Contribute to the Mafundi Lake Prisoner Subscription Program providing free subscriptions to over 800 prisoners in the U.S.
Black August was initiated at the height of the U.S. government's counterinsurgency in the 1970s when black revolutionaries across the country were unjustly incarcerated, brought political education into the prisons with them and organized fierce resistance from inside the prison walls.
Since our founding in 1968, The Burning Spear newspaper has publicized the struggles to free African people from U.S. colonial prisons, including historic campaigns led by the African People’s Socialist Party. The Spear regularly prints letters and articles by our brothers and sisters held captive, and we ship copies of the paper, free of charge, to any prisoner who requests it. (Request a prisoner subscription at TheBurningSpear.com/Prisoner)
Today anti-colonial struggle of African and other colonized peoples around the world is on the rise, this time 'til its won! The Burning Spear brings news of these struggles to those who the State tries to isolate.
Mafundi Lake was a shining example of an African hero—a political prisoner who would not stop fighting even after being held for decades on bogus charges. The Burning Spear Prisoner Subscription Program is named in his honor. Long live Mafundi Lake! Victory to the African Revolution!
Spear readers - we need your support!
Contribute to our Black August fundraising goal: at least $5,000 to fund the prisoner subscription program as it grows to reach more of our people behind prison walls! Donate today!
More about the Mafundi Lake Prisoner Subscription Program
Over two million African people are locked up in U.S. prisons.
The mass incarceration of African people is genocide, breaking up families and preventing births by removing African men and women from our community during their prime productive years.
Prison in the U.S. is modern-day slavery, where the forced labor of African people makes millions for the government and corporations.
With the privatization of prisons, libraries are closing and information from the outside world is increasingly denied to our brothers and sisters behind bars.
Since its first print issue in 1968, The Burning Spear newspaper has always been sent free to any prisoner who requests it.
The Burning Spear newspaper is a lifeline to thousands of Africans in prison who pass the paper from cell to cell until it falls apart.
The Spear helps African prisoners understand the real reason they are locked up -- because we as an African nation don't have state power to determine our own destiny or to control the value that our labor has created.
The Spear ends the isolation of African prisoners, connecting them to the African nation and to the heroic resistance of African people throughout the world.
We depend on donations from supporters like you to pay for the subscriptions that they can't.
Today, The Burning Spear's Mafundi Lake Prisoner Subscription Program ships papers to over 800 prisoners in hundreds of prisons across the U.S.
Every week, The Burning Spear office receives letters from prisoners asking to receive The Spear, asking for help with their case, or just telling their story.
Here are excerpts from a couple of letters:
"I very much look forward to getting my new issue of The Burning Spear newspaper in the mail every month...The Burning Spear newspaper is an indispensable information and educational asset to the human community and should be available wherever people live."
"The Burning Spear newspaper is a political tool for liberation...The Burning Spear is a connection of political, social and economic awareness of how to become self-determined African people."
The Spear is more than a newspaper to Africans held captive in the brutal prisons in the U.S.
Your contribution supports the Mafundi Lake Prisoner Subscription Program that puts The Spear in the hands of African prisoners every single month!
Help us reach and surpass our $5,000 fundraising goal for Black August to help fund this program.
And we invite those who are able to make your donation monthly which provides a stable base of support to The Spear ensuring the ongoing publication and growth of this important black power newspaper.