“During this month we take this moment to give thanks and to honor those whose courage and commitment has created a pathway that we may today continue the struggle for justice.”

 

In 1961 19 year old George Jackson was sentenced to 1 year to life in prison for allegedly stealing $70. Like many before him and since, he became politicized while incarcerated, he wrote “I met Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky and Mao when I entered prison and they redeemed me. For the first four years I studied nothing but economics and military ideas.” George Jackson became a Field Marshall for the Black Panther Party organizing a chapter in San Quentin prison. What has become known as Black August emerged from the heroic struggle of George Jackson and his comrades incarcerated in the all too pervasive injustice system of the United States. One of them, Ruchell Magee, is one of the longest held political prisoners in the world, now aged 81, he has been imprisoned for 57 years.

Interview with Luis Talamantez, featured in the International Black Panther New Service Newspaper, conducted by Neelam Sharma

There are dozens of political prisoners held by the US government that it refuses to acknowledge as such, activists from the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, MOVE, the American Indian Movement and others. During this month we take this moment to give thanks and to honor those whose courage and commitment has created a pathway that we may today continue the struggle for justice. We urge our readers to learn more about Black August and to get involved in the many campaigns to free political prisoners in the US.

Cover of The International Black Panther News Service, Vol. 1 No. 5, 1998, featuring “The New Triangular Slave Trade,” written by Neelam Sharma.

The Black Collective website is an excellent and informative resource about the origins of Black August and how it is honored today. The Alliance For Global Justice website gives details of political prisoners, campaigns to free them, and how we can all get involved. We also share some articles from CSU archives, from the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service about political prisoners and the prison industrial complex. Not all prisoners are political but the prison system operates as a very political means of intimidation and control and a creation of free labor. While CSU does not currently directly work on these issues, we stand alongside and in support of all those who do and we understand that justice will not be achieved without the liberation of political prisoners and an end to racial capitalism that currently holds 7 million U.S. residents on probation, parole or in prison.

Article by Luz Talamantez titled “Black August,” from the New Black Panther Vanguard newspaper, The International Black Panther News Service, Vol. 1 No. 5, 1998