Schedule for Black August 2011 in DC

Posted in Uncategorized on July 26, 2011 by legacybc

Schedule for Black August 2011 presented by the Black August Planning Organization

For more info, black.august07@gmail.com. Find us on Facebook. Join our list-serv.  Follow us on Twitter @BlackAugust_DC.

Friday August 5th at Ras Lounge & Restaurant (4809 Georgia Ave) 8pm-12am, Uptown Friday Nights at Ras presents: Fund-raiser for Sekou Odinga sponsored by the Black August Planning Organization. Suggested donation $10.

The event will feature Bilal Sunni Ali who will engage those present from 8-930. Bilal Sunni Ali was a childhood friend of Sekou, they came together in the movement from the Black Panther Party to the Republic of New Afrika and the Black Liberation Army. They were also co-defendants in the case for which Sekou has been in prison for almost 30 years. Bilal was also the saxophonist in Gil Scott-Heron’s Midnight Band; following his presentation on Sekou, he will offer a musical presentation dedicated to Gil, joined by Ka’ba of Precise Science and BlackNotes. From 10pm onward, we will enjoy roots reggae sounds courtesy of DJ Fiyaman. Last chance to hear him before he relocates to Georgia.

Special performance by Maimouna Youssef has been confirmed. The program will be hosted by Stef Is Dope, also performing.

People can write checks directly to the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (with Sekou Odinga in the memo line) or for tax deduction purposes write it to NYC Jericho/IFCO (and write Sekou Odinga in the memo line.

Sekou Odinga-#09-A3775
Shawangunk C.F.
PO Box 700
Wallkill, NY  12589

More info on Sekou at: www.sekouodinga.com

Sunday August 7th at Sankofa Video & Books (2714 Georgia Ave) 4-6pm, BAPO and Sankofa present a book signing featuring Kalonji Changa, author of How to Build a People’s Army. Kalonji is the Founder/National Coordinator of The FTP Movement and is the East Coast Coordinator Black August Organizing Committee.

How to Build a People’s Army is a guide to successful community organizing on a basic and practical level. Protocol, discipline, political education, loyalty and respect seem to be absent from today’s liberation struggle. The first edition of How to Build a People’s Army is designed to better the relationship between the movement and the masses.

Monday August 15th at Watha T. Daniels/Shaw Library (945 Rhode Island Ave NW) 630-9pm, BAPO presents our annual CR Gibbs lecture in honor of Black August. This presentation is entitled:”Triumph of Freedom: Slavery, Emancipation, & the Civil War in the District of Columbia.”

In addition to the major themes embodied in its title, this presentation describes the special struggle by African Americans in the city to keep the memory of our own,unique freedom day (April 16,1862) alive, which at the height of the Jim Crow-era in D.C was not only a mark of self-affirmation and community liberation,but in itself also an act of resistance.

Sunday, August 21, 4pm, at Sankofa Video & Books Cafe (2714 Georgia Ave). Book signing and discussion with Herman and Iyaluua Ferguson on AN UNLIKELY WARRIOR: THE EVOLUTION OF A BLACK NATIONALIST REVOLUTIONARY A bio/memoir of the life of Herman Ferguson written by Iyaluua Ferguson with Herman Ferguson.

Herman Ferguson, 90 years young, was a dedicated colleague of Malcolm X. Unlike the stereotypical Malcolm X devotee, painted by the media of the time as a ghetto dwelling sub-working class malcontent, Ferguson was the example of a successful, well-educated suburban family man who gravitated to Malcolm X in the social ferment of the early 1960s. In the process, he self-consciously sacrificed his American dream for a Black revolutionary vision. This biography/memoir, An Unlikely Warrior, is directed at students of the civil unrest of the 1960s and particularly to young readers eager to explore the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of the separatist ideology in the United States, the growth of the Republic of New Afrika, and the turbulent days of the late 1960s. Moreover, it speaks to the emotional cost of political activism, its impact on families and supportive friends in the face of government repression.

