 It's a war outside, it's a war outside And everybody acting like they don't see it Let's get into it, Hella Black Episode 108, you know what I mean? Black August, here rocking Somebody called the People's House as a delincy calls it, it's a Camp Mutequeen Yes, sir Where you'll get your mind right, you know what I'm saying? We ain't roasting on marshmallows, but We getting our mind, body and soul right But we can't, we can't, we can't We can't roast marshmallows Yeah, we can roast some marshmallows You know what I mean? At some point in time, I don't know That's the idea This is a full circle moment It is, it is I remember our first Hella Black podcast You know, I was talking about Free your mind and your ass will follow That's what we doing up here, training them on So our ass gonna follow Yeah, well listen, you know There's a path, and the path has been Blazed by many giants before us So the only thing we doing is following That path, you know Trying to put some bricks on that road That this red, white, red, white And black brick roads, you know I mean, if you think about where we are In Douglas town, people might Have to do some research to figure out Exactly where that is But we in Douglas town A long history of abolition That's right, that's right He was one of the great abolitionists In the United States, you know He set the map in terms of what it means To be an abolitionist And what the word actually really determines that You know, for us, in regards to abolitionism I think we have to take it into the 21st century You know, we got to abolish a lot of stuff And not only just the issues of slavery And not saying that slavery has been abolished by That great abolitionist And his participation And his contribution towards it But because we know that Slavery still exists Particularly in the penal system So, for us In terms of issues of abolitionists Of being abolitionists, right Our goal is to abolish everything that is anti-black You know, anti-people of color Anything that creates a situation Or an environment that is in opposition To our own prosperity and survival You know, living in this particular country In this country So, yes The tradition has been laid The history is well established You know, what it means to be an abolitionist And what we have to do is Like I said, stand on those shoulders We have to build that red, black, and green road Brick, you know You know, it's not the yellow brick road To Oz But it is the red, black, and green road To liberation and freedom Well, you know, Roger, New Africa Yes, sir That's right, New Africa, bro You know, you were a very distinguished guest Second-time artist Not too many people who come on Hello Back two times In the span you came on It's like 10 episodes or something It don't feel like 10 episodes ago It don't feel like 10 episodes It don't even fight the second time But that's because we've been in here For, you know, eight or so days Every day feel like a podcast episode For real, we've been... We've been at the dinner table Shopping game, morning But I think back to What was that last summer When you was doing the video Calling for his release Yeah And then protests Yeah, and so to go from there To doing the free-o, mind-y-o, as-a-follow To being able to be at, you know Camp, Camp Judo Camp Judo Camp Mutsukimi, we're building That's... Wake up, make eggs, do push-ups Yeah It's some real building in here going on And yeah, so to think... And that was probably like 14 months ago Because I think that was with June or July It was June Yeah, it was June 14 months later we We're here rockin' Recording episode 108 Wasn't good, wasn't good Yeah, we do the best we can Under the system of oppression Which we are fighting against, you know We gotta make the best of our situation And unfortunately we have to stay healthy You know, and also that we can provide The nourishment that our movement needs You know, so it's all part of the process You know, our sister Sophia Bukari, she wrote a book The War Before And in that book she made Explicitly clear the necessity Of the need for revolutionaries To take time for self-reflection And for healing, you know That if we don't do that Then ultimately we'll burn out You know, and so We have to recognize that this is A marathon This is not a sprint And if we understand that in terms of our struggle Then we know that self-healing Is all part of the process It is part of the revolutionary process And one reason why it's part of the revolutionary process Because we have been traumatized You know, the system traumatizes Like people It traumatizes people of color You know, it is designed To traumatize, you know And so for us, our struggle For liberation is healing It's a healing process, you know It's a way for us to render Ourself free Of the kind of traumatization That we have to encounter on a daily basis Whether you go into the grocery store Or department store and you're being followed You know, just because you're black Right, or you have to Concern yourself when a police car passes by You know, whether or not he's going to stop and search you You know, these are little Dynamics that Accumulatively Creates the psychological Issues of traumatization You know And that doesn't go to the issues Of what's going on in the community itself You know, these are some of the smaller Things that are cumulative According to our own trauma And dealing with the issues of white supremacy You know, and institutional racism In this country So yeah, we do have to take time For the process of reflecting And understanding our strength And our weaknesses in order for us To continue You know, continue to struggle That's something that I know We have been trying to Round ourselves in Yeah, because You know, you get so caught up in the work And another OG of ours In addition to yourself that Be giving us a lot of game is left And he told me To treat myself like I treat the people In terms of taking care of myself So yeah, that's something that I've Definitely tried to ground myself in So to hear you say that, it's a Necessary reminder To treat yourself like you treat the people You ain't gonna treat yourself bad You can't treat the people bad I'm filling that energy, that's right So we're here with Black August It's a special time A monumental time But can you dive into the meaning Of Black August? I feel like there's so many Articles on Black August From people who don't know The true history like how you know the real history And even, I was gonna say Even with our part, you know The one that we did We did a couple episodes Yeah, we touched on Black August And I asked you if We misinterpreted it and you said not misinterpreted But we might have did a reduction By not mentioning the BGF And so we definitely want to While we touched on the way, I guess we mentioned the BGF Because we mentioned Katari, we mentioned George Really being able to be precise With our analysis and our history for the listener So if you listened to 106 You know, we gave y'all Some of the history but We missed some key elements and now Jaleel One of the key elements in terms of Black August is how it evolved As you well know One of the significant aspects of it Is that it's a commemoration of The Heroric efforts of Jonathan Jackson to try to free his brother On August 1st, 1970 The man child That's right, man child And George called his brother Referred to his brother as the man child Making that heroic effort In the Marin County Courthouse To free William McClain Excuse me, William Christmas And Janice McClain and also Who came along was Ruchelle McGee And the tragic Ending of that Although Ruchelle survived, he's still in prison today He's been in prison for almost For about 58 years as