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Black August is a Time of Righteous Rebellion

by Malcolm Suber

Creating a revolutionary culture that highlights the sacrifices and achievements of freedom fighters is a vital part of the working class struggle for complete emancipation. These commemorative dates allow us to remember as well as to plan for a future free of capitalist oppression and exploitation. Black August is such a commemoration that deserves the support of the working class. This commemoration was created by revolutionary fighters incarcerated in California.

Each year since 1979, organizers from the Black liberation movement (BLM) have used the month of August to focus on the oppressive conditions inside the state run gulags and concentration camps the U.S. calls prisons. We concentrate our efforts on the fight to free all political prisoners and to abolish the capitalist prison industrial complex. We struggle to expose the forced slavery conditions that our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and other loved ones who are held captive by the racist legal system. We also celebrate Black August to educate each other about the revolutionaries who have been held in isolation decade after decade.

The historical roots of Black August can be traced to the actions of Jonathan Jackson who was gunned down outside the Marin County courthouse on August 7, 1970 as he attempted to liberate three imprisoned Black Liberation Fighters: James McClain, William Christmas, and Ruchell Magee.

George Jackson was assassinated on August 21, 1971 by San Quentin prison guards. The assassination was a deliberate move on behalf of the US government to eliminate the revolutionary leadership of George Jackson.

Khatari Gaulden was murdered by San Quentin prison guards on August 1, 1978. Khatari was one of the key intellectual architects of the Black August tradition and a prominent leader of the Black Guerilla Family after comrade George was assassinated. He was murdered to eliminate his leadership and destroy the growing prison resistance movement.

In 1979 the first official Black August took place. Supporters wore black armbands on their left arms and studied revolutionary books, particularly those of George Jackson. During the month the brothers did not watch TV or listen to the radio. The use of drugs and alcohol was prohibited, and they held daily exercises to sharpen their minds, bodies and spirits. They honored the collective principles of self-sacrifice and revolutionary discipline needed to advance the struggle for freedom and self-determination of the Black nation. Black August therefore became a commemorative event urging on the BLM to fight for complete freedom.

It is important that we continue on the revolutionary path set by freedom fighters who made August a month of righteous rebellion. Reaffirm your resolve to struggle until the white supremacist billionaire ruling class is overthrown and the African American Nation is free!

A sampling of the racist oppression and righteous rebellion and resistance to oppression that defines this commemorative month include:

  • August 1619 – arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, VA
  • August 1791 – start of the great Haitian Revolution
  • August 30, 1800 – Gabriel Prosser’s Rebellion in Richmond, VA
  • August 21, 1831 – Nat Turner Rebellion, Southampton County, VA
  • August, 1963 – March on Washington, DC
  • August, 1965 – Watts Rebellion
  • August 18, 1971 – Republic of New Africa shootout with FBI, Jackson, MS
  • August 8, 1978 – Philadelphia police attack MOVE family
  • August 9, 2014 – Rebellion breaks out in Ferguson, MO after the murder of Michael Brown
  • August 2020 – Millions of people in the U.S. follow the lead of rebels in Minneapolis who have sparked a world-wide movement against racist police terror
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Celebrate Black August! Free all political prisoners!

By Malcolm Suber

August has been the month when the Black resistance to national oppression has been expressed most sharply going back to the days of enslavement.

August 2017 marks the 50-year anniversary of the widespread Black rebellions against racist national oppression in the USA. The Black masses came out into the streets of America to challenge state enforced segregation, poverty and police terror. Detroit, Newark and more than 180 cities and towns went up in flames representing the fire in the belly of the black masses for freedom and liberation. Unfortunately, conditions for the Black masses have not fundamentally changed since the 1960s. Poverty and police terror are still rampant.

