried on the struggle died in San Quentin under questionable circumstances following an accident on the yard of San Quentin in 1978.

During this historic month, annually, the brothers who participated in the founding of Black August wore black arm bands on their left arm and studied revolutionary works, focusing on the writings of George Jackson, Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson and Blood in My Eye.. They gave up radio and television, and fasted from sun-up to sundown, with emphasis placed on sacrifice, fortitude and discipline.

"August," as Mumia Abu-Jamal states, is a month of meaning, of repression and radical resistance, of injustice and divine justice."

On this 19th anniversary of Black August, it is still a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical training, and resistance.

The first and only armed revolution that saw Blacks liberate themselves from slavery in the Western Hemisphere began in Haiti in August of 1838 after which Haitian warriors defeated Napoleon's crack troops.

Nat Turner's slave rebellion commenced on August 21, 1831, and the underground railroad began August 13, 1892. Numerous other rebellions and insurrections transpired in August.

Ironically, August got its name from Ceasar when he captured African Queen Cleopatra.

In Mumia's words, "Their sacrifice, their despair, their determination and their blood has painted the month Black for all time."

Let us continue to build unity and resistance through spiritual renewal this Black August as we honor all those who have fought for our freedom and self-determination

Excerpts from The Story of George f Jonathan Jackson and Excerpts of Radio Interview with George Jackson Aired for Black August Commemoration, KPFA

"I am an extremist. I call for extreme measures to solve extreme problems. ... Without self-determination, I am extremely displeased....International capitalism cannot be destroyed without the extremes of struggle...."I think in terms of long struggle, but to me that struggle means action that changes things step by step...no chance of ever turning back."

"Freedom means warmth and protection against harsh exposure to the elements. It means food, not garbage. It means truth, harmony, and the social relations that spring from these. It means the best medical attention whenever it's needed. It means employment that is reasonable, that coincides with the individual necessities and feelings. We will have this freedom even at the cost of total war."

Tape: (Wald/George) G: IT'S MY IMPRESSION THAT CONDITIONS IN THE BLACK COLONY, ESPECIALLY THE BLACK COLONY IN THIS COUNTRY, ARE RIPE, ARE RIPE RIGHT NOW FOR REVOLUTION. IT IS CLEAR THE CONDITIONS -- OF COURSE, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT ARE PEOPLE HUNGRY? ARE PEOPLE ILL FED? ILL CLOTHED? OF COURSE THEY ARE. I'M CONVINCED THE CONDITONS ARE RIPE.

"The capitalist Eden fits my description of hell. To destroy it will require cooperation and communion between our related parts; communion between colongy and colony, nation and nation.... International coordination is the key to defeating this thing that must expand to live. Our inability to work with other peoples, other slaves who have the same master, is a consequence of the inferiority complex we have been conditioned into. We're afraid...the Chinese...or the White folks who support socialism and liberation...really just want to use us, trick us....

This paranoia is a carry-over from the days when a white face in a black crowd meant that the white brain was controlling things. It is a carry-over from the days when some of us felt that nothing could function properly without the presence of a white brain, when we were sufficiently convinced of our own inferiority to allow them to take us over.....We must overcome the paranoia...We need allies, we have a powerful enemy who cannot be defeated without an allied effort!

(Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of G.J.)

tape: (Wald/May 16, 1971 for Pacifica)

- G: DOUBLE MAX. THE PRINCIPLE CONTRADICTION BETWEEN OPPRESSOR AND OPPRESSED CAN BE REDUCED TO THE FACT THAT THE ONLY WAY THE OPPRESSOR CAN MAINTAIN HIS POSITION IS BY FOSTERING, NURTURING, BUILDING CONTEMPT FOR THE OPPRESSED. THAT THING GETS OUT OF HAND AFTER A WHILE. IT LEADS TO THE EXCESSES THAT WE SEE -- THE EXCESSES THAT ARE GROWING WITHIN THE TOTALITARIAN STATE HERE. THE EXCESSES BREED RESISTANCE, OF COURSE. THE THING GROWS IN SPIRALS; IT CAN END IN ONLY ONE WAY--THE EXCESSES LEAD TO RESISTANCE, RESISTANCE LEADS TO BRUTALITY, THE BRUTALITY LEADS TO MORE RESISTANCE, AND FINALLY THE WHOLE QUESTION WILL BE RESOLVED WITH EITHER THE UNECONOMIC DESTRUCTION OF THE OPPRESSED OR END REPRESSION, THE END OF ECONOMIC MAN. AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE WORKING FOR -- REVOLUTION -- MUST BE FED. IT GROWS IN SPIRALS -- CONFRONTATIONS -- I MEAN ON ALL LEVELS. THE INSTITUTIONS THAT BUTTRESS THE ESTABLISHMENT -- I MEAN ON ALL LEVELS -- HAVE TO BE ASSAULTED. WE DON'T HAVE TO CONTRIVE ANY...LET'S SEE, THE PARTICULAR THING I'M INVOLVED IN, THE PRISON MOVEMENT, THE PRISON MOVEMENT STARTED BY HUEY NEWTON AND THE PARTY, HUEY AND DAVID, JUNE, PAT, PAT GALLYOT, AND THE REST OF THE COMRADES AROUND THE COUNTRY WHO ARE WORKING WITH ERICKA AND BOBBY, THE PRISON MOVEMENT IN GENERAL, THE MOVEMENT TO PROVE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT THAT THE CONCENTRATION- CAMP TECHNIQUE WON'T WORK ON US, NOT IN THE 1970'S. WE DON'T HAVE TO CONTRIVE ANY IMPORTANCE TO OUR PARTICULAR MOVEMENT. IT'S A VERY REAL, VERY, VERY REAL ISSUE, AND I'M OF THE OPINION THAT RIGHT ALONG WITH THE STUDENT MOVEMENT, RIGHT ALONG WITH THE OLD, FAMILIAR WORKERS' MOVEMENT, YOU KNOW, THE PRISON MOVEMENT, SUBSTRUCTURAL TO THE THING ON A WHOLE, DOES HAVE STRONG, STRONG RELEVANCE TO THE WHOLE QUESTION -- THE MOVEMENT IN GENERAL.