a result Of that particular incident And still fighting to free Ruchelle McGee But also Black August commemorates Comrade George, you know And his assassination, his murder On August 25th, 1970 1971 But more and just as importantly It commemorates the death Of Jeffrey Katari Golden And Mr. Golden Or Brother Golden, Comrade Golden He was Some say and you know Some confirm that he was the leader Of the Black Rilla family That he inherited that position To lead the Black Rilla family And so after his death After the CDC Sam Quitton allowed him to bleed out Right in the San Quitton Adjustment Center yard He had hit his head What happened was he had He was playing little game football Or passing the ball and he tripped and fell And hit his head on concrete Before they was allowed to get his body out of the yard He bled out And that was kind of devastating for everybody Knowing that This young brother who was A staunch supporter Of Black people And building in defense of Black people Particularly in the prison system That was a California prison system was Had to confront Aaron Nation's Aaron Brotherhood The organization of Mexican mafia And et cetera For the most part at that time Particularly The Mexicans Those Mexicans that was there Chicanos was in alliance With the Aaron Brotherhood In certain instances So it was necessary Out of necessity And also the guards White supremacists So it was out of necessity that Black middle family came into existence In defense of their own selves In the defense of Black people In that kind of environment And so the loss of Brother Qatari Was rather devastating For BGF And that's when they decided They needed to commemorate His death Comrade George And Comrade Jonathan And so during they looked at The month of August And saw all the other things that happened in August In history Of Black resistance And so Black August is Basically that It is commemorating Black resistance In the United States And for many of those who did not know Black August has been going on for 50 years So now it is a tradition And it's a tradition that we have to honor in the history Of Black resistance in the United States Yeah Over this I would say I've heard about it, but this was This was the The first year that I really dove into it And committed to, you know, the fast And committed to exercising daily Committed to increasing my reading And my studying, and then increasing My organizing Freeing that drink to them Oh yeah, I forgot, I had an alcohol The most Menial of the Sacrifices, you know, no liquor Yeah, it's What we tried to preach on our Episode 106, we really wanted folks To take away from it, what was the importance of organizing You know Falling through on the commitment, falling through on your tasks You know what I mean, and really Other stuff could be kind of performative, you know, like the not drinking The fast thing, but like if I'm What am I doing in addition to those things Because that's just 10 hours out of the day I'm not allowed to have food Or, you know, from sun up to sun down I'm not allowed to have food 31 days And I'm not allowed to have no liquor, but what did I really do In the name of black resistance, you know what I'm saying Sure, but also discipline Discipline for sure That is the idea, that you take this month Not only reflect upon the History of black resistance, but you discipline yourself You know, you test yourself And understanding that what you're doing Is not in as much as purifying We talked about healing just a few minutes ago, right That's part of the process, you know That we are taking the time to really reflect On who we are And what is our positions To the conditions of our people And by doing so Taking that kind of deep introspection Then we'll be able to really Solidify For ourselves Internalizing for ourselves That we are at least in part Our revolutionaries We're moving towards and evolving towards Becoming revolutionaries And that is the course, that is what black resistance is You know Is building and organizing And forging A movement A revolutionary movement Discipline is so important Discipline Kind of like I guess for lack of better words, a bad rap Because when you think of discipline, it means you're losing something But I've found so much more More people think of it as like a classroom Or you're getting disciplined in a classroom You're acting up at home and your mom is disciplining you But not having the internal discipline That discipline for revolution and organizing Means you're going to maintain your discipline Don't necessarily be punishment And it don't mean a loss of anything either For me I feel like I've gained a new focus A new understanding And developed in home crafts and skills Sure, sure So we appreciate, I was fortunate enough When I have been out Since I've been out for the last 10 months That I was able to introduce Black August here In Rochester It was the first time they had the opportunity to celebrate And I ran into some very good Activists here in Rochester Many of them Ran to FTP, Freedom People Organization called Citizens For Citizens of Initiative Justice I think it is Urban League, I also support it here We have Citizen Action Organization that hired me When I got out of prison We have, what's another organization I mean, I got it written down here I don't want to miss any of them That would be improper Healthcare Education That's the Union 1199 joined in this The Black Agenda Group Also joined in this Vocal New York Rochester Chapter, Vocal New York Also supported The work that we're doing for Black August And so Our first Black August, we did a showing of Cameron George's story That was the beginning of this month That was on the first day of August Oh yeah, that's the only way You can start Black August If you don't talk about Cameron George And that whole dynamic On the first day of August Or at least the first Event for the month of August And you have really missed What Black August comes from Where it evolves from And that kind of level of resistance And so, yeah, we started off With a showing of A story about Cameron George And I gave a presentation On that and allowed The various sponsoring organizations To also make presentations So it's important for the people To see that we are building collective We're building an organization We're building unity and uniformity You'll hear me say that often That in terms of our growth Of resistance, that is extremely Important that we have unity And uniformity In the language in which we use In regards to our struggle We was going to have an art show Unfortunately we had to cancel That because the person that I wanted To showcase had conflicting Scheduling Conflicts in our schedule But we did organize Our art organizing A block party for the community We're doing a field day Where we're going to be passing out I think As much as 1,000 food packages And book bags For the young people Which is very good There's a guy here in Rochester By the name of Anthony Hall And I got to give him a shout out Because he allowed us to use his platform To push Black August And so he deserves another He's been doing this book bag For the whole day For several years now So I'm fortunate to have met this young man Met this brother And explained to him what Black August is about And he said, yeah, man, come on bring it And then we're going to also have What we call A day of Heal the hood? Heal the good hood Healing for a good hood Healing for a good hood And that we'll have some yoga We have some reike We have some martial arts And meditation And the reason why is because Our community has been so traumatized By racial violence and also Internizing struggles That goes on in our community with these street gangs