More info on the book at www.anunlikelywarrior.com

Saturday August 27th 5th Annual Pilgrimage to Richmond and Happily Natural Day, The Black August Planning Organizations makes its 5th Annual Pilgrimage to Richmond, Va and visit Happily Natural Day. This will be an all-day trip in honor of the slave rebellion organized by Gabriel [Prosser]. Leaving DC at 7am, we should be back by 10pm.

First, led by Janine Bell of the Elegba Folklore Society, we will travel to the James River where the slave ships came in. … From there we will walk the route that the enslaved Africans took to the slave auction block into downtown Richmond, followed by a visit to historic Shockoe Bottom and the reclaimed [enslaved] African burial ground. We will visit Happily Natural Day for a few hours to eat lunch patronize the event. Finally, We will visit Spring creek where it was to begin and this portion of the tour will be provided by Ana Edwards of the Richmond Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality.

TRANSPORTATION TICKETS FOR THE PILGRIMAGE ARE $35 AND CAN BE PURCHASED ONLINE AT: https://www.brownpapertick​ets.com/event/189105. FOR MORE INFO, CALL 908-296-5397 OR EMAIL BLACK.AUGUST07@GMAIL.COM.

OTHER EVENTS

The Dream City Collective is holding a Screening of the film, ‘Black August’ on August 3 at 8pm, 5525 Illinois Ave NW. See an important review of the film here.

And the UNIA-ACL will be hosting Bilal Sunni-Ali in concert at the B Davis Dance Center (6218 3rd Place, NW) from 6-11pm on August 6.  Bilal will be commemorating the lives of Geronimo ji Jaga and Gil Scott-Heron; He will also be sworn in as an Ambassador of the UNIA-ACL government.

DONATE TO BAPO: http://www.chipin.com/widget/id/ba7bb4670a52a14b

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Black August in DC 2010

Posted in Black August 2010 on July 24, 2010 by legacybc

Black August 2010 in DC

sponsored by the Black August Planning Organization (BAPO) For More INFO: 202-271-7763, Facebook, or black.august07@gmail.com

8/1 Black August Unity Reception co-sponsored by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) beginning at 5pm at Sankofa Video & Books 2714 Georgia Ave NW, Washington, DC

Beginning at 5 o’clock, this gathering will coincide with the film showing of Finally Got the News, part of the Black August Sunday Film Series at Sankofa. Members of BAPO and MXGM will be on hand to engage in lively and politically educational discussion. All are encouraged to join. Refreshments will be available.

8/7 African Heritage Festival From noon to dusk at Roots Public Charter School, 15 Kennedy St NW

The African Heritage Festival will be an all day event featuring performances, food, vendors, info booths, and community services. Free admission; bring the whole family. For more info or vending opportunities, contact 202-256-2518

8/8 Discussion with Standish Willis, Esq. regarding the report that he submitted to the United Nations citing Human Rights violations as they relate to political prisoners in the United States from 2-430 at MLK library room A-10.  901 G st NW, WDC

Earlier this year, Standish Willis and others submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Commission to outline the string of human rights abuses related to political prisoners and political repression in the United States.  This submission was a stakeholders report to the Universal Periodic Review which is a mechanism used by the UN to evaluate member States regarding there adherence (or lack thereof) to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related treaties.  Through this mechanism citizens and NGOs (e.g. stakeholders) are able to participate in this evaluation process.

The work of Stan, and others, follows in the footsteps of Malcolm X, who advised that we should not diminish our struggle by settling for civil rights, but should take our grievances to the world stage as part of a demand for the respect of our human rights.  We want to support this effort and do what we can to raise awareness and encourage involvement.  BAPO intends to join the many other organizations within the US Human Rights Network (www.ushrnetwork.org).

Read the report at http://www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/default/files/US_Political_Prisoners_Joint_Report_USA.pdf.

