August is a time of revolution and social change. It’s a month when Black revolutionaries were born and Black revolutions fought.
From Marcus Garvey and Fred Hampton to the Haitian Revolution and Nat Turner’s Rebellion, August has been Black. In the 1970s, following the deaths of brothers Gorge and Jonathon Jackson and other incarcerated men fighting for their freedom, Black August was born.
While not a federally recognized holiday like February’s Black History month, Black August is a time to:
“honor political prisoners, freedom fighters, and martyrs of the Black freedom struggle…[especially those who]… have helped us understand that prison is political and that our collective freedom depends on abolishing the state’s capacity, through incarceration, policing, and surveillance” (Center for Constitutional Rights).
Black August is a time to remember, but it is also a time to act.
To continue the work of the Black leaders before us by pursuing the fight for social justice and change.
This August, in the aftermath of the Olympic Games and in the wake of natural disasters across the globe, it is obvious that some of those fighting the hardest for change continue to be athletes.
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