What is Black August?
by Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson
 
Black August is a month designated to pay tribute to the true heroes, martyrs and history of New Afrikan (Black) people in our struggles for liberation against over 400 years of violent repression, suffering and exploitation that we have endured under the systems of bondage here in the Western Hemisphere.
 
Many important events that occurred and the lives of people who contributed to our struggles fell within the month of August and coincide with our need to know, remember and commemorate the people and events that have fed the flame of our struggle to yet be free.
 
The concept of Black August began in the California prison system in response to the assassinations of political prisoners and prisoners of war held there, such as George L. Jackson, W.L. Nolen, Jeffrey “Joka Khatari” Gaulden and others. Joka Khatari, a torchbearer of Comrade George Jackson, died on Aug. 1, 1978. He died at the hands of California prison officials at San Quentin who refused him medical care for head injuries sustained while playing football.
  
Since its early beginnings, Black August has grown to embrace many significant events and people in our history of struggles in Amerika, especially those that have occurred during the month of August.
 
But for these struggles and people and their sacrifices, we would not have survived until today. Black August cannot be looked upon lightly.
 
Black August is now observed each year by our people across the Diaspora.
 
Commemorating Black August is not simply a holiday observance, but a time of reflection, recognition, fortification, consciousness-building and inspiration. The events and people it pays tribute to demonstrated the greatest sacrifices and commitment and represent a higher awareness of and ongoing service to New Afrikans as a collective people, as a distinct nationality and community of people.
 
But for these struggles and people and their sacrifices, we would not have survived until today. Black August cannot be looked upon lightly.
 
Black August serves to instill practice and values in us that will develop our ways of thinking and being 365 days per year and to become the people of the liberated future that we are fighting to create for ourselves, for all oppressed peoples and especially for those that will come after us.
 
Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!
 
All Power to the People!
Planting the Seeds of Peace with Justice. Our Community Solidarity Garden is Growing! (Top half going clockwise; purple eggplant blooms; zucchini blooms; small cantaloupe; cucumbers in bloom; herbs & peppers, eggplant, pepper & tomato box; the Gardens 4 Everyone, RBC Employee & FOLWCC Volunteers raised bed box building team; food preservation & canning instructor, Cynthia; master gardener & garden coordinators, Ciscero & Nathanette; the youngest gardener, Ali) 
Classes are being canceled, and teachers are being fired, as “anti–critical race theory” fights are coming to a head in Republican states. But the viral school board videos are only part of the story.
Gloria Richardson, civil rights pioneer, dies at 99

Richardson was the first woman to lead a prolonged grassroots civil rights movement outside the Deep South. In 1962, she helped organized and led the Cambridge Movement on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with sit-ins to desegregate restaurants, bowling alleys and movie theaters in protests that marked an early part of the Black Power movement. Read more here.
30/30 Outdoor Community Class
Half Fit Camp & Half Yoga
Saturday, August 21, 2021

9:00 am in the parking lot at FOLWCC

Join Us for a Full Body Workout & Stretch

Bring your mat and loop bands (limited mats & bands available)

Donation: $7 Cash or PayPal: dsyward@gmail.com

Brought to you by Hey Donnae LLC
Fruit of Labor Solidarity Gardening Club presents. . .
 Canning 101 Workshop: How to make Strawberry Jam
 
 Saturday, August 21, 2021
10:00 am-1:00 pm at FOLWCC
Instructor: Cynthia Hayes
Cost: $15 (all inclusive)

Canning is a fun and important method of food preservation!

Participants will learn how to safely make jams. After the class, each person will leave with an 8oz. jar of strawberry jam and the knowledge of how to make most fruit jams.

We are still observing our covid-19 restrictions at the FOLWCC. Class size is limited to no more than 8 students. Masks or proof of vaccination is also required to participate. Reserve your space now! Email Cynthia at chayes10@gmail.com to register or call 919-876-7187. You may also email Nathanette at nlmayo5@yahoo.com to register.
How Food Preservation is an Ingredient in the Recipe to Fight for Social Justice:
 
    Historically, a lot of community organizing and strategizing took place when Black women got together to “can”. In rural communities in NC, women talked about voting rights, fighting Jim Crow segregation and Black land loss, organizing for good jobs and community control when their Home Demonstration Clubs got together. The NC Cooperative Extension Service, beginning in the early 1900s, sent county agents into rural communities to “demonstrate” farming techniques to men. Women participated in-home demonstrations which included gardening and canning or food preservation. The African-American community of Shiloh, in western Wake County, had a Women’s Home Demonstration Club which was very active during the mid-1900s. The women in this club organized and led the community in its fight to keep I-540 from dislocating over 30 homes in the mid-1980s. The Shiloh Women Home Extension Club members also, along with Black Worker for Justice, organized the Shiloh Coalition for Community Control & Improvement. This organization fought for the clean-up of the contaminated soil and groundwater at the Koppers Superfund Site, located in the community, as well as for residents to be connected to the municipal water system in the town of Morrisville and for community self-determination.

Just goes to show you what a quart of canned tomatoes, beans, squash or pint of jam and jelly can do to initiate change and move people along the road to justice! 
Click below to see the August calendar.
"A Black Woman Speaks"

The Poem That Inspired Radical Black Women to Organize

Beah Richards (Beulah Richardson) is best known as an actor, but in 1951 she wrote a sweeping poem that influenced the Civil Rights Movement.