Also see http://www.ushrnetwork.org/campaign_upr

8/12 Performance and Discussion with Bilal Sunni Ali from 7-10pm at Roots Activity Learning Center, 6222 North Capitol St NW, WDC

This program will feature Republic of New Afrika citizen and world-class saxophonist, Bilal Sunni Ali. In the 1970s he was a member of Gil Scott-Heron’s Midnight Band. In 1981, Bilal was charged in the “Brinks Conspiracy” case along with Mutulu Shakur and his wife Fulani Ali. Defended by Chokwe Lumumba, Bilal and Fulani were able to beat the government’s trumped up case. He will speak from his perspective as a life-long freedom fighter and musician. Tickets are $15; for more info contact Baye Services at 202-256-2518.

8/14 Book Showcase and Discussion from 2-4pm at Sankofa Video & Books, 2714 Georgia Ave NW, WDC

The Greatest Threat by political prisoner Marshall Eddie Conway
The Greatest Threat puts the government’s war on the Panthers into historical context. Marshall “Eddie” Conway, a veteran of the Black Panther Party (and former Minister of Defense for the Baltimore chapter) who has been held as a political prisoner for four decades, has compiled the available documentation and research on COINTELPRO, and traced its dirty history, from the active repression of the black revolutionary movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s, to the conditions of Black America today and the dozens of political prisoners who remain in U.S. prisons on charges stemming from their involvement in the Black liberation movement.
The Discussion will be led by Baltimore BPP veteran Rev. Ann Chambers

8/21 Black Women and the Prison Industrial Complex from 3-6pm at Sisterspace & Books, 3717 Georgia Ave NW, WDC

Co-sponsored by Sisterspace and D.A.D.A Circle, BAPO will host Theresa Shoatz [daughter of Russell ‘Maroon’ Shoatz] and Crystal Hayes [daughter of Robert Seth Hayes] as they discuss the cases and conditions of their fathers, as well as, how this relates to their own experiences. Also, as part of the discussion, Monica Bowles, an activist with ONE DC, will speak from her personal experience as an ex-offender on the issue of the alarmingly high rise of incarcerated Black women who now represent the fastest growing demographic within the prison system.

To help make this program a success:  http://bapo.chipin.com/black-women-and-the-prison-industrial-complex

8/26 “Let Your Motto Be Resistance”, Lecture by Dr. CR Gibbs from 2-4pm at Sankofa Video & Books, 2714 Georgia Ave NW, WDC

Dr. Gibbs will give a historical account of slave rebellions and other forms of resistance to slavery in the Western hemisphere.  Dr. Gibbs is an internationally noted lecturer, exhibitor of historical artifacts, and historian of the African Diaspora. He is the author/co-author of six books including “Black Explorers, 2300 B.C. To The Present,” “Black Inventors: From Africa To America,” and “Black, Copper, & Bright: The District of Columbia’s Black Civil War Regiment,” the subject of an upcoming documentary by Three Dimensional Publishing.

8/28 Happily Natural Day and 4th Annual Pilgrimage to Richmond, VA in honor of Gabriel’s Rebellion. All Day (7a-8p) bus trip to RVA. $35. For ticket info contact 202-470-7780

This year our annual pilgrimage will coincide with Happily Natural Day. Participants will be exposed to the history and landmarks of Gabriel Prosser’s attempted revolt in 1800 including Spring Creek, where the rebellion was planned and Shockoe Bottom, the major slave market in Richmond. We will also learn of the history of slavery as it relates to the area and visit the major slave port of the James River. Catered lunch and a DVD featuring a panel discussion on political prisoners will be included and before coming back to DC we will stop at Happily Natural Day.  The tour guides for the pilgrimage will be Ana Edwards, Chairperson of the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project and co-founder of the Defenders for Freedom, Justice, and Equality and Janine Bell, founder and director of the Elegba Folklore Society.

TENTATIVE ITENERARY: https://legacybookclub.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/tentative-itenerary-for-pilgrimage-to-richmond/

Sankofa Sunday Sunday Film Series for Black August

Sankofa Video & Books, 2714 Georgia Ave, WDC

8/1 Finally Got the News

FINALLY GOT THE NEWS is a forceful, unique documentary that reveals the activities of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers inside and outside the auto factories of Detroit. Through interviews with the members of the movement, footage shot in the auto plants, and footage of leafleting and picketing actions, the film documents their efforts to build an independent black labor organization that, unlike the UAW, will respond to worker’s problems, such as the assembly line speed-up and inadequate wages faced by both black and white workers in the industry. Beginning with a historical montage, from the early days of slavery through the subsequent growth and organization of the working class, FINALLY GOT THE NEWS focuses on the crucial role played by the black worker in the American economy.