The response of the US state to these righteous Black rebellions was the creation of the FBI’s COINTELPRO whose aim was to destroy the Black revolutionary leadership by murdering many leaders such as Fred Hampton and jailing many others. The ruling class feared that the Black rebellion would spread and allies would join the liberation struggle to overthrow the racist capitalist government. There are still dozens of political prisoners in the United States, many of whom have been incarcerated for more than 40 or 50 years. They have become elders inside prison- Black, Puerto Rican, Native, Chicano/Latino and white revolutionaries who have dedicated their lives to the freedom struggle.

The New Orleans Workers Group supports the commemoration of Black August as a time to recognize the life, work and struggles of these revolutionary fighters who have been held as political prisoners. The NOWG is composed of workers and the oppressed that consciously call for and organize toward ending the rule of the billionaire capitalist class. We see ourselves as part of the revolutionary heritage of resistance that harks back to the founding of this racist settler country. From the resistance of indigenous tribes against the settler-colonialists to the first flight to freedom by the enslaved African captives, there have been outstanding leaders and organizers who have fought for the freedom and liberation of the oppressed.

In 1979, revolutionary captives in the California prisons began to call on revolutionary supporters to commemorate Black August to focus on the fact that the US capitalist state had many political prisoners in its gulags. They called on supporters to begin the necessary work of exposing the capitalist state and working to free our heroes and sheroes from imprisonment.

Black August, as noted by one of our most famous political prisoners, Mumia Abu-Jamal, is “a month of divine meaning, of repression and radical resistance; of repression and righteous rebellion; and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us”.
The triggering event for contemporary Black August can be found in the actions of Jonathan Jackson who was gunned down at the Marin County courthouse on August 7, 1970 as he attempted to liberate three imprisoned Black liberation fighters: James McClain, William Christmas, and Ruchell Magee (still imprisoned), the sole survivor of the August 7th rebellion.

George Jackson was assassinated on August 21, 1971, a deliberate move by the US state to eliminate his revolutionary leadership. Three prison guards were killed in the rebellion sparked by George’s assassination. The government charged six Black and Latino prisoners with the guards’ deaths. These six brothers became known as the San Quentin six and were later acquitted of all charges.

Black August is a time for revolutionaries to rededicate themselves to struggle and to study the revolutionary history of the Black Liberation Movement. A brief listing of Black struggles in August include:

• The arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, VA in August 1719

• The start of the Haitian revolution in August, 1791

• Gabriel’s rebellion of August 30, 1800 • Nat Turner’s rebellion August 21, 1831

• The Watts Rebellion of August 1965

• The Detroit rebellion August 1967

• The RNA 11 shootout with the FBI in Jackson, MS on August 18, 1971

• The bombing of MOVE by Philadelphia police August 8, 1978

Long live the spirit of Black August! Free all our political prisoners!

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Black Lives Matter Forum

    The Black Lives Matter Movement & The Fight Against Police Terror was the title of our first forum on August 28th at Cafe Istanbul. It was attended by over a hundred people, black and white.  The main speaker was Malcolm Suber, a devoted black revolutionary who has been on the front lines in the struggle against NOPD abuse for over three decades.
    During his presentation, Suber explained that the main political lesson drawn from the Black Lives Matter movement is that it is spontaneous resistance to police terror that has propelled the freedom struggle to a level we haven’t seen since the 60’s and 70’s.  He said “the choice before our movement is: will we wage a revolutionary fight to end the rule of the  billionaire ruling class, or will we continue on the road of reform that guarantees continued police terror and murder of national minority youth on the streets of America?”
    He also noted that the police are doing exactly what the rulers want them to do.  “It is their function to terrorize us and keep us in our place, in our oppressed condition.”
     At the end of his talk, Suber invited singer Nana Nantambu on stage to lead the audience in singing the classic freedom song “We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest”. Afterwards there was a lively discussion full of revolutionary energy and solidarity among the audience. At the end everyone walked out enthused, with a deep understanding of the black lives matter movement, and they were therefore more ready for the fight against racist police oppression.