George Jackson, his younger brother, Jonathan Jackson and Khatari Gaulden are central to understanding Black August, the commemoration of the martyred freedom fighters that began in the California prison system in the 1970s. Jackson was an African born in America who became a Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party while in prison, where he spent the last 12 years of his life. His book of published letters, “Soledad Brother,” became an instant classic.
Gaulden became the leader inside San Quentin after George Jackson was murdered by the State on August 21, 1971. The Louisiana-born Gaulden was himself assassinated in 1978. The hit on Gaulden was the spark that led to the Black August prairie fire.
On August 7, 1970, in an action initiated by FBI infiltrator Cotton Smith to discredit and destroy the Panthers, George’s 17-year-old brother Jonathan burst into a Marin County courtroom with automatic weapons in attempt to free the “Soledad Brothers.”
The Soledad Brothers were George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgoole and John Clutchette.
The three brothers were accused of killing a white prison guard after another guard was cleared by the State for having gunned down three black inmates.
Jonathan Jackson freed three San Quentin prisoners and took Judge Harold Haley, Assistant District Attorney Gary Thomas and others as hostages to demand freedom for the three “Soledad Brothers.”
However, Haley, prisoners William Christmas and James McClain, and Jonathan Jackson were killed as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse. Ruchell Magee, the only survivor of the Marin County incident, still languishes in a California prison. The case made international headlines.
One year later on August 21, 1971, three days before he was to go on trial, George was assassinated in the prison yard at San Quentin in what was later exposed as an FBI counterinsurgency operation.
George Jackson’s assassination impacts a movement
On the day Jackson was murdered, this writer saw grown, macho men break down and cry tears bigger than cantaloupes. Jackson influenced a larger number of Africans-in-America and progressive thinking whites than can be imagined.
The murder of Jackson sent Archie Shepp, Bob Dylan and Steel Pulse into the studio to record tributes to him. Jackson was eulogized in the jazz, pop and reggae idioms. “Jazz” man Shepp released “Blues for Brother George Jackson” on his “Attica Blues” album.
Dylan did a single, “George Jackson,” and the British reggae band Steel Pulse recorded two songs, “George Jackson,” a cover of Dylan’s song, and “Uncle George,” on their 1977 album “Tribute to the Martyrs.” The group actually re-recorded “George Jackson” and “Uncle George” on the 2004 album “African Holocaust.”
Jackson’s impact was so great that Warner Bros. attempted to cash in on his image by producing a film, “Brothers,” starring Bernie Casey and Vonetta McGee. The soundtrack was performed by Taj Mahal. I saw the film in Memphis, Tennessee. There was only an elderly Euro-American couple and myself in the theater that day. When I saw the film, I was slippin’ into darkness (I was underground).
George Jackson’s influence
Who was George Jackson and why eulogize a “convict?” When Jackson was 18, he was sentenced from one year to life for stealing $70 from a gas station. He spent the next 11 years in prison, eight and a half of them in solitary confinement.
When he was 28 years old, he was charged with the murder of a guard in Soledad prison. Shortly after his indictment for this murder, his first book, “Soledad Brother,” a book of his letters, was published in England, Germany, Italy and Sweden.
He was acclaimed throughout the world as the most powerful and eloquent Black writer to emerge in years. He became a symbol for the struggle of all oppressed people.
Commenting on Jackson’s writing, C.L.R. James pointed out, “The letters are in my opinion the most remarkable political documents that have appeared inside or outside the United States since the death of (Vladimir Ilyich) Lenin.”
The late Walter Rodney used to talk about how it was amazing that Jackson could develop an international consciousness from a prison cell. Rupert Lewis, who wrote the book, “Walter Rodney’s Intellectual and Political Thought,” found an essay that Rodney had written about Jackson while he lived in Tanzania. The essay is titled, “History Is A Weapon George Jackson: Black Revolultionary.”
George Jackson continued to make news even after his death. When Stanley Tookie Williams was executed on December 13, 2005, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger evoked his name as one of the reasons that he wanted the co-founder of the Crips to die. Schwarzenegger, speaking of the list of individuals Williams’ book “Life in Prison” was dedicated to said, “the inclusion of George Jackson on this list defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed…”
Jackson’s second book, “Blood in My Eye,” was completed only days before his assassination. “Blood in My Eye” clearly showed Jackson’s global outlook.
He wrote, “The commitment to total revolution must involve an analysis of both the economic motives and the psychosocial motives which perpetuate the oppressive contract. For the black partisan, national structures are quite simply nonexistent. A people without a collective consciousness that transcends national boundaries—freaks, Afro-Amerikkkans, negroes, even Amerikkkans, without the sense of a larger community than their own group—can have no effect on history. Ultimately they will simply be eliminated from the scene.”
Black August to honor fallen freedom fighters
Kumasi is the official historian of the Black August Organizing Committee. Kumasi, who knew George Jackson personally and was locked down with him for a time, stated “Black August was created as a commemoration of those who have given their all already and a way to [rededicate] yourself to this struggle that is not over.”
