I Change My Mind About Black August

Black August is for black people and by black people. It started in 1971 after George Jackson, his brother, and four others were killed at San Quentin State Prison. The Center for Constitutional Rights said it’s a time to “honor political prisoners, freedom fighters, and martyrs of the Black freedom struggle.”

I was rolling my eyes at the fact that the only black folk I saw being honored were all…men.

Ain’t nothing wrong with that if it’s straight up called that. But it ain’t. Then BreAnna, one of Krak Teet’s researchers and writers, sent me an article by Kulture Hub last year that said:

“Black August is a time to reflect, revitalize, revisit, and refuel…August provides perspective in a way that allows productivity.”

At the beginning of August, I started eating lighter and going running again. I also started playing hooky from work. Although I work for myself and manage my own time, I gotta be careful not to lose myself in goals and deadlines. I’m living my dream, but I gotta make sure it FEELS like I am.

I’m taking today off today too! Last year this time, I was reading Hormone Intelligence. It asked me to reflect on my beliefs on my body’s ability to heal itself, my attitude about my monthly cycles, and how I felt about being a woman. It also asked for my mama’s beliefs and attitudes. I’ma revisit that question.

The mention about Black August being a time to mourn has been heavy too. August is the month my stepfather passed at 43 years old, the same age and disease as Chadwick Boseman (who passed on August 28, 2020). That brought to mind one of my best friends dying at 35. All from cancer. I’m learning how to make space for grief instead of just compartmentalizing it and moving on.

That’s what the system pushes us to do. It wants you to hurry up and “fix your face” so you can get back to work. It wants you to “rise and grind.” To hustle now and sleep when you die. It wants us stuck on the never-ending cycle of setting goals, making more, spending more, then restarting the cycle: setting goals, making more, and spending more.

As Ms. Deborah Johnson-Simon told me, “Don’t forget to do what can’t nobody else do for you.” Can’t nobody rest for you. Overworking is stressing us out. Stress is killing us too fast. Black August says put your foot down.

Black August is also a time to hold the unjust accountable.

In my line of work, that looks like checking black history and black culture. We can’t overlook our local game changers—past and present. In The Healing Wisdom of Africa, the author says it’s important to call the names of those from your birthplace. Y’all are connected. Look ’em up! Find ’em! Study ’em! Tell people about ’em!

We also gotta stop overlooking women and our gay cousins. Forget titles. Who’s putting the work in? The preacher might have his picture on the wall, but who’s actually making sure the church is organized and financed? Who are the mothers, aunties, and grandmamas that looked out? Who fed the neighborhood? Working in the daycares? How many teachers would be left if all the women quit? What they doing in the hospitals and nursing homes? Who mentoring (or even raising) the gay kids who run away from home ’cause they ain’t accepted there? Who show us how to show up and show out when ya own blood and ya own skinfolk can’t stand you?

Overlooking these heroes is one way of shooting ourselves in the foot. We also shoot ourselves in the foot when throw the whole apple away because a bruise on it. I’m talking about me and Black August. It rubbed me the wrong way when I first met it, so I tossed it aside. It has so much potential for my people though. We can’t be afraid of correcting each other. And being open to being corrected.

I originally posted this in 2022, but I’m updating it in 2023 to add that August is also the month that:

• Black people risked it all for each other in the Montgomery “fade in the water.”
• Savannah took a human trafficker’s name off a public square and replaced it with Susie King Taylor, a black woman liberator and educator. (That’s the first time that’s happened in Georgia).
• Sha’Carri Richardson, JuVaughn Harrison, Noah Lyles, and Laulauga Tausaga-Collins made history at the 2023 World Athletic Championship in Budapest.
• James Baldwin, Marsha P. Johnson, Anna Julia Cooper, Fred Hampton, and Marcus Garvey were born in August.
• Eatonville was incorporated, the Watts Uprising, the Haitian Revolution, Nat Turner’s Rebellion, the Fugitive Slave Law Convention, and the March on Washington went down in August.

So thank you, BreAnna, for bringing Black August back to my attention—reminding me of my right and my responsibility to rest and reset and nudge my people to do the same…’cause, truth is, we all ti’ed.