Comrades,

We’d like to end the month of August by commemorating Black August, which honors the fallen freedom fighters of the Black Liberation Movement, and to call for the release of all political prisoners, abolition of all prisons, and to continue to build power for Black liberation.

Exactly 50 years ago on August 21, political prisoner George Jackson was assassinated by prison guards during a prisoner rebellion, which was a devastating loss to the movement. A year prior, his brother, Jonathan Jackson, led an armed attack as an act of resistance at the Marin County Courthouse to demand the release of his brother and two other prisoners. George Jackson was a field marshal of the Black Panther Party while incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison and was convicted of armed robbery 10 years prior to a term of “1-to-life”, nominally for robbing $70 from a gas station.

While the reasoning for his assassination was contested, it was clear from the beginning that this was a coordinated political attack. Novelist and activist James Baldwin famously wrote, “no Black person will ever believe that George Jackson died the way they tell us he did.”

With the commemoration of Black August expanding over the years, many observe it by wearing black armbands and reflecting on other struggles and milestones in the fight for liberation: the Nat Turner Rebellion, the Fugitive Slave Law Convention, the founding of the Underground Railroad, Emancipation of Caribbean Islands, the March on Washington, and the births of Marcus Garvey and Fred Hampton as well as the deaths of the Jackson brothers.

As abolitionists, we honor George Jackson and other political prisoners’ legacies as not only a symbol of resistance to the violent prison industrial complex, but to also recognize the overall importance of fighting against the white supremacist capitalist system, which hinders our journey towards liberation, on all fronts. We must also learn from the revolutionaries that are no longer with us on Earth while fighting for those held captive indefinitely, such as Mumia Abu-Jamal and many more.

Until all political prisoners are free, we will keep working to dismantle systemic racism and all of the other oppressive structures that uphold capitalism. If we can struggle together, we can win.

“They have learned that resistance is actually possible. The holds are beginning to slip away.” —George Jackson

Solidarity,

DSA SF Communications Committee

Join DSA Today!

Upcoming Events

? Wednesday, 9/1 (6:30 p.m.): Intro to DSA (Zoom)

? Friday, 9/3 (7:00 p.m.): Tenant Solidarity Documentary Screening (Zoom)

? Wednesday, 9/8 (6:45 p.m.): September Chapter Meeting (Zoom)

? Saturday, 9/18 (3:00 p.m.): Conflict in China: 1949 to Now panel discussion (Zoom)

For more events, click here.

Regular Chapter Meeting

Mark your calendars – the next regular DSA SF chapter meeting is Wednesday, September 8 at 6:45 p.m.!  Be sure to RSVP for the meeting here.

Announcements

Join the Black Liberation/Indigenous Sovereignty Priority Campaign!

Calling all comrades: Black Liberation/Indigenous Sovereignty Priority Leadership are searching for comrades interested in joining our Priority Campaign.
This work needs a variety of hands on deck!

We are currently looking for comrades to join us as:

  • Liaisons to the Labor, Electoral, Ecosoc, Justice, and AfroSOC committees.
  • Members of our political education crew, which is searching for comrades interested in political education work around anti-oppression, racial capitalism, Indigenous sovereignty, abolition training, and other related areas. The political education crew will work on building a curriculum, planning educational events, and incorporating Black liberation/Indigenous sovereignty into our chapter materials (Points of Unity, zines, Intro to DSA/socialism, etc).
  • DSA SF representatives to the DefundSFPDNow Campaign and the No New SF Jail Coalition

Are you more of an admin guru? Join us as a mobilizer and help us create a BLIS onboarding plan for our chapter and curate a calendar of events! Interested comrades should reach out to blis@dsasf.org and make sure to join our Slack channel #priority-black-liberation-indigenous-sovereignty

Intro to DSA is tomorrow!


Come learn what DSA is doing to build the socialist movement in San Francisco! Tomorrow, September 1 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom, there will be an introduction to the mission of DSA, the socialist project, and what our organizers are doing locally. Join us and bring your questions and a friend! Register here.

Electoral Board Update: Join a Ballot Measure Committee!

The Electoral board wants you to get involved with a committee! We need people who are interested in fundraising, research, and outreach to help get our project off the ground. Committees are beginning to meet separately from the board as a whole – fill out a form and someone will tell you when the next one is.

The outreach committee will be meeting this Wednesday, September 1 at 6:00 p.m.Meeting details are on the internal calendar.

Conflict in China Panel: 1949 to Now

Join the Education Committee on Zoom on Saturday, September 18 at 3:00 p.m. for a panel discussion on the social and political conflicts that have driven China’s history since the 1949 Revolution to develop a stronger understanding of China today. Speakers will be from China, Europe, and the US, covering labor and feminist struggles in China since 1949, political developments, and the contemporary situation. Register for the event here!

Fill out the survey about our future office garden!

The DSA SF Ecosocialist Committee is working with two awesome high school seniors who are dedicating their senior project to setting up our office’s *brand new garden space.* Your opinions will be the basis of how this project will be structured and how it will operate. Please provide input here!