LIBERATION LECTIONARY - BLACK AUGUST

Rooted to Rise

“My son was executed by an ideal” Gwendolyn Woods, Mother of Mario Woods

Daily Readings from Isaiah 

Sunday Isaiah 62.1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for my city’s sake I will not remain quiet, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.

Monday Isaiah 62. 2-3 The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

Tuesday Isaiah 62. 4-5 No longer will anyone call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah (my delight), and your land Beulah (partnered); for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will have a covenant. In the same way that a person commits to a life partner, so will your Builder bring belonging to you; as a bridegroom rejoices over their bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

Wednesday Isaiah 62.6-7 I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Them no rest till They establish the holy city and make her the praise of the earth.

Thursday Isaiah 62. 8-9 The Lord has sworn by Their right hand and mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled; but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”

Friday Isaiah 62. 10 Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.

Saturday Isaiah 62. 11-12 The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’” They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.

Reflection: Rooted to Rise

In the strategy sessions and workshops that many of us participate in, we have grounding exercises to open the gatherings. One of the exercises requires a participant to reach down to connect to their roots: roots being principles and spiritual convictions, purpose and goals. Then the instruction ends in reach up for the aspirations of rising up to the full potential of the power of our movement, the limitless power of the collective people. Abolition is in many ways an opportunity for the same exercise. We must reach our roots, and sometimes uproot so that we can change them, in order to rise.

During Black August, we relate and work in ways that hold up four primary principles which root us in abolition work, so that we can rise up to our eventual total liberation. These principles have been given to us from the incarcerated beloved that we center in this month: Study, Train, Fast, Fight. politically, in advocacy, organizing or literal attempts for de-arrest and decarceration) Some of us will view fasting and fighting as embodied spiritual practices and want to start there. Studying and training are more mental, emotional and physical practices so others will prefer to begin there. We are beginning with “Study” because we’ve got to know what we are fighting for, and against.

Taking the principles in any order requires being grounded. As we study and train, we discover the need to be grounded in purpose for the work, so that no matter the challenge or success, we can hold on to the reason for our struggle and the eventuality we are striving toward. Abolition seeks the end of a punitive system so that a communal culture of safety can grow strong in its place. Take these examples rooted in the idea that failed policing and prison systems are proof that abolition is worth the hard work.

~ “Not only do police and prisons fail to make us safer, but reform has only strengthened their most toxic ingrained practices. The only answer is abolition, a full dismantling of the carceral state and the institutions that support it. Instead, we need to invest in a future that puts justice and the needs of the community first.” Level Editors, Abolition for the People Series

~ “A world without harm is not possible and isn’t what abolitionist vision purports to achieve. Rather, abolitionist politics and practice contend that disposing of people by locking them away in jails and prisons does nothing significant to prevent, reduce or transform harm in the aggregate. It rarely, if ever, encourages people to take accountability for their actions….Changing everything might seem daunting, but it also means there are many places to start” Mariame  Kaba, from the Abolition for the People Series

For us , the place to start is in study. And we are studying with the political prisoners who are fighting a battle on many fronts. They are the reason we study, fast, train and fight, because principled struggle has been the stabilizing force for their reality for decades. Movement for Black Lives is highlighting five political prisoners in Black August, in partnership with Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM)

Dr. Mutulu Shakur is a father, grandfather, healer, and human-rights activist who has been in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for more than 35 years. He is now 72 years old and has suffered two strokes, glaucoma, and stage 3 bone-marrow cancer for the last 4 ½ years. Dr. Shakur was sentenced to 60 years in prison because of actions based on his political beliefs. He was targeted and victimized by the now-infamous Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) as early as 1968. Sign this petition to call on President Biden to release Dr. Shakur, a Black elder who has spent his life advocating for our community. Donate to support Dr. Shakur’s fight for freedom here.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is an internationally celebrated Black writer and radio journalist, author of six books and hundreds of columns and articles, organizer and inspiration for the prison lawyers movement, former leader of the Black Panther Party, and supporter of Philadelphia’s radical MOVE organization who has spent the last 40 years in prison, the majority of it in solitary confinement on Pennsylvania’s Death Row. His case is widely regarded as an unfair trial, and his demand for a new trial and freedom is supported by leaders, activists, and public figures across the globe. Mumia is a human being, with a family and a network of friends and family who value his life. His case and struggle are important—first of all, because of the threat to the life and dignity he bears simply as a human being. He is a husband, father, and grandfather who, despite his isolation from his own family, has maintained an extraordinary sense of humane care and advocacy for them and many others. Donate here to support Mumia in his fight for freedom.