And without a doubt Because of police Terrorism tactics in our community And so there has been so terrorized That we have to take a time To really reflect on that And look for the ideas Of how do we deal with this trauma And so we bring those individuals And those organizations who are Professionals Bring them together And let's talk about it Let's do some of the things that Try to uplift the spirit And deal with the psychological trauma Of course not one day it's going to deal with it But at least it gives the opportunity to have a pause Start building some of those tools You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely And so that's what we're doing for Black Caucus Here in Rochester You also gave your first public Speaking engagement too? Yeah, I'm not I'm not a public Speaker, you know what I mean I got a little stutter I got that too, don't trip Okay, well listen man It is what it is But yeah, I did my first Speaking event And it went alright I guess I didn't criticize too much Nobody didn't run away from me So I guess it did alright Y'all been doing some Really good work out here It's been super motivating To see you get up and organize To witness some of your meetings And we'll be able to go to The Black Party on Friday Is there something Thursday? We have Friday, Saturday and Sunday We'll be able to go to The Black Party on Friday Y'all getting it done Yeah, well listen We feed off each other You know what I mean? This is what our movement has to do We each have to inspire each other In order to go forward In order to push the agendas You guys in the Bay Neighborhood program You guys are an excellent example Of what it means to build That it's going to be sustaining Substance to the community Particularly in regards to the issues Of building decolonization programs And that's what we're going to try to do here Begin the process of building Decolonization programs And my thinking is that if we can build Decolonization programs across the country Then create a network Of that decolonization program We'll be setting up the foundations For establishing the Means for which we can really empower Ourselves Become free In regards to structural development Institutional development that's based upon The ideas that we can Provide for ourselves Build that united front across From New York to here Hey listen If we get to that point We will have released Something phenomenal In my thinking Beyond The Black Panther Party That they were able to achieve within the Sixty seven years of their existence Their real existence Empowering our community There's only been one major National Organizer Who had the kind of Impact It's historic And that would be the great Marcus Mosea Garvey And his Back to Africa Movement United Negro Improvement Association And that organization And what he tried to And what he did accomplish And the reason why he became a threat to the system Was that he was able to Galvanize an idea Amongst black people Not only in the United States But in Africa And Europe And throughout the Caribbean And Latin America No organization to my knowledge A national international Determination Amongst black people And that's the only reason why he had to be destroyed The movement had to be diminished As a result of His capacity to really challenge The idea of white supremacy And empowering black people Towards their own Idea of black freedom So we're making those efforts We're going to make this happen Slowly but surely The organization programs across the country Whatever name they may come under Hopefully at some point in time We'd be able to Build them into a United Front A national United Front Maybe if it not be For the Liberation of the African Nation Or some other named entity The golden objective Have to be the same As it's been promoted By the front for the Liberation of the African Nation Yeah We want to tell the listeners What we've been doing in terms of people's programs For black August In terms of events and ways we've Stepped up in our organizing I think watching the health clinic Getting that going That's a huge win in terms of Not only serving the people But showing the propaganda of it too Showing out and pointing out the contradictions City of Oakland spends millions And millions and millions and millions of dollars Every month on the police That people don't have health care So I think that's a big accomplishment That's going to happen this month Having that truck in the field Having doctors, having nurses We've been doing so much I'm going to think about the past two weeks When do we do the power McKayla Do we talk about Acorn Day on there? You should talk about Acorn Day And give some history about Acorn And where it's at For people not familiar with Oakland Acorn is the projects West Oakland The only projects of Oakland But they're They're a place That's really I would say cut off from the rest of the city In terms of resources They don't have any grocery stores down there And folks will like to say that Since Mandela grocery is on 7th Which is down the street From the actual projects That's a grocery store But people who say they aren't aware of gang wars You're stepping into a whole different neighborhood It's a whole different neighborhood So I would say They're a place that's cut off from resources In terms of no after school programs For the kids over there There's a bunch of kids that stay over there As you can see from us being over there It's a food desert What's the nearest hospital Maybe Highland And then I think about schools The only high school over there What high schools over there Yeah Mack Which is also another arrival neighborhood So they don't have many schools They don't have any grocery stores Community centers closed down The community center is closed down And of course you know folks like to talk it up to COVID But I would have to assume You know If we look at the history of anti-blackness And discrimination against the poor In that area I can't talk it up to COVID We're trying to build with the young folks Over there definitely want to shout out Lingo and Shy For allowing us to work with them And you know they had their holiday Which is 18 and celebrate the blocks From you know 8th to 10th street And so you know we brought in Backpacks And we were also able to bring in The Sinaloa taco truck in You know it's not I think what people forget about this Is I think people will look at this as charity And it's not charity because the cats over there That have found a way to survive by any means And care of their community But I think like all other folks You know it is the Job of the city To pour resources into them And so we want to show that like They ain't got to do it all on their own People go and pour resources right back into them as well If we talk about you know free to people Free to land The total liberation And unification of all Africans Them as the people we talk about So we're trying to build with them Just a few programs you know This Friday is going to be the first time We take groceries into the projects And so I think that's another Really big step in the right direction In terms of the nation building So we have the grocery program going this whole month Sunday's program Feeding the houses every month or every week You know so continuing to build those Decolonization programs this month And really deepening our commitment You know a lot of people on court is Fasting for the first time Weed if you want to call that a drug Some people just say it is Don't discriminate I ain't smoking myself but definitely Proud of folks for you know Deepening that commitment this month That's something we got to do every month You know what I mean but this month Is a place to