Dear John, At the initiative of the African American Equality Commission, the CPUSA.org website collective invites you to submit written, video, and audio submissions in recognition of Black August. Black August began in the 1970s to commemorate the assassination of George Jackson during a prison rebellion in California. Jackson was a leader of the Black Panther Party. It is meant to honor and remember political prisoners and those murdered by the capitalist state for their political beliefs and to honor the rich radical Black tradition of resistance to white supremacy. August also marks the anniversaries of the Haitian Revolution, the Watts Rebellion, the births of Fred Hampton and William L. Patterson, along with the deaths of W.E.B. Du Bois and Louise Thompson Patterson. The CPUSA has always insisted that the struggles against capitalist exploitation and against racial and national oppression are unique, but interdependent and overlapping in their history and their demands. Building the unity we need requires that the working class as a whole take up the fight for the demands expressed by movements of people of color in their struggle for equality. From the fight to defend the Scottsboro Nine to the We Charge Genocide petition to the fight to free Angela Davis and all political prisoners, the Communist Party has played an integral role in the struggle for African American equality and liberation. In honor of this tradition we invite you to a discussion of the following issues: How can CPUSA contribute most effectively to the fight against racism and for African American equality, both a) within the working class, and b) between the working class as a whole and the African-American people in their struggle for social and political equality? c) In addition to the fight to free Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier and for community control of the police, what are the main issues and struggles in the fight against political repression today? We want to hear from you! We welcome written contributions, and participation via video or audio. Priority will be given to submissions of 1000 words/7 minutes or less. Here are some pieces to stimulate your thinking and that present the CPUSA’s understanding of special oppression, the fight for equality, and the need for unity. Survival or liberation? (Henry Winston) Special Oppression & Exploitation (excerpt from party program) The urgency of now: African-Americans and women (Dee Miles) Leninism and the African-American national question (Joe Sims and Jarvis Tyner) The fight for voting rights today (video, multiple presenters) Five misconceptions about the CP’s stance on Black liberation The Communist view on community control of police In struggle, The African American Equality Commission and CPUSA website collective | 
