Black August isn't over if I keep writing about it
Dear reader,
Hello September 1. The month slipped away but I'm going to keep writing about the topics and projects I wanted to cover for Black August. It's my letter, I will do what I want. Turns out it would have taken some planning to be able to write a letter every week, planning I didn't do. I'm keeping going though. Let me jump right back into this.
I have been wanting to talk about political prisoners. Political prisoners are the root of the idea of Black August in the first place, even if it is now September. And "political prisoners" have been in the news lately. If you didn't notice, good for you. I'm happy you didn't have to absorb this mess. I'm going to briefly summarize now.
Recently, those jailed from the insurrection in January 2021 have been in the news. There's the Jan 6. House committee work going on and they are requesting all the documents and all the records. Court dates are also coming up for those arrested. This is all a media event. Lots of commentaries floating around. And certain folks, like miscellaneous Proud Boys and elected politicians currently in the U.S. House of Representatives, are trying to forward the talking point that those arrested during Jan 6. are "political prisoners".
It's to the point where we have faux political prisoner websites being developed. freeyourlocalwhitesupremacist[dot]com
I think we agree that there is a significant difference between what happened in the insurrection and the types of organizing that political prisoners are often jailed for. And there is a huge difference between those arrests and the types of consequences these folks might face.
Let's talk instead about actual political prisoners locked up in the U.S. It seems to me that those most well-known or talked about have extreme sentences from organizing in the 1970s and 1980s. People like Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Oscar López Rivera (commuted by Barack Obama). These folks are or were serving life in prison (some of them with the death penalty originally) on fake or else trumped-up charges. There's also people like Angela Davis, who was incarcerated and infamously called a '"dangerous terrorist" by Richard Nixon, but then released after a huge internal campaign. Yes, she is well known, brilliant, and has written extensively on political prisoners. Apparently she was also on the Time list of 100 Women of the Year in 2020? Anyway, here are some of her words.
Hello September 1. The month slipped away but I'm going to keep writing about the topics and projects I wanted to cover for Black August. It's my letter, I will do what I want. Turns out it would have taken some planning to be able to write a letter every week, planning I didn't do. I'm keeping going though. Let me jump right back into this.
I have been wanting to talk about political prisoners. Political prisoners are the root of the idea of Black August in the first place, even if it is now September. And "political prisoners" have been in the news lately. If you didn't notice, good for you. I'm happy you didn't have to absorb this mess. I'm going to briefly summarize now.
Recently, those jailed from the insurrection in January 2021 have been in the news. There's the Jan 6. House committee work going on and they are requesting all the documents and all the records. Court dates are also coming up for those arrested. This is all a media event. Lots of commentaries floating around. And certain folks, like miscellaneous Proud Boys and elected politicians currently in the U.S. House of Representatives, are trying to forward the talking point that those arrested during Jan 6. are "political prisoners".
It's to the point where we have faux political prisoner websites being developed. freeyourlocalwhitesupremacist[dot]com
I think we agree that there is a significant difference between what happened in the insurrection and the types of organizing that political prisoners are often jailed for. And there is a huge difference between those arrests and the types of consequences these folks might face.
Let's talk instead about actual political prisoners locked up in the U.S. It seems to me that those most well-known or talked about have extreme sentences from organizing in the 1970s and 1980s. People like Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Oscar López Rivera (commuted by Barack Obama). These folks are or were serving life in prison (some of them with the death penalty originally) on fake or else trumped-up charges. There's also people like Angela Davis, who was incarcerated and infamously called a '"dangerous terrorist" by Richard Nixon, but then released after a huge internal campaign. Yes, she is well known, brilliant, and has written extensively on political prisoners. Apparently she was also on the Time list of 100 Women of the Year in 2020? Anyway, here are some of her words.
"The political prisoner's words or deeds have in one form or another embodied political protests against the established order and have consequently brought him into acute conflict with the state. In light of the political content of his act, the "crime" (which may or may not have been committed) assumes a minor importance. In this country, however, where the special category of political prisoners is not officially acknowledged, the political prisoner inevitably stands trial for a specific criminal offense, not for a political act. Often the so-called crime does not even have a nominal existence."
- Angela Davis, see excerpt from If They Come In the Morning
The continued existence of black political prisoners is a reminder that their organizing is a threat to the U.S. state. The same can be said for other movements that have significant political prisoners such as Puerto Rican liberation, the American Indian Movement, Palestinian sovereignty etc.
At the same time, we are in a new era of black organizing. Are we equally aware of issues relating to activists being jailed from BLM protests, at Standing Rock, etc? Who are the political prisoners of this recent generation?
I'm going to link some cases to look into if you are interested.
- To start with, there is Jasmine Richards, who was originally charged with "felony lynching" (attempting to get someone out of police custody apparently) and jailed for some months in California.
- There is Tianna Arata who had charges up to 15 years in prison, also in California, for organizing a protest on the highway and public streets. Court dates are still ongoing.
- There is a young person named Josh Williams. He is still incarcerated for starting a fire and theft in 2014 during the Ferguson protests. At the time he was camping out with groups of other activists in the street.
- There are still some in jail for Standing Rock/NoDAPL and likely otherwise that will be incarcerated for some time for resisting Pipeline 3 in Minnesota.
- There is the recent case of Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman who were jailed in summer 2020, and initially had charges that would put them in jail for some 50 years for setting fire to an empty police car. They are scheduled to go on trial, from what I can tell, in March 2022 and there's reason to pay attention here since Biden's DOJ will be involved.
There are also hundreds who have received felony charges or face jail time since summer 2020. How many of these are or will be become political prisoners but we just aren't using that term yet? Things keep moving ahead but I also want to make sure I don't forget to look back and pay attention.
- HANA
p.s. thank you to all that have donated in whatever way you can so far. I won't be taking up a second job as a fundraiser but maybe I'd be okay at it with your support. I have a couple other projects and folks I love I want to write about... coming soon/eventually/when I can. 💜
p.s. thank you to all that have donated in whatever way you can so far. I won't be taking up a second job as a fundraiser but maybe I'd be okay at it with your support. I have a couple other projects and folks I love I want to write about... coming soon/eventually/when I can. 💜
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