really refocus I think even for me and you Us deepening our commitment And like reading What was it on liberalism Combating liberalism That's one of my biggest things for black august That I'm taking away is like Me I got to always Put everything about the politic in command With an organization and not have Peace for the second year Explain that to your listening And viewing audience What does it mean to me to keep politics in command How do you translate that It's at no At any juncture you never waver It's that you always keep the ideologies In place right Like you don't so like let's say for example We believe in scientific socialism If boss is coming with something that ain't scientific I can't be afraid He can't because he's my friend We're co-hosts I got to stand on that like Your analysis is off Or if we talk about being revolutionaries We can never waver and if somebody's Wavering we got to say you being liberal That's keeping the politic in command Keeping politics in command I remember a Made by a solid decor right And one of the statements she made Particularly she's addressing Of women, of finimists And in the movement And she said she's told women Particularly women in the party she said If you're a revolutionary You don't have a non-revolutionary man You know If you're going to be a revolutionary Then your partner has also have to be a revolutionary And in that instance You're developing a relationship That's based upon revolutionary Keeping politics in command And it's important for us to understand That our relationship that we have with one another Whether it be a personal relationship Or Association made by virtue Of the circumstances for which we Survive it in We have to make sure that those relationships Is based upon the struggle Is based upon how we reinforce The idea that we are in fact What I use to term Emancipators, abolitionists, or liberators Right And deciding Those kind of relationships It builds character It builds our personality And understanding the sacrifice That we're making But also the pleasure And being able to provide The kind of programs that you provide Decolonization programs for our people To empower our people And keeping those politics Fighting against liberalism The proper way of dealing with contradictions Is extremely important And those contradictions It also lends to your personal relationship That you have with your partner How do you resolve those contradictions Because you cannot allow those contradictions To hinder your capacity to engage in movement And that's the reason why One of the reasons why that Is how to make that point very clear That Whoever your partner is About the politics And they're about to struggle How are you going to be able to trust them How are you going to be able to have that kind of Emotional bond with them When they don't see the vision They're not looking at the world In the same eyes of what you're looking at the world So That is also part of the process Of keeping politics in command It goes that deep It becomes that internalized By keeping politics in command And it's on your own personal relationships as well Yeah I feel that's super important Otherwise you know you can be taking this direction Taking this direction, taking this direction And if your goal is to free the land and free the people You always got to be centered in that In every aspect of your life That's a fact I agree The highlight of my black August has been Catmoutique Coined famously by me It's definitely been my highlight too It reminds me of I'm telling you it's August It's the time for fall camp and football I guess I'm having flashback This is really what you do You lock in, you cut out from the outside world If we been here for I mean I watched track of time When you said what have we done this month I'm like I feel like we've just been here the whole month You know what I mean Reading, studying, having conversations Really being able to learn Downstairs Working out Eating big ass meals I'm telling you bro Reloading on your collagen protein Humid out I haven't done anything like this since the summer of 2014, my last year of college football Hell of camaraderie We eating every meal together Talking, going over to playbook Watching movies That's what we've been doing I definitely felt that In spirit, in skills Outlook, so I'm telling you You got something going here If you ever want to not keep the politics in command Start you a little revolutionary cap Revolutionary cap You go exactly how to do it I'm glad to have my cousin here And you're also the Nancy here Because you fam too And here at my place At my residence And again I am fortunate To have been out in 10 months And be able to have this kind of space For where we can have our comrades come together And just chill for a minute Chill, study, eat, relax Re-energize themselves So they can go back out in the field Get back to work I was just saying We've been learning a lot And I know you say you ain't a Quote on quote public speaker But I've heard somebody told me That you might be having a podcast come out pretty soon And you're going to be laying down Audio laying down some real Revolutionary education That points us towards Freeing the land And having true independence and true sovereignty So to all our listeners We're going to post it And y'all better support Otherwise I'm not It's important though Because the biggest thing is So much that we learn About folks like yourself That was A part of the party We get it through just like books You know what I'm saying I've never been able to sit down On somebody that I know made the ultimate sacrifice I've never had that Privileged the opportunity It's not the ultimate sacrifice It's being marred Who would have made the ultimate sacrifice Who has No I say you would have made the ultimate sacrifice Had it gone that way Several times That possibility Existed By the grace of God By the grace of Allah I was spared To continue to do the work It was just not my time And we continued to do the work I was organized Before I came into the party I grew up in A household Where my mom Was an activist in the NAACP She used to drag us around In those marches back in the days When I was a kid And then I became a member Organized in the Black Student Union High School And eventually I came Into engagement with the Black Panther Party And was recruited into the Black Underground Black Underground Black Underground became known As the Black Liberation Army And the Black Liberation Army Goes through a long tradition From the Black People Armed Shuggle From the great Reverend Nat Turner You know To the African Blood Brotherhood To the Dickens of Defense You know To Robert Robert Williams To Robert Williams And he wrote a book called Negroes with Guns I had the capacity and willingness To fight against the Klan And fight against white supremacy The Black Liberation Army Is following that tradition In the defense of our lives Of our struggle You have to remember the Black Panther Party original name With the Black Panther Party, what? Self-defense And so by the origin of Its existence It had already been put in this program The Black Panther Party At some point in time Actually was rule number six That no Black Panther Party member can join To support the Black Liberation Army So when Huey and Bobby Put together a party They knew that at some point in time Armed struggle would be part of the Processes of liberation And so at the age of Late 18 To 19 I was recruited into the Black Underground The Black Liberation Army And as a result of that I did nearly 50 years in prison While I was in prison I was organizing You know, in prison I organized And created several campaigns First National newspaper That