Black August! Resistance!
In the spirit of Black August, a sacred month within the radical tradition born from the fire of resistance, I write as the NLG Vice President of Jailhouse Lawyers from within the walls of this close custody security prison. Black August is a time for us to remember and honor the revolutionaries who came before us, and to recommit ourselves to the struggle for liberation. Black August is a month established by militant prisoners that refused to allow those that had made the ultimate sacrifice to be forgotten.
For this message I am highlighting W.L. Nolen, a martyr in the Weusi Agosti tradition. He was one of the three Blacks that literally died fighting racist prisoners on a rec yard, while being gun down by the guards. Nolen was a revolutionary and a jailhouse lawyer who was set up and murdered in 1970 for using his legal knowledge to fight against the brutality of the carceral state.
His work, educating and organizing prisoners to challenge their oppression, made him a target of the state’s vengeance. His legacy, along with 7 other New Afrikan/Black martyrs sparked this month of remembrance. Black August calls on us to study, fast, train, and fight to dismantle the chains of a system that seeks to oppress us, while moving toward liberation.
I see the prison as a microcosm of the larger society, a tool of the ruling class to crush our people’s potential. Black August calls us to dialectical action: to study the laws, to train our bodies and minds, to fast for clarity, and to fight for our political prisoners and community total liberation.
Today’s state current use of lawfare, the strategic abuse of legal systems to oppress the people, mirrors the violence that took Nolen’s life. We must stay vigilant and push ahead.
Specifically to those on the outside of these razor wires, I urge you to use your community and legal resources to challenge this lawfare and amplify the voices of the imprisoned and defend those who are disadvantaged on the outside. The legacy of Black August, from slave revolts to the struggles of the Black Liberation Movement, points to and shows that we will have our liberation through collective resistance. That is my core message to you this year: collective resistance.
In Blood in My Eye, George Jackson wrote, “Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”
Let’s carry this message forward beyond the month of August and into what those of us who adhere to the tenets of Black August call “Black August 365”.
Free all political prisoners!
Dare to struggle, Dare to win!
– Sundiata Jawanza, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak and NLG Vice President Jailhouse Lawyer