"I am a Marxist-Fanonist, in other words, a realist. There is no such thing as a spontaneous revolution, there will be no spontaneous uprising and sudden seizure of power by the people. A mass will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force."

"In all the successful class struggles and colonial wars of liberation, the vanguard elements did get ahead of the people and pull. There is no other way in forward mass movement. The liberalist slogan 'You can't get ahead of the people' is meaningless. From what other position can one lead?"

"We must never forget that it is the people who change circumstances and that the educator himself (or herself) needs educating. 'Going among the people, learning from the people, and serving the people' is really stating that we must find out exactly what the people need and organize them around these needs."

"Recall: our Mao teaches that when revolution fails, it isn't the fault of the people, it's the fault of the vanguard party. The people will never come to us and say, 'Let's fight.' There have never been any spontaneous revolutions.

"The police state isn't coming -- it's here, glaring and threatening. How do we raise a new revolutionary consciousness against a system programmed against our old methods? ...As Blacks, we must function as the vanguard in any hositilities. We must use a new approach, unite and revolutionize the black central-city commune, and slowly provide the people with the incentive to fight by allowing them to create programs that will meet all of their social, political and economic needs.

"We're something like 40 to 42 percent of the prison population. Perhaps more, since I'm relying on material published by the media....These prisons have always borne a certain resemblance to Dachau and Buchenwald, places for the bad niggers, Mexicans and poor whites. But the last ten years have brought an increase in the percentage of blacks for crimes that can clearly be traced to political-economic causes. There are still some blacks here who consider themselves criminals -- but not many. Believe me, my friend, with the time and incentive that these brothers have to read, study, and think, you will find no class or category more aware, more embittered, desperate, or dedicated to the ultimate remedy -- revolution. The most dedicated, the best of our kind--you'll find them in the Folsoms, San Quentins, and Soledads. They live like there's no tomorrow. And for most of them there isn't. Somewhere along the line they sensed this. Life on the installment plan, three years of prison, three years on parole; then back to start all over again...Parole officers have sent brothers back to the joint for selling newspapers (the Black Panther Paper). Their official reason is "failure to Maintain Gainful employment." (Soledad Brother)

G: WELL, WE'RE ALL FAMILIAR WITH THE FUNCTION OF THE PRISON AS AN INSTITUTION WITHIN THE TOTALITARIAN STATE....IT'S ONE OF THE STRONGEST INSTITUTIONS THAT SUPPORTS THE TOTALITARIAN STATE. WE HAVE TO DESTROY ITS EFFECTIVENESS. AND THAT'S WHAT THE PRISON MOVEMENT IS ALL ABOUT. WHAT I'M SAYING IS, THEY PUT US IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS. ALL RIGHT, BUT THERE'LL BE NO PEACE IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS, NONE WHATSOEVER. I'M SAYING THAT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE, TO CONCENTRATION-CAMP RESISTERS. FOR EXAMPLE, WELL WE CAN GO BACK A LITTLE DISTANCE, INTERNMENTS DURING WORLD WAR II; LET'S GO FORWARD TO THE STRATEGIC HAMLET AND ALL THE VARIOUS MEANS OF CONCENTRATING POPULATIONS TO BETTER CONTROL OR TO ELIMINATE, LIQUIDATE, ISOLATE THE DYNAMIC SECTIONS OF THE MOVEMENT, THE PROTAGONISTS IN THE MOVEMENT. WE HAVE TO PROVE THAT THAT THING WON'T WORK HERE. AND THE ONLY WAY TO PROVE IT IS RESISTANCE ONCE INSIDE. AND THEN THAT RESISTANCE HAS TO BE SUPPORTED, OF COURSE, FROM THE STREET. IT HAS TO BE UNDERSTOOD THAT THE FUNCTION OF THE PRISON WITHIN THE PRISON STATE, WITHIN THE POLICE STATE, HAS TO BE EXPLAINED, HAS TO BE ELUCIDATED, HAS TO BE GOTTEN ACROSS TO THE PEOPLE ON THE STREET, BECAUSE WE CAN'T FIGHT ALONE. WE CAN FIGHT, BUT THE RESULTS ARE, WELL, THEY'RE NOT CONDUCIVE TO PROVING OUR POINT -- YOU KNOW, THAT THIS THING WON'T WORK ON US. FROM INSIDE, WE FIGHT AND WE DIE. BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT. THE POINT IS--IN THE NEW FACE OF WAR--TO FIGHT AND WIN. (Karen Wald interview, taped 3/71)

A luta continua,

Kiilu Nyasha