came out of prisoners Called Arm the Spirit Organized that while I was in San Quentin Initiated the first petition to the United Nations While I was in prison In San Quentin and carried it up for it When I was paroled from San Quentin And sent to New York State Prison System Continued there Organized the first National march One of the national march In support of political prisoners That resulted in the building of the Jericho movement Jericho movement has been in existence Now 21 years 21 years Fighting for Building in regards to the existence Of U.S. political prisoners You know, the premier organization That supports political prisoners In the United States We just got some good news about David too Oh yeah, oh yeah A result of our continuing fight And certainly David had a lot of support From various organizations Including Jericho David Gilbert, those who don't know him David Gilbert Was a member of the He first was a founding member Of the SDS A student from democratic society And then he evolved And as a result of his engagement With the underground He eventually became involved With a group of individuals Was a coalition I guess you might say a coalition Of black revolutionaries And white revolutionaries And was instrumental Some of them were instrumental In getting a freeing of Salah Shakur And ultimately I think it was in 1981 If I remember correctly The engagement and expropriation Tried to rob a A brings truck To support the underground movement And unfortunately it went away And two Individuals were murdered or killed A thinker prison guard In a cop And a comrade Was also murdered By the cops And several people was arrested And David was one of them 75 a life sentence 75 years to life sentence And he did not have a weapon He was a driver He was a getaway driver And that's all He had no engagement with the law enforcement at all No direct engagement with the law enforcement at all With his expropriation But they gave him 75 years to life To try to make an example out of this white man Who opposes His white skin privilege Who opposes white supremacy Who opposes American anti Who opposes American imperialism And they try to make an example out of him So recently After doing 40 years Right, sometime this week He was granted clemency So now he has the opportunity To go to the pro board and hopefully be released His wife Kathy Bodine was released I think 13 years ago She was also part of that That struggle, that movement Seiku Udenga was released I think about five years ago Doing a federal and state prison sentence As a result of the Brink Brink robbery case And he was released I think about five years ago So in New York state Dave was the last quote unquote political prisoner In New York state And so we have a great opportunity To see him being released from prison And that's people power People fighting, continue to fight For the release of our political prisoners David hopefully will be released Within the next month Maybe two months Hopefully we'll see what the pro board does Again you know I said he had 75 years to life He did 40 And was given clemency And so we'll see What clemency did, he wouldn't give him a pardon If he was given a pardon he would be released from prison But it was given clemency That gave him an opportunity to go to the pro board But we still have old comrades in prison Ima Jamil Alamee Who's been in prison And his story is extremely important For the people to understand Because he's innocent A person has already Confessed to the crime For the last 21 years Yeah And they're still holding him We have Dr. Mutulu Shakur The great acupuncture Black acupuncture He started a whole organization For Black acupuncture Before his arrest He is the stepfather Of Tupac Shakur Everybody who loves Tupac Shakur Should be fighting for his stepdad To be released from prison Of course we have Sunyata Kohli He was 84 years old And now Many say he's suffering from dementia And he was One of the individuals At the same time that Was arrested He's been in prison ever since And he should be released from prison And there's many many more That we are fighting for Maroon Russell Schultz He's in Pennsylvania And we're trying to get him out Because he's dying in prison And we don't want to see another one Of our comrades dying in prison So let's try to get him A compassionate release Of the state denied So We're in a fight We're in a fight to release him from prison But we have to build A strong, durable People's movement To fight for the release of our comrades I know when he was down He was talking about petition in the United Nations And now in October You have the tribunal coming up About the history of the tribunal The importance of the tribunal And what people can do to support it Absolutely It's not the first time we had the international tribunal Come to the United States The campaign that I launched To the United Nations back in 1977 In 1981 With other organizations Results in the international Come to the United States And they visited many of the comrades Including Sundiata In the Peltier One of the great indigenous Warrior in the United States And Another individuals they visited And they made a determination back then That political prisoners existed in the United States So in But there's no remedies There's never been any remedies That was also the Contel Pro War On the movement Those who have been convicted as Contel Pro Convictions There has never been any remedies Although the church senate committee Had determined that the acts of the FBI For Contel Pro was illegal Right, it was unconstitutional But in every steps There were remedies for those who were convicted For those Contel Pro illegal Unconstitutional practices of the FBI And other police forces across the country So in 2018 I was locked up In Southport Correctional Facility In isolation Segregation As a result of me teaching a class In Attica Or they didn't like me teaching the class Or they didn't like what I was teaching in the class About the Black Panther Party And the history of struggle in this country And so they locked me down For four months And while I was locked down in isolation I decided it was time to bring the International Jewish Back to the United States And so I put out a proposal Sent to my comrades in a Jericho movement Sofia Bukhari And Baba Herman Ferguson Another individual who has a long history of struggle He was my elder Back in The days Came to visit me At Eastern Correctional Facility No, excuse me, not Eastern Correctional Facility I get my time mixed up 2018 Was A new movement And members of the Jericho movement came To visit me When I was talking about Sofia Bukhari And Baba Herman Ferguson Talking about the first union campaign The Jericho movement Moving to Jericho in 1998 That's when they came to visit me So anyway, 2018 I put out a proposal, Jericho jumped on it And said, yes, we'll do this thing And we have now come to 2021 October 22 To the 25th We will have an international tribunal An international tribunal Is that we charge genocides We charge genocides again The International tribunal Is commemorating The 70th anniversary Of when Paul Roberson And William Patterson first Brought the charges To the international community Particularly the United Nations Of the charge of genocides That was on December 15th, 1951 Two months after my birth And so we're again Bringing the issues of We charge genocides Because the additions that they argued And fought for back then in 1951 Are very similar to the conditions that exist today And so we have several charges And I want to read these out Because I think it's important, I can't keep it all in my head Right now it's ridiculous I'll be feeling this all good Yeah, so