8/8 Can’t Jail the Revolution/Break Down the Walls

These two 30 minute videos use footage compiled from over 40 social justice media productions to chronicle the perspectives of political prisoners and of war within the United States. Historical footage is combined with interviews of activists from revolutionary movements waged by African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans and Whites against oppression. The prisoners, victims of government sponsored attacks on liberation movements in the United States and its colonies, discuss how they and their companions have been murdered, forced underground, driven into exile and unjustly imprisoned since the late 60s.

8/15 Chicago 10

At the 1968 Democratic National Convention, anti-Vietnam War protestors who were denied permits for demonstrations repeatedly clashed with the Chicago Police Department. Tensions mounted, and an already fraught week culminated in riots broadcast live to a television audience of more than 50 million, further polarizing the nation. Seeking a scapegoat for the riots, the U.S. government held eight of the most vocal activists accountable for the violence and brought them to trial a year later. A parable of hope, courage and ultimate victory, CHICAGO 10’s unique and unconventional style uses motion-capture animation to portray actual events from the trial, recreating courtroom dramas based on transcripts and interviews. CHICAGO 10 moves from the streets of Chicago to the courtroom at an accelerated pace, giving the audience a ringside seat for one of the most controversial trials of the period.

8/22 Pete O’Neil: A Panther in Africa

The tumultuous period known as “the ’60s” continues to cast a long shadow across the contemporary American experience. Few, if any, of the seminal conflicts that drove the era — civil rights, war and peace, racism, women’s liberation — have been fully resolved today. Nor have all the key players in that national drama been tried, pardoned, punished, vindicated, or even allowed to come home. A Panther in Africa is the story of Pete O’Neal, one of the last exiles from the time of Black Power, when young rebels advocated black pride, unity, community service and sometimes, violence. Facing gun charges in Kansas City in 1970, O’Neal fled to Algeria, where he joined other Panther exiles. Unlike the others, however, O’Neal never found his way back to America. He moved on to Tanzania, where for over 30 years he has struggled to continue his life of social activism — and to hold on to his identity as an African-American.

8/29 Bastards of the Party

BASTARDS OF THE PARTY draws its title from this passage in “City of Quartz”: “The Crips and the Bloods are the bastard offspring of the political parties of the ’60s. Most of the gangs were born out of the demise of those parties. Out of the ashes of the Black Panther Party came the Crips and the Bloods and the other gangs.” BASTARDS OF THE PARTY traces the timeline from that “great migration” to the rise and demise of both the Black Panther Party and the US Organization in the mid- 1960s, to the formation of what is currently the culture of gangs in Los Angeles and around the world. The documentary also chronicles the role of the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI in the evolution of gang culture. During his tenure from 1950 to 1966, Chief Robert Parker bolstered the ranks of the LAPD with white recruits from the south, who brought their racist attitudes with them. Parker’s racist sympathies laid the groundwork for the volatile relationship between the black community and the LAPD that persists today.

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Activists accuse Israelis of racial profiling

Posted in Uncategorized on December 26, 2009 by legacybc

Activists accuse Israelis of racial profiling.

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Assata: An Autobiography

Posted in Book Readings on May 20, 2009 by legacybc

On May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (aka Joanne Chesimard) lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about the shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that had claimed the life of a white state trooper and Zayd Shakur, a Black revolutionary. Long a target of J. Edgar Hoover’s campaign to defame, infiltrate, and criminalize Black nationalist organizations and their leaders, Shakur had already been dogged by police accusations of criminal activities, although the cases against her were always dismissed due to the complete lack of evidence.

