Black August 2018
by ‘bro. zayid’
Black
August! Its hallmark inspiration is of course George and Jonathan Jackson,
two incredibly fearless young men who would each become martyrs for our
liberation within a year from each other. Jonathan, in a bold extraction
mission, seeking the freedom for comrades who were not going to get it any
other way, was killed in action in that mission on August 7, 1970...They
burst into that California court room, young guns and said boldly and simply
“we are in charge.” His big brother, the profusive urban literary guerrilla,
George would be taken in a hail of gunfire in prison the following year on August 21st!
Their courage and tragic deaths
would inspire a bold prison justice movement which would include the epic
Attica Uprising less than a month later after George’s death on the other side
of the continent and in recent years, it would mean a time accelerate support
for our political prisoners, and with some approaching 50 years in prison, we
absolutely need to do that.
Black
August is also a time when no white confusing holidays take place, when
some of the most vicious forms of oppression have taken place, and where of
course some of our boldest resistance has taken place. For instance, August 1st, 1943, the police
attack a Black woman and a Black soldier in uniform intervenes. He is shot by a
white police officer and all hell breaks loose on the police and on the
propertied class! Right on!...
Harlem legend James Baldwin is born
on August 2, 1924. On August 3, 1832, Edward Wilmot Blyden, a
hugely important, but unsung, bridge of Black Nationalism from the 19th
to 20th century is born. His African Life and Customs is still a
must have. “We did not come here culturally empty-handed,” Dr. John Henrik
Clarke used to say. Blyden’s book was early proof!
He gave a whole new meaning to the
adage ‘Wake up! Clean up! Stand up!’ when he brought Acupuncture to the ‘hood
in our war against addiction straight from Chairman Mao’s China! Dr. Mutulu
Shakur, in prison now for 32 years, was born on August 8, 1950.
On that same date in 1978,
Philadelphia Tanks, Bulldozers and Massive Gunfire would attack the MOVE Family
in Powelton Village! A Philly police officer would get killed as a consequence
of ‘friendly fire’. They blame it on the 9 MOVE Family members and charge them
with that officer’s death...Almost all of them are still in prison...40 years
later!...
August 9th is also the
anniversary of two ugly police brutality acts. August 9th, 1997, the heinous beating and sodomizing of
Abner Louima and most recently the ‘stranger fruit’ police killing of Michael
Brown in Ferguson in 2014. The film,
Stranger
Fruit, capturing the spectacle horror of that incident, is a must see!
August
11th, 1965, comes the 5ive day sweeping epic Watts Rebellion
that would put Martin Luther King Jr. and his insistence of total commitment to
Nonviolence on his heels. The late great Dick Gregory was shot and wounded in
that uprising.
On August 13th, 1926, Fidel Castro is born! Name a
revolutionary who has done more for Afrikan people than Fidel!...
August
14th, 1791, Bois Cayman!...The time had come to fry the
French...The epic Haitian Revolution was launched.I am so honored by the God of
our Ancestors to be born on this day. I am also greatly saddened that I would lose
our beloved Breya Blackberry Molasses Knight, on that same day two years ago.
The Divine is in order. Check it...Breya would also be given to us on October 2nd, the anniversary
of the birth of Nat Turner! There should be no mistake from where her fire
sprung from...Speaking of Nat Turner, his bold insurrection occurs on August 21st 1831, the same
day that we would later lose Field Marshall George Jackson...Can’t make this
up!
The great Sam Anderson, pioneer of
SNCC and the Black Panther Party, author of Black Holocaust For Beginners,
master teacher...turns 75 on August 16th!...I
salute u, sir.
August
17th, 1887, we are given arguably our greatest organizer, Marcus
Mosiah Garvey!
Next year marks the 400th
anniversary of our ancestors’ fateful arrival in Jamestown, Virginia on August 20th! Although not slaves right
away, we would up in that genocidal bind from that dark beginning.
August
23rd, the ‘True Maroon’, the implacable Russell ‘Maroon’ Shoatz,
in prison since 1975, will turn 75! Almost all of those years were done in the ‘hole!
Time to bring him home!
On that same day, August 23rd in 2003, we
would lose his incredible comrade, Safiya Bukhari Alston! How proud was I to
serve under her for the return of The Black Panther Newspaper, the launching of
Jericho, and more!
It was revealed on August 25th, 1967 that this
little sinister, criminal matter of COINTELPRO would be expanded to destroy our
Movement.
August
28th marks the horrific anniversary of the savage lynching of
Emmitt Till in 1955! The date of that horrific event would be used for the
March On Washington later in 1963. Controlled show that it was, it’s success as
a major mass mobilization, however, marked Dr. King for death, Read his
COINTELPRO Papers!
Finally, we end with Chairman Fred,
one of the baddest Panther leaders!...Fred Hampton was born on August 31, 1948.
We who like it hot...Call it ‘Black
August’...
©2018
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