anyway The charges are Racist police killings Black, brown, indigenous people One, hyper-incarceration Of black, brown, indigenous people Two, political incarceration Of civil rights, national liberation Era of revolutionaries and activists As well as present day activists That's three Four, environmental racism And its impact on black, brown, indigenous people Five, public health racism And disparities and its traumatic Impact on black, brown, indigenous people And six, genocide Black, brown, indigenous people As a result of the historic and systemic charges Of all the above If you look at all these charges Cumulatively, right We note that they diminish the capacity For black, brown, indigenous people To be able to prosper And survive in this country Bringing these charges to the international community We have an international judge Come to the United States Right now we have the venue at the Malcolm X Betty Shabbat Center for the tribunal We have judges, nine judges Representing the international community Who are listening to the testimony And documents That we'll be presenting Sister Nikichi Taifa Will be the main And we use the term loosely But nonetheless it is the term Prosecutor Prosecuting the United States on the issues of Of genocide And of course we demand the release of our political prisoners And so This is going to be historic This is going to be an opportunity for us To not only raise the issues Of Our conditions inside the United States In respect to the issues of Genocide, but also create International solidarity With our movement With our fight here in the United States And if we can build that dynamic For the world to understand What our fight is here in the United States Then I think we'll create the kind of Conditions by which When we engage in struggle Here in the United States We have the kind of support and backing Between progressive forces And the international arena as well Can you tell the listeners Why this specific charge of genocide In terms of the role that it's playing Understanding the dialectics of revolution Yeah, I mean All people have the right to fight For their national liberation and independence Their national identity That's a right That's a human right And so we have raised the question That this is in fact a human right But what is also important What is genocide? How does that function? How does it operate? I'm going to read from my book We are all liberated Why I made a Point of raising this question And raising this issue So we have A fine understanding Of what it is, what we What charges that we're making And why we're making these charges Let me see if I can find a page I thought I had it marked here I marked here somewhere Bear with me Yeah What is more What is as important in terms of the charge Genocide is that the United States Is guilty of Engaging in this particular practice Here we go The International Convention on Prevention of Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Here the International Court states in article 2 In the present convention Genocide means any of the following acts Committed with the intent to destroy In whole or in part The national, ethnic, racial Or religious group such as one Killing members of the group We know they've been killing us Causing serious bodily and mental harm To members of the group We know we have suffered on all those occasions On all those issues See the liberally inflicting On the group conditions of life Calculate to bring about its physical destruction In whole or in part And that's the point where it really gets me Because if you just Look at the issues of mass incarceration And the charges that we raise Hyperincarceration We know they're sending our young people to prison At an early age And keeping them in prison 20, 30, 40, 50 years And those are their most productive years To reproduce So they're preventing our reproduction On that level If you just call Ask Alexa I'm serious Just ask Alexa what is the population In the United States And they will say something like 13% Even 13% For the last 50 years In terms of our population in the United States We have not grown From 11% to 13% We have not grown in 50 years That's in whole and in part Destruction over people Imposing measures intended to prevent births Within the group We know they've been sterilizing our women We know there's a history of sterilizing Our older rickens There's an argument right now In California state prison system Where they were sterilizing The women inside California Particularly black and Latina women In California state prison system Sterilizing women I guess they're consent Not giving them consent to be sterilized The idea of eugenics Continues today In regards to killing Preventing the birth Of black and brown and indigenous people And lastly Forcibly transferring children of the group To another group We know they've been doing that as well A lot of that is sending our babies To foster care And those kind of things Across the country It's epidemic In the way that we are being treated In conditions that amounts to Genocide Now article 3 further states that Genocide can be punishable Right, genocides 2, conspiracy to commit genocides 3, direct And public incitement to commit genocides Direct and public incitement to commit genocides I'm going to go back to that in a minute And attempt to commit genocides And the complicity In genocides And so when we look at for instance Conditions like what happened in Tulsa Right, and various other Cities That were block controlled Or areas that were block controlled And how white people rioted it Against black people Murdered black people Where we see those hanging trees Where they're celebrating The lynching Of black people We Not only do we have A traumatic experience for black people When we talk about trauma Traumatizing black people Is to reinforce the idea Of white supremacy And the values And diminishes the humanizes Black lives And so when we look at the historically And the cumulative value Conditions from which 1951 The great Paul Roberson And William Patterson Brought the charge of Genocide United Nations We feel that today With state terrorism And killing the black people Wholesale killing the black people Across this country We need to take this charge Of genocides to the United Nations To the international community once again That's what we're doing October 22nd to the 25th The International Tribunal Of 2021 To be held in New York City It's historic and every Progressive organization Individual should endorse And support it You can go to spiritofmandela.org And learn more about it Also you can endorse it too So people can get funds For the programming So go ahead and endorse it Hella Black has endorsed it People's programs has endorsed it So you should too If you fuck with Hella Black If you fuck with people's programs You need to be fucking with the tribunal If you fuck with the people Link in the episode description YouTube and whatnot Make sure you all tap in So why do you think that The tribunal is important For the New African independence movement As well as getting involved In the international arena Why do we see that as important For the Republic of New Africa I think you should put it on several accounts And I want to make that transition By Sharing Because this is the Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter is essentially A social consciousness movement It's not a movement movement It's a social consciousness trend For the most part And it came out by virtue Of the idea that Black people's lives have been so dehumanized And diminished To the point that it was necessary For us to even come up with the idea Of the value of Black Lives That we have to raise that