by The Crusader Editorial Board
Black August is a commemoration of the freedom fighters of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army who were imprisoned and martyred in the struggle for Black National Liberation and Socialism. The tradition began in 1979 by Khatari Ghaulen of the Black Guerrilla Family, a martyr of the struggle.
In 1971, George L. Jackson, author of Blood In My Eye and influential leader of the Revolutionary Prison Movement, magically revealed a 9mm pistol in front of a reactionary judge and prison guards and took them hostage while being escorted to his cell in San Quentin, California.
“Gentlemen, the dragon has come,” he proudly declared, quoting Ho Chi Minh’s famous line that “when the prison doors are open, the real dragons will fly out.” The prison doors are opened: the dragon has flown out. It was from this point on that he became known as the Dragon.
Today there are many dragons. Some were prisoners of war, captured by the new slave patrols decades ago, never lowering the flag of revolution for a measly plate of lentils. Some were radicalized in prison like George Jackson himself, whose eyes were opened to the scientific ideology, through which the whole world is revealed with clarity, alongside the shining path to true liberation. There are those who are fighting inhumane conditions through sit-ins, strikes, and uprisings, who continue to rise up across the penal system of the empire, in spite of the cruel repression unleashed by the class enemy.
Still, there are many more who were framed by the racist American “justice” system, who became “criminals” for the unemployment, drugs, and hopelessness that the nation finds itself in; who – above all else – dared to challenge the “status quo” of the bourgeoisie with their own rebellions.
To remember the countless struggles and sacrifice in the past is to mold ourselves in these examples; to fulfill the task history has given us with new struggles and new sacrifices; and of course, new defeats and new victories.
Let us be present at every site of exploitation and oppression, every spontaneous struggle of the masses, in order to channel all the tributaries, streams and creeks into a powerful torrent that shall flood open the prison doors from both directions – so the real dragons may reveal themselves and fly freely.
We remember Jonathan & George Jackson, Assata Shakur, James Yaki Sayles, Maroon Shoatz, Malcolm X, Nat Turner, Jamil Al-Amin, Fred Hampton and many more who were imprisoned and martyred in the Black Liberation Struggle. These comrades were martyred at the hands of the US imperialism and especially the political prisoners/POWs of the Black Liberation struggle; victims of repression by the United States against the Black revolutionary movement of the 1960s and 70s, to today.
Black August is more than the month of remembering the Dragon. August has always been a month of Black struggle. August is the month of the Marin County Court House rebellion (Aug 7th), the Attica uprising (Aug 10th), the Watts Rebellion (Aug 11th), Nat Turner’s Rebellion (Aug 21st), the start of the Haitian Revolution (Aug 23rd), the birthdays of Mutulu Shakur (Aug 8th), Fred Hampton (Aug 30th), and the martyrdoms of George and Jonathan Jackson (Aug 21st & 7th), Mike Brown (Aug 9th) and Emmet Till (Aug 28th).
Revolutionaries that want to internalize the tradition of Black August must observe the traditions founded by the Revolutionary Prison Movement. These traditions include fasting from dusk till dawn, as hunger strikes are a tool of resistance; refraining from profane language or behavior; abstaining from substances; collectively studying educational and political theory, and conditioning and strength training. These traditions are to make us more well-rounded revolutionaries and steeled for the fight ahead.
As revolutionaries, must strive to carry on these traditions as class struggle toward revolution. We must inform the masses about them and practice them together. This way, we can sharpen the blade of class consciousness amongst the Black working masses.
Reading about history and freedom fighters of the past is not enough. To practice the traditions of personal discipline, political education and consciousness raising oneself is to integrate them into one’s habits. We must improve and change ourselves if we seek to improve and build a better society through destroying the existing system: US imperialism, the most bloodthirsty enemy humanity has seen, built by stolen labor on stolen land.
On a broader scale, we must resolve to practice the “three withs:” live, work and struggle directly alongside the Black masses, who comprise the majority of the working class in the the Black Belt. Organizing at the points of labor and tenancy are decisive strikes against the ruling class.
“Black August is the antithesis to ‘celebration’ and empty ‘homage.’ Black August attempts to place struggle and sacrifice on center stage.” – Black August Planning Organization
Crusader News 
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