In the true spirit of Black August resistance

by Kijana Tashiri Askari

Khatari_Gaulden_Hugo_Pinell_San_Quentin_yard_60s_from_Kiilu, In the true spirit of Black August resistance, Abolition Now! For the past 10 years in particular, CDCR state operatives have been steadfast in criminalizing the historical-cultural legacy of Black August, under the false pretense of it being a BGF (Black Guerrilla Family) prison gang concept that promotes violence against CDCR’s state operatives. And therefore the commemoration of the Black August memorial over this 10-year period has constituted an alleged threat to the safety and security of California’s slave kamps, i.e., prisons, which has led to several New Afrikan Black captives being arbitrarily placed on indefinite solitary confinement status as alleged prison gang members.

However, on Feb. 22, 2010, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court issued a court ruling that stated in part:

“Defendants appear to contend that a categorical ban on things related to Black August is proper, as they have not identified any particular statement about Black August in Harrison’s mail that actually ‘might be thought to encourage violence.’ Procunier v.Martinez, 416 US at 416. Black August commemorates some people who prison officials may not think are worthy of commemorating, but the defendants have not made an adequate showing of such a close connection between the BGF and Black August that the court could find it undisputed that mail pertaining to Black August actually encouraged violence.” See Harrison v. I.G.I., Case No. C-07-3824-SI, 2010 US Dist. Lexis 14944, dated Feb. 22, 2010, page 10.

I would like to make it absolutely clear that Black August is not a prison gang concept, and it definitely does not entail the promotion of any violence! Black August is a viable community concept that has been constructed under political, social, cultural, economic and spiritual values that speak to the advancement and the building of the class interests of our New Afrikan Nation. So as we continue to wage struggle via our collective efforts to be liberated from the yoke of U.$. colonial oppression, it is imperative for all New Afrikan Black people to have a true and correct understanding as to what Black August resistance really means.

Black August resistance represents the highest consciousness of Afrikan people – consciousness which allows for no quarter of submission, capitulation or abandonment to the unrighteous, decadent, exploitative ways of U.$. imperialism. It is a consciousness which is bred in defiant, fierce and intrepid struggle against all which is exploitative, oppressive and dehumanizing.

Black August is not a prison gang concept, and it definitely does not entail the promotion of any violence!

Black August resistance is exemplified by the profound courage and determination of George Jackson, W.L. Nolen, Jonathan Jackson, Jeffery Khatari Gaulden, William Christmas, Cleveland Edwards, Alvin “Sweet Jugs” Miller etc., just to name a few. Their examples served and continue to serve as a clear and determined line to march upon, which our nation of New Afrikan people and all oppressed people must tread in the perpetual ascendancy towards the historic destiny of humankind.

The defining element of Black August resistance is the struggle against all values, ethics, economics and social philosophy which perpetuates the exploitative, oppressive rule of usury economics – monopoly capitalism – which maintains the systematic denial and colonial slave condition of non-property holders.

Black August is a viable community concept that has been constructed under political, social, cultural, economic and spiritual values that speak to the advancement and the building of the class interests of our New Afrikan Nation.

The class interest represented by George Jackson, W.L. Nolen, Jonathan Jackson, Jeffrey Khatari Gaulden etc. is in the interest of the New Afrikan working class and the oppressed poor. The struggle which they firmly stood upon is born of the revolutionary traditions of those who preceded them, such as Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vessey, David Walker, Nat Turner etc. George Jackson, W.L. Nolen, Jonathan Jackson and Jeffrey Khatari Gaulden defined struggle on an objectively higher level than those who failed the tradition of Afrikan resistance.

Black August resistance is the defining element for popularizing the revolutionary forms of resistance, which have consciously been liquidated, obscured and hidden from the people by self-serving opportunists of the dominant reactionary culture, such as the Black petit bourgeoisie. So in the true spirit of Black August resistance, we New Afrikans are now here to reclaim and redeem our historical-cultural legacy of Black August that CDCR state operatives have been criminalizing for the past 10 years!

No surrender! No retreat! Black August resistance!

Send our brother some love and light: Kijana Tashiri Askari, s/n Marcus Harrison, H-54077, D3-122 SHU, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95531. You can also reach Tashiri via email, at tashiri@gmail.com, and visit his MySpace page at www.myspace.com./dare2struggle. This story was transcribed by Kendra Castaneda.