More than simply a political chronology, in this book Assata Shakur shares the life experiences that led her to embrace revolutionary politics and the fight for human liberation. She discusses her childhood, life in the Black Panther Party, and what it was like at the time to be faced by government repression, sanctioned by the FBI’s lethal Counter-Intelligence Programme.

Assata had faced the standard repressive fare of trumped up charges and bogus arrests since shortly after she joined the Black Panther Party. The harassment and vilification continued, forcing her into the underground. On May 2, 1973 she and her comrades Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Shakur were driving on the New Jersey Turnpike when a state trooper pulled them over in a case of Driving While Black. Shots were exchanged and Zayd and one of the white state troopers were killed. Shot and seriously injured in the incident, Assata Shakur was at the time on the FBI’s most wanted list, and orders had been given for her capture dead or alive, because she was supposed to be armed, dangerous, a kidnapper and murderer. Although Zayd Shakur was the only one on whom a weapon was found, Assata and Sundiata were both tried and convicted of murder in 1977.

Two years later Assata escaped from prison with the help of the Black Liberation Army.

She has been living as a political refugee in Cuba since the mid-eighties. American law enforcement officials and right-wing politicians have put a bounty on her head, and continue to lobby for pressure to be put on the Cuban regime to extradite her.

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Soledad Brother

Posted in Book Readings on November 8, 2008 by legacybc

George L. Jackson: September 23, 1941 — August 21, 1971

In 1960, at the age of eighteen, George Jackson was accused of stealing $70 from a gas station in Los Angeles. Though there was evidence of his innocence, his court-appointed lawyer maintained that because Jackson had a record (two previous instances of petty crime), he should plead guilty in exchange for a light sentence in the county jail. He did, and received an indeterminate sentence of one year to life. Jackson spent the next ten years in Soledad Prison, seven and a half of them in solitary confinement. Instead of succumbing to the dehumanization of prison existence, he transformed himself into the leading theoretician of the prison movement and a brilliant writer. Soledad Brother, which contains the letters that he wrote from 1964 to 1970, is his testament.

In his twenty-eighth year, Jackson and two other black inmates — Fleeta Drumgo and John Cluchette — were falsely accused of murdering a white prison guard. The guard was beaten to death on January 16, 1969, a few days after another white guard shot and killed three black inmates by firing from a tower into the courtyard. The accused men were brought in chains and shackles to two secret hearings in Salinas County. A third hearing was about to take place when John Cluchette managed to smuggle a note to his mother: “Help, I’m in trouble.” With the aid of a state senator, his mother contacted a lawyer, and so commenced one of the most extensive legal defenses in U.S. history. According to their attorneys, Jackson, Drumgo, and Clutchette were charged with murder not because there was any substantial evidence of their guilt, but because they had been previously identified as black militants by the prison authorities. If convicted, they would face a mandatory death penalty under the California penal code. Within weeks, the case of the Soledad Brothers emerged as a political cause célèbre for all sorts of people demanding change at a time when every American institution was shaken by Black rebellions in more than one hundred cities and the mass movement against the Vietnam War.

August 7, 1970, just a few days after George Jackson was transferred to San Quentin, the case was catapulted to the forefront of national news when his brother, Jonathan, a seventeen-year-old high school student in Pasadena, staged a raid on the Marin County courthouse with a satchelful of handguns, an assault rifle, and a shotgun hidden under his coat. Educated into a political revolutionary by George, Jonathan invaded the court during a hearing for three black San Quentin inmates, not including his brother, and handed them weapons. As he left with the inmates and five hostages, including the judge, Jonathan demanded that the Soledad Brothers be released within thirty minutes. In the shootout that ensued, Jonathan was gunned down. Of Jonathan, George wrote, “He was free for a while. I guess that’s more than most of us can expect.”

Soledad Brother, which is dedicated to Jonathan Jackson, was released to critical acclaim in France and the United States, with an introduction by the renowned French dramatist Jean Genet, in the fall of 1970. Less than a year later and just two days before the opening of his trial, George Jackson was shot to death by a tower guard inside San Quentin Prison in a purported escape attempt. “No Black person,” wrote James Baldwin, “will ever believe that George Jackson died the way they tell us he did.”

