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Title: Black August 2020 Author: Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement Date: 12th August 2020 Language: en Topics: Black Anarchism, Black Lives Matter, USA, anti-racism Source: Retrieved on 14th August 2020 from https://www.revolutionaryabolition.org/news/black-august-2020/
The murder of George Floyd on May 25^(th) of this year ignited
revolutionary activity across the U.S.. Precincts, cop cars, and federal
buildings are literally burning to the ground, in an escalation which
recently seemed unprecedented on U.S. soil. Abolition of both the State
and capitalism— the twin demons of white supremacy— has never felt so
palpably within reach, and the Black liberation struggle is now the
driving force of the revolutionary movement.
The significance of Black August lifts our spirits this year, and as the
militant struggle has renewed, we honor the many revolutionaries who
have fought against State oppression and white supremacy, including
George Jackson, Jonathan Jackson, William Christmas, James McClain, and
Khatari Gaulden. August is an important month in the history of Black
resistance: from the Haitian Revolution to the Nat Turner Rebellion;
from the foundation of the Underground Railroad to the Watts Uprising;
from the births of Marcus Garvey, Russell Maroon Shoatz, and Fred
Hampton to the death of W.E.B du Bois and the murder of members of the
Black Guerrilla Family.
On August 21^(st), 1971, Black Panther Party Field Marshall and founder
of the Black Guerrilla Family George Jackson was murdered while
attempting to escape from San Quentin prison in California. Sundiata
Tate, one of the San Quentin Six— a group a prisoners accused of
participating in this escape attempt— described Black August, the annual
commemoration of his death, as a time to “embrace the principles of
unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical training, and
resistance.”
RAM celebrates Black August because, as revolutionary abolitionists, we
recognize prisons as modern-day plantations. The development of ICE
detention facilities further perpetuates captivity and enslavement,
while lining the pockets of the same capitalist scum who profit from
prisons. These institutions are all firmly rooted in white supremacy,
and radical acts of resistance such as those commemorated annually
during Black August are alternately absent from and demonized by the
State narrative.
In 2020, as police in the U.S. continue to murder Black and Brown people
with regularity, our communities are also being ravaged by COVID-19. The
homeless are being kicked off of trains and forced onto the streets or
into overcrowded shelters, while massive coronavirus outbreaks have
swept through prisons nationwide. People trapped behind prison walls are
given no protection, even as they are forced to produce anything from
face masks to hand sanitizer for people on the outside (whomever among
them can afford it, that is). The State has now pulled the plug on
pandemic-related financial assistance, leaving thousands even more
vulnerable to eviction, food insecurity, and other socioeconomic woes
than they were before the virus struck.
The collapse of the State seems imminent. The battle lines have been
drawn.
Knowing this, it falls to all of us who hope to see an abolitionist
society realized to keep revolutionary history alive, and to honor the
memories of people like the Jackson brothers, William Christmas, Hugo
Pinel, James McClain, and Khatari Gaulden.
As we steel ourselves to continue the struggle in which they and so many
others have fallen, we pay homage those who came before us and express
gratitude for their sacrifices. We learn from, and are perpetually
inspired by, their example. As many freedom fighters remain in prison in
the U.S. today, we also endeavor to see them free. They have been caged
because they fought for our freedom; now, it is our duty to fight for
theirs. For everyone’s.
With dignity, courage, and solidarity, we continue to fight these
fascist thugs and the institutions that spawn them— and we will WIN!