Unfinished Business: Black August & Caribbean Liberation
“The spirit of Black August moves through centuries of Black, Indian and multi-cultural resistance. It is an emblem of the spirit of freedom,” said Mumia Abu Jamal. This Monday August, 31st, join us for a conversation with Patricia Rodney and Gerald Horne, hosted by Ajamu Nangwaya. We'll be marking Black August and discuss its significance to past and present movements in Africa, the Caribbean, the U.S., and Canada. How did a prison movement that began in the 1970s as a means to politicize fellow prisoners around the killings of revolutionaries, George Jackson by prison guards, connect to current struggles, including the ongoing murders and disappearances of Garifuna leaders and Afro-Descendents in Colombia? In light of the theme for Black August, “study, fast, train, fight," what strategies and mutual aid can we share through our transnational networks?
Speakers:
Patricia Rodney, CEO, Partners in Health, Education and Development, a domestic and international public health consultancy organization. She has several years of experience in women’s health, adult education and literacy. She spent 15 years in academic public health at Morehouse School of Medicine as Professor and Assistant Dean for Public Health Education. Dr. Rodney is the wife of the late Walter Rodney.
Gerald Horne, holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies. He has published more than three dozen books, including The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism and Jazz and Justice, and his most recent book was The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The roots of slavery, white supremacy, Settler Colonialism and Capitalism, in the long sixteenth century. https://monthlyreview.org/product/the-dawning-of-the-apocalypse/https://monthlyreview.org/product/the-dawning-of-the-apocalypse/
Hosted by:
Ajamu Nangwaya is an organizer, lecturer and writer. He is a lecturer in the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. Dr. Nangwaya is also the co-editor with Dr. Michael Truscello of the anthology Why Don’t The Poor Rise Up? And co-editor of Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Self-Determination in Jackson, Mississippi, along with Kali Akuno. Read Jackson Rising: https://jacksonrising.pressbooks.com/
Background:
August “bursts at the seams with histories of Black resistance," Bilal Ali. The births of Marcus Garvey, Russell Maroon Shoatz and Fred Hampton, the assassinations of George and Jonathan Jackson of the Black Panther Party, the Haitian Revolution, Nat Turner Rebellion, the Underground Railroad, the death of W.E.B. Dubois. Black August began as a prison movement in the 1970s to mark the death of revolutionaries, George Jackson, William Christmas, James McClain, Jonathan Jackson and Khatari Gaulden who were killed by prison guards in the Marin County courthouse. Initially organized to politicize fellow prisoners, today, we mark Black August now because it reminds us of the unbroken line of Black radical resistance that has always led the way on: organizing against anti-imperialism, the carceral state, while uplifting the internationalist and Pan-African character of these histories.
Background reading:
Bilal Ali: http://www.streetsheet.org/resistance-the-meaning-of-black-august/ https://www.blackagendareport.com/black-august-and-black-liberation-study-fast-train-fight
This event will be live-streamed on our Facebook page and Youtube Channel.
We Invite all those in the growing Caribbean Solidarity Network, to join us in the conversation email us at caribbeansolidarity@gmail.com or WhatsApp us (1-437-788-5239).