Policing isn’t the only root cause of Black rebellion
Analysis by Brandon Tensley This week marks the start of Black August. The annual commemoration originated in California’s prisons in the 1970s following the deaths of brothers Jonathan and George Jackson and other incarcerated Black men who protested prison conditions. Black August is a time to revisit the rich history of Black resistance. Historically and ironically, August has long been an active month for Black rebellion. In 1791, enslaved people in what is today Haiti launched a successful revolt against French colonial rule in a “revolutionary fight for freedom” that “helped make the United States the country that it is today,” as