Soledad Brother went on to become a classic of Black literature and political philosophy, selling more than 400,000 copies before it went out of print twenty years ago. Lawrence Hill Books is pleased to reissue this book and to add to it a Foreword by the author’s nephew, Jonathan Jackson, Jr., who is a writer living in California.

*This book can be accessed at:  http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/soledadbro.html*

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BAOC Statement on the Black August movie

Posted in Uncategorized on August 4, 2008 by legacybc

Statement on Black August the movie:

To say the movie was a sham would be too much like lending it credibility through negation. The production of this movie is a direct attack on the true origins of the original concepts of Black August as put forth by those sincere and steadfast revolutionary individuals who died standing firm within California’s concentration camps. The many brothers left in isolation behind the walls who still live half lives due to their commitment to collective revolutionary ideals have no connection to or input in any aspect of this concoction. They have suffered these decades in obscurity for faithfully commemorating all of the principles embodied in why the original Black August was conceived. This movie is an insult to the memory of comrade George Jackson, W.L. Nolan, Cleveland Edwards, Alvin Jugs Miller, Fred Billingly, the man-child comrade Jonathan Jackson, James McClain, William Christmas and those not named who gave their last breaths so that the indomitable will and spirit of revolutionaries to come would know the path. The people who put together this collection of indictments against true revolutionaries both gone and surviving have no knowledge or understanding of the times or characters of the individuals portrayed. The movie cosigns the inaccurate and fictional account of people, places, and most especially events the state invented and encouraged the mass media to spread far and wide. Law enforcement has a new tool that is remarkably well
suited to discrediting the accomplishments and continued efforts of actual Black August members. Most people have no idea one way or the other what went on during those of our darkest days and any romanticized notion can and will be accepted as fact without benefit of reason if no reason exists to believe otherwise. This statement is to refute, contradict and vehemently declare that the basis of this movie is falsehood fabricated to entertain while disillusioning any and all who watch it without knowing the truth. It is set before you in the fashion of any other Hollywood farce and should be taken as such.

Let us correct a few of the misconceptions many will believe simply because they are put forth as truth by the filmmakers and their advisors. The brothers this movie speaks about in very degrading terms stood out from those around them because of their revolutionary
character and leadership. They were not seen in the light of the drug dealers and street corner gangland thugs who portrayed themselves as ghetto fabulous and superstars amongst the prison populace. There was a rigid discipline and commitment these brothers held to that raised them from the immature actions of their ignorant beginnings as individuals and set them working towards the collective good of all.

The character of comrade George set him above even these because his knowledge, intricate understanding and practice put him on par with leaders and movements from around the world. This movie does him no justice! George Jackson never had emotional outbursts of immaturity or temper tantrums. While he walked within those walls he never raised his voice in undisciplined anger. There were no one sided ass whippings given to comrade George the entire time he was in prison. Whenever he was shackled with thirty pounds of chains being escorted from one place to the other, he always walked in an upright and dignified manner so that all who saw him knew the chains were meaningless and weighed nothing to him. He did not walk with a swagger or strut because he considered it demeaning and undignified and beneath the character of any who considered themselves conscious. There was never anyone imposing discipline or beliefs on him. W. L. Nolan and George were comrades who shared a commitment to fight the oppression of all oppressed people most especially Africans. One was not the inspiration of the other. They had a common cause, as did several other soldiers who have been left
out of the history books for various reasons but were very important to our growth and determined impact on others. The bond shared between George and Angela Davis was not romantic but ideological and galvanized many both inside America’s gulags and within struggles the world over. The fantasy imaginings in the movie of the two of them dealing only with their sexual nature is strictly Hollywood. These things simply did not happen by any stretch of the imagination of rational beings.

George never told anyone that he threw a prison guard off a tier to his death. Likewise he never told anyone that he ordered his younger brother Jonathan to go and carry out the actions at the Marin county courthouse that led to his death. There was never a group of so-called revolutionary individuals who confronted George in any setting to demand that he get himself together and come to them for guidance. The scene in the movie where George is being directed in pushups and call-and-answer while W.L. Nolan supervises is total fantasy to lend credibility to individual egos and aspirations. It never happened!

