Watch 13th from Ava DuVernay at our Black August Kickoff of Conscious Cinema 2026
Mark Your Calendars for 8/16
Join Us for the Black August Kickoff of Conscious Cinema 2026, with 13th from Ava DuVernay
This Black August, BLM Grassroots Long Beach invites you to join us for a special Conscious Cinema community screening of Ava DuVernay’s 13th, a powerful documentary examining the connections between slavery, racial inequality, criminalization, policing, and mass incarceration in the United States.
Conscious Cinema Kickoff
Sunday, August 16
6 PM - 8:30 PM
at Blu Art & Wellness Gallery in Long Beach, CA
Free Entry & Light Refreshments
Street, metered, and garage parking are available near 6th and Pine Ave.
Black August is a time of remembrance, political education, reflection, discipline, and action rooted in the Black freedom struggle. Born behind California prison walls in 1979 as a commemoration and practice honoring Black freedom fighters and political prisoners, Black August carries forward the legacy of George Jackson, his younger brother Jonathan Jackson, and others whose resistance became part of a larger struggle for Black liberation. The tradition challenges us to study, fast, train, and fight, deepening our understanding of the systems we are working to transform while strengthening ourselves and our communities for the work ahead.
As part of our Black August observance, BLM Grassroots Long Beach, in partnership with VERB Community, BLU Art & Wellness Gallery, and So Hum Wellness invite you to the launch of Conscious Cinema, a Black-centered social justice film series bringing people together to watch, reflect, learn, and build power.
13th gives us an opportunity to do that learning together. The film traces the evolution of racialized systems of punishment from slavery and the 13th Amendment through Jim Crow, criminalization, the war on drugs, and mass incarceration. Following the film, we’ll gather for community dialogue about what we witnessed, what history can teach us, what has changed, what continues, and how these systems connect to present-day struggles against state-sanctioned violence and anti-Blackness.
Conscious Cinema is more than a movie night. It is an opportunity to turn storytelling into political education, conversation into connection, and learning into action. Mark your calendars for August 16, September 10 and 20, and October 8 and 18 for the series.
Bring a friend, bring your questions, and join us.
From Memory to Movement.
Study.
Fast.
Train.
Fight.
Study. Fast. Train. Fight.
Black August asks more of us than remembering.
It asks us to study those who came before us, understand the systems they confronted, strengthen ourselves and one another, and determine what our place is in the struggle now.
Black August continues beyond the screen
We also invite you to participate in BLM Grassroots’ Black August study of George Jackson’s Blood in My Eye. The next study session is Monday at 8 AM PST on Black Power Media’s YouTube channel.
If you don't already own the book, consider purchasing it from a Black-owned bookstore. Check these local ones out: Shades of Afrika | Rep.Club | Octavia’s Bookshelf | Malik Books
As you read, sit with the questions being raised in the next study session (pages 1-100):
What are we overestimating in systems of power and underestimating in ourselves?
What is one point of entry (a riot moment) for revolutionary or transformative change?
What communities are we part of, and how are we deeply rooting ourselves within them?
And there are many other ways to practice during Black August. Study revolutionary history. Support political prisoners. Write to incarcerated freedom fighters and put something on their books. Support organizations doing political-prisoner work. Support BLM Grassroots. Show up for organizing and actions in your own community. Follow us on IG @blmlbc.