Kamau Sadiki is a father and a grandfather. As an original member of the Black Panther Party, he worked out of the Jamaica, Queens office. Kamau promoted the Ten-Point Program, worked in the Free Breakfast Program, sold the Black Panther newspaper, worked on community-education programs, organized tenants, and helped mothers in need. He was targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO efforts to stop these social programs and the popularity they earned the Black Panther Party. Kamau Sadiki is a loved and loving family man. Kamau’s two daughters and grandchildren are devastated by the absence of their loving, hard-working father, and are active in efforts to release him. Donate here to support their efforts to free him.

Imam Jamil Al Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, a Black revolutionary, civil-rights icon, and human-rights activist, has been wrongfully imprisoned for the past 22 years. Imam Jamil was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Minister of Justice for the Black Panther Party during the civil-rights movement. Imam Jamil was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for a crime he did not commit. Another man has since confessed to the crime, but this and other evidence have been left out of trials. Imam Jamil has been intentionally targeted for his powerful revolutionary work, deemed as a threat to the establishment. With a new district attorney, Imam Jamil has a new opportunity for justice and needs our urgent help for a new legal defense. Donate here to support his legal defense fund, then email key members of Congress with these easy templates to demand his transfer back to Atlanta.

Ed Poindexter is a civil-rights activist, writer, and leader within his community. In addition to working as a leader of the National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF), Poindexter has been previously elected as a delegate to the Douglas County Democratic Party convention. He has remained in custody since his arrest in 1970 and is serving a lifetime sentence. Wrongfully charged with the death of an Omaha police officer, Poindexter had witnesses who testified that he was nowhere near the bombing where the officer died. The prosecution vilified him over conspiracy claims. Due to his political work and being in the midst of cultural wars over racism, the nearly all-white jury found him guilty. Fifty years later, Poindexter has earned several college degrees, wrote courses for and taught self-improvement and anti-violence classes to youth, and has served as a role model to his fellow prisoners. At age 77, Poindexter is at high risk for COVID-related health complications. Sign this petition demanding that Ed Poindexter be released from prison immediately.

There are many, many, many more loved ones in cages. Please hold them up in high regard, and show them the favor that God shows people who are imprisoned. We are rooted in the stories of our loved ones, and we will not rest until they rise into freedom.

Prayer for the Incarcerated

Creator God, we pray for those beloved who are behind bars, but always before your presence. We pray that You give those who have trusted in You great peace. Please help them to have faith that You are present in all things and that your goodness can still show up and comfort them in a bad situation (Gen 50:20; John 3:16), and in even these beloved’s darkest hours, You are their true source of light, which can be found in Jesus Christ. We pray that you give them the peace that Your Word promises, and please help them to know that in You they are no longer condemned (Rom 8:1), no matter how long they are confined. With the comfort that You promised, please give solace to them Lord, so that they might pillow their head each night in peace, knowing that through your presence and your people’s prayers, no prison doors could keep their dignity from them. We pray that by divine power, the prisons would be open forevermore. 

Triune God, truly only You know how our loved ones feel at this time. We cannot know exactly what they are living through right now. The world seems to be getting more dangerous every day, Lord, and we know there are so many incarcerated who might live with great fear. In Your sovereign power, it pleased You to call out some of these in their loneliest hours, and to become new creations, with a new life in You. Help see that they can run to You, the Creator, for You are a Rock and a Shield to those who trust in You. You reach out to those who humble themselves, so help them lean on You and be set free from their fear. Please Lord, protect them on the inside, that they would be able to study,train, fast and fight. That they might be a witness to those still sitting in obscurity, without advocacy or hope. You alone know the future of these your children; help them to rest in Your love. Help them to know they can trust in You. Please allow them to find a community. Please keep them safe from further harm. Guard their minds and emotional well-being. Let them imagine freedom and give them a vision of the world You have empowered us to build together. Amen, Ashé

Music: Black August Playlist

This month’s meditation music varies from Gary Clark, Jr. and the Roots, Syl Johnson, to Sun Ra, and Anderson Paak. Enjoy these grooves under the themes of deliverance, dreaming for our futures, and demanding change even now. 

Apple Music Playlist

YouTube Video Playlist – watch live performances of the tracks we’ve chosen for this month.

Endnotes

Abolition for the People : Main navigation page for the full series. Scroll down to see all article options.

Inspiration source for This Week’s Prayers : Prayers for People Incarcerated

Artwork - Gnohité Prince Galla

Images: Movement for Black Lives