Ending Black August by Pierre Pinson
The end of each Black August marks a new starting point for some of us. Black August is not only an exercise of solidarity, it is entry-level training for those who anticipate direct confrontation with white supremacy and those behind enemy lines. This training is necessary to secure liberation because without discipline, physical endurance, mental acuity, and historical reference there is no foundation for our future. George Jackson wrote,
...the old guard must not fail to understand that circumstances change in time and space, that there can be nothing dogmatic about revolutionary theory. It is born out of each popular struggle. Each popular struggle must be analyzed historically to discover new ideas. In the words of John Gerassi: "Building from one to the other, eventually the revolutionary cadre would become equipped with a theory rooted in experience, broadened by historical knowledge, tested by combat, and fortified by reflection."
This entry-level training is necessary in our march toward liberation: Fasting is not self-deprivation, it is the reality of the comrades in combat, it is the reality of the comrade being tortured in a prison cell. Our physical exercise is not to "look good" we exercise the body for the same reasons we exercise our minds—to be an effective weapon against white supremacy. During Black August we study revolutionaries and uprisings, not only to commemorate them but to keep the spirit of revolution alive, to learn revolutionary theory, and to expound on revolutionary tactics.
In war there are no neutral stances, you are either supporting the enemy structure or harboring fugitives and nurturing their ideas. You are either a proponent for assimilation assisting in the asphyxiation of self-determination or youresist. With this in mind, the first stage of consciousness is to understand that war is being waged.
It is imperative to understand that the majority of Blacks in America are the descendants of a stolen people brought to a stolen land and therefore, comprise a Nation with no location— A Nation on No Map. The extractivist nature of capitalism's ruling class is to siphon natural resources from nations across the world, thus producing poverty, instability, and violence. Due to the conditions created by white supremacy, the Black nation has no land or natural resources for the ruling class to exploit. This does not make the Black nation exempt, it makes the people the exploited natural resource. This exploitation of the people is the impetus behind the war waged against Black people in America. Therefore, the revolutionary's impetus must be love for the people— as Jackson wrote the fight for liberation must be like breathing:
To the slave, revolution is an imperative, a love-inspired, conscious act of desperation. It's aggressive. It isn't "cool" or cautious. It's bold, audacious, violent, an expression of icy, disdainful hatred! It can hardly be any other way without raising a fundamental contradiction...The principal reservoir of revolutionary potential in America lies in wait inside the Black colony. Its sheer numerical strength, its desperate historical relation to the violence of the productive system, and the fact of its present status in the creation of wealth forces the black stratum at the base of the whole class structure into the forefront of any revolutionary scheme.
It is this love for the people that compels us to exercise solidarity which creates the foundation for making revolution. We study our ancestors to keep our historical legacy of resistance alive and we study the enemy structure to navigate toward victory.
Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. -Sun Tzu, The Art of War
