Black resistance pumps through the veins of August. In August 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived on these shores. The Watts Rebellion erupted on August 11, 1965, outside of Los Angeles, sparked by the racist hatred spewed by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The Attica Prison Rebellion (though officially dated in September) began August 10, 1970, when prisoners in search of improved living conditions and political rights at the prison began the “Long Attica Revolt.” And, on August 21, 1971, revolutionary George Jackson was assassinated during an escape attempt at San Quentin prison. Today, a rebellious tradition continues behind the concrete walls of Snake River Correctional Institution, part of the Oregon State Prison (OSP) system. In a segregation cell in Oregon, political prisoner Malik Muhammad carries forward the legacy of Black August through a simple yet powerful challenge: 100 reps for liberation.

Malik Muhammad is serving concurrent 10-year sentences stemming from alleged actions during the 2020 George Floyd protests. Now confined at Snake River, Malik faces the brutal reality of Oregon’s prison system. While Oregon prisons generally lack basic amenities like air conditioning and adequate food, and show little respect for religious practices, it’s the use of solitary confinement that reveals glaring human rights violations within the state’s prison system. Malik has spent all of 2024, and already eight months of 2025, in segregation, where prisoners are held in a solitary cell without fresh air, recreation or socialization, and can be held for up to 180 days without charges, while simply under disciplinary “investigation.”

“If you come to the hole without mental health problems, it’s not possible for you to leave without some serious mental health issues,” Malik explains. The racism is explicit: “The are in your face with their racism, and they are in your face with their violence and their heinousness.”

Despite this repression, Malik continues the organizing tradition that traces back to George Jackson, a hero and revolutionary murdered at San Quentin on August 21, 1971. Black August emerged from California prisons over four decades ago as both memorial and mandate – honoring fallen freedom fighters while building unity among the living. As scholar Nkechi Taifa writes, it represents “a recommitment to the struggle for liberation” that connects prison walls to broader fights for reparatory justice.

This month, Malik participated in Black August gatherings where Black prisoners would complete their daily exercise challenge together and share meals. “At the end, at OSP we make a big spread together, and we try — we try to preach unity – and we always say it shouldn’t be Black August for just one month, it should be Black August every day of the year. We should all be unified.”

At Snake River, located in the rural eastern border of Oregon adjacent to Idaho run by

a very non-BIPOC administration, this Black August tradition goes unrecognized – another form of state-supported institutional repression.

Beyond Bars: Love, Art, and Hope

The personal cost of resistance runs deep. Malik’s son turns 10 next month, another birthday he’ll miss from prison. “He’s as loving and resolute as I am,” Malik says, writing songs and poetry about the boy whose pictures line his cell wall.

Inside, creativity becomes its own form of resistance. Malik is completing a book of poetry for publication, and has finished one novel, with three more in progress, drawing inspiration from writers like Octavia Butler. When asked what sustains him, he credits his “siblings” and community: “Hope is a revolutionary’s responsibility and an anarchist’s greatest weapon. It’s the people, it’s us, that gives me hope.”

>>Join the Challenge<<

The Black August challenge is simple: complete 100 repetitions of any exercise daily throughout August. For Malik, this physical preparation serves a dual purpose – maintaining mental and physical fitness, while building the strength needed to protect oneself and comrades from both guards and white supremacist groups.

But the challenge extends beyond individual fitness. It’s about building solidarity across prison walls, connecting historical resistance to present struggle, and embodying the discipline that liberation requires. Every burpee, push-up, or squat becomes an act of defiance against systems designed to break bodies and spirits.

This August, let solidarity, liberation, and unity call you as you complete your daily reps, and know that you’re not exercising alone. You’re joining a tradition that spans from San Quentin to Snake River, from George Jackson to Malik Muhammad, from the first Black August to this moment. Go ahead and answer the call. 

Support Malik Muhammad:

Malik Muhammad
#23935744
Snake River Correctional Institution
777 Stanton Blvd.
Ontario, OR 97914-8335

Follow his writing at malikspeaks.noblogs.org and on Mastodon @malikspeaks.

Send him a book from his wish list!

*Source: These quotes and much of this information stems from the Final Straw Radio podcast interview with Malik Muhammad (August 17, 2025).