History

Political Chronology of the Black August Organizing Committee:
Movement Document.
December 1981
Who Is the Black August Organizing Committee?
Why Are They Under Attack?
December 16, 1981

During the last two months, the Black August Organizing Committee (BAOC) has been the victim of a repressive campaign by the California Department of Corrections (CDC), its intelligence arm, the Special Services Unit (SSU), and the Berkeley and Oakland police departments. As a result, six Black August members are now in jail. Their charges range from alleged minor parole violations to a death penalty murder frame-up.

The government has attempted to portray these recent arrests as unrelated to each other. It has used the press to brand the BOAC and its members as dangerous criminals. This is part of its strategy to depoliticize and discredit the legitimate political work the organization has accomplished within the Berkeley and Oakland communities.

The recent arrests and harassment fit the historical strategy the government has used against the Black Liberation Movement and other progressive movements. As the Black Liberation Movement developed in response to the people’s needs in the 60s and 70s, the government responded with the development of COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). Organized by the FBI with the explicit purpose to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, dissolve and otherwise neutralize” the Black movement, the program was aimed at groups like the Black Panther Party. It used any means available to achieve its objectives, including the manipulation of the media, false prosecution and imprisonment, and the murder of political leaders. The recent frameups of BAOC members are part of the ongoing legacy of COINTELPRO, executed in this case by the CDC and the SSU.

The BAOC is comprised of prisoners and former prisoners. They define themselves as Afrikan revolutionaries dedicated to the national liberation of Afrikan people in this country, and to the ongoing struggle against racism, exploitation and police brutality in prison and in the Afrikan community. The concept of Black August developed inside the California prisons, under the leadership of men like George Jackson, W.L. Nolan and Jeffrey Khatari Gaulden, all murdered in California prisons. Black August was a response to the need of Afrikan prisoners to form a principled and effective political unity to combat the racism and genocide against Afrikan people behind the walls.

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