Probably the biggest piece of fiction put out by the state and glamorized by the movie is the gun under the Afro wig. With the type of security and scrutiny George was subjected to on a regular basis, he could not have sneaked an extra pencil back to his cell. Each time a high power security individual is escorted from one place to another in prison there is a series of routines that are always observed. George would have been strip-searched several times going to and coming from any visit no matter who the visitor was. Strip searches involve a lot of bending over and spreading your butt cheeks while naked. Bending over and running your fingers through your hair vigorously in front of guards is all part of making sure not even small amounts of drugs are smuggled in by concealing them in your hair. It is virtually impossible to balance something shaped like a gun and weighing several pounds underneath a wig while bending over or walking handcuffed under the watchful eye of sadistic guards looking for any excuse to kill you. We must question the rationale of anyone putting this theory before the public as fact or entertainment. In either event it is only to the detriment of the memory of this bold and courageous brother who stood up for us at a time when standing meant death for so many that this movie preys on the lack of knowledge that generally exists within the Diaspora of our continued efforts at enlightenment. In the movie George is shown ordering people following him as he makes a mad dash towards the cellblock exit, to leave no witnesses behind. This is supposed to account for the two dead guards and three inmates left on the tier. Once again the movie is in true Hollywood style telling you to believe the lies spread by comrade George’s assassins and those who knowingly and unknowingly assist them in their war on the revolutionary minded.

In another part of the movie w.l. Nolan is shown ordering other Africans to choose a man from among the white and Mexican inmates on the prison exercise yard and attack. This is not the way it happened. African inmates were intentionally hand picked and placed onthat yard with the most violent and racist elements of both white and Mexican gangs. These particular individuals had a long history of hatred for and violence against Africans. The guards made sure that brothers were grossly outnumbered and waited for the inevitable. The racists attacked and the brothers were shot down and killed by the expert rifleman working the tower for that special occasion. A ricochet bullet shot off the testicle of one of the white racists. That was their only casualty. The Africans on the yard were murdered while fighting for their lives. It should also be noted that if he had not been out to court on another case on that day, Hugo Yogi Pinell would have been on the yard and probably killed along with the other soldiers.

In the movie Jonathan is portrayed as paranoid and juvenile both emotionally and intellectually. This could not be further from the truth. At this time in his life this young brother was more mature than most of those around him which caused him to have very few people he could truly relate to. He could out shoot most of those who called themselves his comrades and was a quite skilled martial artist in his own right. He would not have been intimidated by anyone or anything. As far as the boob tube depiction of those events and conversations that so directly coincide with the oppressor’s version of history, it is total fabrication and meant only to confuse and confound. Do not be taken in by this nonsense. It is not even a good fairytale.

We would encourage all those involved in the making of this movie who know in and of themselves that it is untrue, to speak out and let others know from you. If left as it is it will become another urban myth believed to be based in fact. In closing please know that no member of Black August had anything to do with the making of the movie or condoned its making. We do in fact condemn it as falsehood and an insult to all that we stand for. Please recognize it for what it is propaganda of the adversary. A true accounting of our history is forthcoming.

Shaka At-Thinnin
Kumasi
Black August Organizing Committee

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David Walker’s Appeal

Posted in Book Readings on April 8, 2008 by legacybc

In 1829 David Walker, a free black born in Wilmington, North Carolina, wrote one of America’s most provocative political documents of the nineteenth century, Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World. Decrying the savage and unchristian treatment blacks suffered in the United States, Walker challenged his “afflicted and slumbering brethren” to rise up and cast off their chains. Walker worked tirelessly to circulate his book via underground networks in the South, and he was so successful that Southern lawmakers responded with new laws cracking down on “incendiary” antislavery material.

Walker’s Appeal represents one of the earliest African-centered discourses on an oppressed people’s right to freedom. African American political philosophy has evolved from many of the themes that it articulates.  We should explore the relevance of the Appeal in the 21st Century.

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