question And I remember back in 1968 When they had the sanitation workers strike Right before the killing Of the assassination of Dr. King The sanitation workers had to walk around With a black card A body black card that says that I am a man Why? Why would it be necessary for black people Black men to even have to Announce that to wear a black card To identify themselves that I am a man And it goes, it lends to what degree From which we have suffered As results of white supremacy in this country And so for us The charge is genocide today It lends to the idea that perhaps It is time for us to really consider Divorcing ourselves From the realities Of white supremacy And Americanism As Alhazmi, Shabazz, Malcolm X used to call it Americanism And so for us The black The international tribunal Is a means for which we Can begin to Build Towards the goals of Creating an alternative narrative To the corporate Democratic Republican party One of the things that we can be moving towards Ultimately In 2022 it's been what we call The People's Senate Movement has called it What we're moving towards We want to create a new narrative A third voice Of liberation and independence And for me Part of that third voice Is also building what I call Front for Liberation of the African Nation I think it is in time that we really Consider our own independence Moving towards these two conditions From which we can become Independent people If you look at what happened on January 6 When the white supremacists Stormed congress Trying to take over congress To nullify The process of what they call A democratic process of voting Which is a sham Corporate election Two corporate parties Democratic or Republican One called Alhazmi They both belong to The K9 family When we understand That We have to divorce ourselves From each of those parties Because they don't necessarily work in our best interests The interests of black people The best interests of brown people And indigenous people in this country So we have to create a new Alternative But anyway On January 6 They announced what they were about To create a whole coordinated attack That was in the spur of the moment That was coordinated and organized And we know that it was 70 million People voted for Trump And a vowed white supremacist 70 million people across this country And I can imagine there's probably 30 million Who are silent That's one third of the entire population Of the United States And so given that reality They're not going to disappear And we have to be prepared In our Future goals for our babies To think about Excising ourselves From this reality We have fought for too long trying to become Part of something that don't want us To be part of America That has never worked In the best interests of black people And so we have to begin to start thinking In terms of how do we Going to build something Substantial for our own liberation Now, is that a foreign idea? Why can it be a foreign idea? We have sovereign nations in the United States Unfortunately, they're not functioning And operating as their full capacity But Native Americans, many of them Are sovereign nations So saying that there's no sovereign nations In the United States is ridiculous And so for us In terms of international law There's international law that states That we can in fact move towards Building our own nationality And our own nation And so we are using international law As the premise in which we can build Towards independence Frolinan, Front for Liberation of the African Nation Can be a tool An organizing tool To make that happen As some may know May not In 1968, 500 Revolutionary Nationalists Black Nationalists came together And they decided they're going to move to Understanding that the five States in the United States Called the Black Belt States South Carolina Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama And Louisiana Is the Black Belt where the majority of Black people Still reside in the United States And where Black people is naturally Migrating back to them In fact you have one bourgeoisie Black person By the name of Charles Charles Blow or something Charles Blow Who wrote a book That Emphasized the idea Of the exodus back to The Black Belt But not with the idea of sovereignty Not with the idea of sovereignty Right, right So that's the reason why I say Sudo Bourgeois But the idea that he thinks That we need to do so Within his circle of people We need to give a narrative Through that idea of independence So it's not a far fetched idea That we need to return back To the Black Belt South And take it over Build the institution Like I say decolonization programs That lends to the idea of empowering Ourselves For liberation and independence I have a theory, of course As part of my book Of writers called Three-Face Theory for National Independence And the Three-Face Theory for National Independence States in Very succinctly That the first phase Is Class struggle for national unity We have to engage in class struggle Because The capitalist system creates classes It creates divisions Especially if you're looking in like Atlanta right now You have a black mayor Black cops everywhere All these black police officers And people act like We free black mecca Whatever they want to call it But that's why class struggle Class struggle for national unity And if we can build this kind of national unity And start building the kind of decolonization Decolonization programs across the country And build these institutions Of self empowerment Then naturally we can see the idea So it's class struggle for national unity National unity for self-government We start creating the institutions Where we are in fact in control of our own resources And the capacity From which we can build For our own degrees of sovereignty And as we build those kinds of institutions Independent institutions We'll be building towards the idea Of naturality The natural goal is self-government For national independence So it's a three-part process And each process Lends to greater empowerment And the liberating of our minds So we liberate our bodies They liberate the land Liberate the land, free the land So with that we also need Cadres, you know, organizations To be able to build decolonization programs So we have different organizations You know, Oakland To LA Rochester, right, you know what I mean So can you talk about the importance Of building cadres And building decolonization programs To build that process that you're talking about Yeah, naturally Folinand is It's a two-part, it's a two-tiered Or two-structured organization The Cadre development Aspect of it is to Get in where you fit in, right For those of like-minded individuals Who understand the necessity for organization For self-empowerment That we will build the kind of Grassroots organizing Across the country, as what you guys Are doing in the Bay Area Cadre development, Cadre Building And what Cadre building does It creates the kind of Fallback Organizational structure where You know that there are groups of individuals In the community Or function in the capacity for which They are promoting The idea of liberation And revolution and liberation And so Cadres You know, you can be small groups Individuals 10, 15, you know 5, 10, 15 Group of people, but they're solid In the understanding of their purpose Right? And it don't take a few people To really make things happen And so we know that in terms of Security Substantial We'll always be under attack And it's important that we have A durable group Of individuals Purposeful, intentional Deliberate Organizing for liberation So that's Cadre development And we strain these Cadres together We build these Cadres together Into a capacity for which we have An