July/August Newsletter

Like many others, we’re feeling the intensity of this political moment, and are holding James Baldwin’s words close to our hearts:  

“One must say Yes to life and embrace it whenever it is found — and it is found in terrible places; nevertheless, there it is. For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”  

Along with the thousands of people around the country who gathered last week in a national day of mourning, we grieve the loss of Sonya Massey, Black mother shot in the face by police when she called them for help to respond to a possible intruder. This violent system will never respect or protect Black life, which is why the struggle to end racist policing is the only way Black people will ever have safety.

It is in this spirit that we want to uplift Black August, a practice used by many Black communities as a call for study, reflection, and action to promote Black liberation. Black August has its origins in the 1970’s Black-led resistance inside California’s prison system. It began as a way to honor the revolutionary legacy of George Jackson, assassinated by prison guards on August 21,1971, and became a practice by imprisoned people who would fast between sun up and sun down, abstain from using radios or television, and focus on study.  

Today’s struggle for abolition of the prison industrial complex, demands for an end to state violence, the struggle to free our political prisoners, like Mumia Abu-Jamal, Kamau Sadiki, Jamil Al-Amin, Leonard Peltier and others carry on this tradition. The Black freedom struggle has profoundly shaped Catalyst’s politics as an organization committed to fighting white supremacy and supporting self-determination for oppressed people. In the words of our political ancestor Anne Braden, whose 100th birthday was celebrated on July 28, “The fight against racism is not something we’re called on to help people of color with. We need to become involved as if our lives depend on it, because they do.”


Anne Braden Program

If you missed the second panel of this year’s Anne Braden Program, Black Liberation: Fighting for Freedom and Bodily Autonomy in Florida, with Devan Cheaves, Diamond Delancy and Yordanos Molla, check out the recording.

Join us this Sunday at 1pm PT for our final panel of the program, Fight Fascism but Stay Visionary, with speakers Kat Passley (Beyond the Bars), Afifa Khaliq (SEIU Florida Public Services Union) and David Caicedo (Right to the City Alliance). Register here for the virtual event or join us in person at Savoy Orlando, 1913 N Orange Ave.


Braden Alumni

We are grieving the loss of Braden alum Chelsea Glass, a deeply committed, inspiring working class organizer from Memphis who passed recently, survived by two little ones, her husband, and countless friends, one of whom wrote this beautiful piece about her and her passing.