organization It may not be an organization It may not be a formal organization In Structure But it will be a formal organization In mind, in thinking And in identity Which is extremely important As we grow Then we can start to begin Building autonomous regions Liberated territory And build the kind of front Organizations Now we're building structure For liberation of the African nation And we have the capacity to really engage Our Opposition Our opposition, white supremacist opposition Capitalist opposition For our liberation of freedom So we have to begin the process As minimum As Cadre And as we do so We can build Into the kind of organization That is solid, that is strong That is purposeful, intentional And deliberate And one major takeaway I get From we our own liberators Is that the structure, of course But also the discipline That is needed to be in a cadre Which I think when I read that And try to apply it to my life That's made my life better It's made me sharper, it's made me more smart It's made me a better organizer As I've made that commitment to myself But also to my organization So can you talk about the importance of Discipline within cadre organizations Wow Discipline has to be internalized Right? I already made One point in regards to what Lessons from Asada Shakur How to internalize your working Relations with people that you are Engaging with But discipline is basically that Right? It is being purposeful Being intentional And being deliberate Right? In regards to who you are Identifying who you are And sticking to that Having the discipline to be able to challenge yourself As well as challenge the comrades Around you In regards to their own capacity To engage in struggle We have to identify our weaknesses And diminish our weaknesses And build upon our strengths That goes through the issues of Criticism, self-criticism And how that plays a part Is that you adhere to what we said before Right? Politics in command Right? When you keep the politics in command Then you are disciplined 1000% It's important because I think What any cadre should be thinking of is that it's bigger What the individual should start to think of That it's bigger than the individual Then the cadre should understand that it's bigger than the cadre If you're talking about a movement, right? Absolutely We all gotta be strong We all gotta be able to contribute in the ways that we need to contribute We need to have strong and solid We need to have a firm and solid and deep understanding Of the ideologies And we need to have a firm understanding Of the processes to revolution Into building Frolinon Because if we had 50 cadres in 50 cities All with similar mindset Oh yeah Even if it's 20 people dedicating each cadre You got an ability to Really fight and advocate For independence through your daily actions As an organization and as a person There's one chapter in the book Everybody's called commitment is key Right? And so in terms of Actual idea of discipline One has to be committed And I just want to read one A couple paragraphs on this This idea of commitment Pages like 158 We have one page 158 exactly Yeah you got it You got it That boy encyclopedia with it Make sure y'all If you got the book it's on page 158 It won't tap him with the Kindle There's a new version coming soon I heard Hopefully it will be All right but commitment is key And it says against this background I remember what I was talking earlier It should be clear that the first step Of any group of people seeking to build a national Liberation front and a revolutionary cadre Organization must be the decision To each individual in the group To commit himself or herself To a collective poor attractive struggle And dialectically Developing a relationship With the revolutionary social forces The oppressed masses That's a commitment The group must contain those who are convinced Of the need for revolutionary social change And who out of sober reflection Of the concrete experiences Of recent past have become convinced That spontaneous rebellions I don't understand what I'm saying here Spontaneous rebellions revolts In confrontations no matter how many Or how spectacular Lead not to revolution But to despair and confusion Unless an organized group takes the lead And is ready to make this commitment Out of their own volition Out of their own personal volition So over the years we have seen Our people engage in insurrections Right They respond episodically To like to please kill an example Right Rightfully so for show But it's emotional response And it is a response It is not revolutionary actions And we have to understand that And so For those who have taken Understanding of that They have to make a commitment To turn that energy Those spontaneous revolts Those insurrections And turn them into a movement And build organizations out of that And so that's what we're talking about here A commitment is the key To respond episodically to different Insurrections and circumstances But that we seek to Motivate people Inspire people towards organization Towards organization and building Those kind of organizations that would be sustainable And raising consciousness And building that consciousness out Into a mobilization And that's why Political education is so important Because I think even early on in my political education I was responsive or reactionary And that's how I felt Where I'm just following each protest As I became educated I think I ready to die for the people in my art Now we actually have to build programs That serve the people A lot of times what we saw this past summer Is a lot of mobilization But we need to turn that mobilization Into an organization As a commentary And then turn that organization This is an example of building that cadre Building that decolonization programs In my mind that's how you make it practical You know what I mean? Even if it's two people I think one thing you said earlier It could be a small amount of people I think people overlooked that sometimes It's like oh we need all these people The masses will move But if we become organized and build those cadres We are going to move the masses That's the idea That we should be organizing moving towards It is a symbiotic relationship Between the organizers and the organized Right? If we understand that relationship That we have with the people Then we know that we have to be in and amongst the people We have to understand that people are the Motive force in creating history People are the motive force in creating history And if we understand that That we know that our relationship with the people Is extremely important Because there cannot be history Cannot be movement building Without engaging the people And having them understanding That we are operating and working With the best interests And that they are engaging in the struggle In their best interests And the interests of their children The generations to come after So commitment is the key And we need to be able to have that kind of understanding Of why we are involved in the struggle In the first place What is the main focus And individually for that kind of Coordement is love for your people If you got love for yourself And you are in love for your people In the wrong arena Of struggle But love for your people And love for yourself first You gotta love yourself In order to be able to have the kind of Sacrificing love For your people Can I end it with a quote? Alright This is a quote from you I don't know if you remember this But I'm gonna go ahead If I decide to take responsibility For the type of society they want to live in Then they shouldn't complain about their oppression Free to people Free to land We are our own liberators We got some push ups to do