Attica

[Hampton]

32 years ago on Sept. 11, the Attica prison in upstate New York was in the middle of a five-day uprising. Nearly 1,300 prisoners took control of the prison to protest the inhumane treatment at the facility. The unnamed prisoners took control of the prison for four days and held 39 prison guards hostage. There was no attempted escape. Negotiations between the inmates and the state took place. Then on Sept. 13, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ordered armed state troopers to raid the prison.

It would become one of the bloodiest days of the 20th century in the United States. Troopers shot indiscriminately over 2000 rounds of ammunition. 39 men would die, 29 prisoners and 10 guards. After the shooting stopped, police beat and tortured scores of more prisoners. 90 of the surviving prisoners were seriously wounded but were initially denied medical care. And the state would originally claim that all of the guards had died at the hands of the inmates. The New York Times reported on its front page the throats of all of the guards were slashed. But it was lies. The guards had been shot dead during the raid. After a quarter century of legal struggles, the state of New York would eventually award the surviving prisoners of Attica $12 million in damages.

Attica in pictures (http://www.democratandchronicle.com/news/extra/attica/gallery/attica000.html)

George Jackson and the modern anti-prison movement mp3 (http://prisonactivist.org/blackaugust/GeorgeJackson.mp3)

Forgotten victims of Attica (http://www.atticaforgotten.com/Default.htm)

[Kez]

thnx man, good shit

you can imagine what the cappies would have sed had this haoppenedd in the USSR...

"Communism on brink of collapse!"
"Gulags of communism!"
"Freedom denied under communism!"

wankers

[Marxist in Nebraska]

I am a history buff, and I key most of all on U.S. history, but I must admit that I had never heard of this or anything like this before. This is really ugly. It is easy to see why something like this would not make it into U.S. history class.

Comrade TavareeshKamo... if this had happened in the USSR, the New York Times and the rest would have acted just as you say. This would make some good propaganda--the regime is teetering... there is chaos in the strongest institutions!

[Hampton]

Here&#39;s the list if their demands, they sound so unreasonable <_< :

The Fifteen Practical Proposals:
-Apply the New York State minimum wage law to all state institutions. STOP SLAVE LABOR.
-Allow all New York State prisoners to be politically active, without intimidation or reprisals.
-Give us true religious freedom.
-End all censorship of newspapers, magazines, letters and other publications coming from the publisher.
-Allow all inmates, at their own expense, to communicate with anyone they please.
-When an inmate reaches conditional release date, give him a full release without parole.
-Cease administrative resentencing of inmates returned for parole violations.
-Institute realistiv rehabilitation programs for all inmates according to their offense and personal needs.
-Educate all correctional officers to the needsof the inmates, i.e., understanding rather than punishment.
-Give us a healthy diet, stop feeding us so much pork, and give us some fresh fruit daily.
-Modernize the inmate educational system.
-Give us a doctor that will examine and treat all inmates that request treatment.
-Have an institutional delegation comprised of one inmate from each company authorized to speak to the institution administration concerning grievances (QUARTERLY).
-Give us less cell time and more recreation with better recreational equipment and facilities.
-Remove inside walls, making one open yard, and no more segregation or punishment.


The above demands are mere requests for prisoners to be treated as human beings. Prisoners continue to face struggles against regular torture, slave labor, censorship, inadequate medical care, excessive lockdown and even murder at the hands of guards. Amerikas disproportionate sentencing of national minorities combined with oppressive conditions within the gulags must be fought.

[Drew]

I&#39;ve never heard of this incident... then again, I&#39;m not a HIStory buff <_<

I did go to the sites listed and I found the last one interesting. It&#39;s ironic that widows and surviving officers want some type of compensation for their "losses"... HUMPH. When all they went through was the same shat they put inmates through. SMH @ "Mental and Physical torture".

The news is wonderful at twisting information and presenting it in a way that fits the needs of a certain group. It describes the inmates (which was magnificently bolded @ the end, lol) as if they&#39;re savages, trying to stir up trouble and change things beyond their control. Well damn.

[Comrade Raz]

Previous to reading this post the only referance to Attica i&#39;ve heard is in a Rage Agianst the Machine song. Thnx for opening my eyes man.

[Jesus Christ]

wow, thats some serious shit
never heard of it before
thanks alot

[Marxist in Nebraska]

I wound up reading the chapter of Howard Zinn&#39;s People&#39;s History mentioning Attica only a few days after my first post on this thread. Very interesting story... tragic, but interesting. A serious black eye for U.S. image, and that is why this is NEVER discussed anywhere.

[Ragefan3189]

The only reason the story was changed and is left out of general society is because the US was trying to build their hegemonic (hegemonic being that the US is the only supreme power and can do what they want) power. That way the USSR and other countries wouldn&#39;t see the weakness sprouting in the US and they couldn&#39;t start another war. It&#39;s all about territorial coherence and protecting the nation and junk like that.

[Hampton]

34 Years Ago...

http://www.americanheritage.com/assets/images/articles/web/20050913_attica.jpg


“If we cannot live as people, then we will at least try to die like men,” declared the prisoners’ spokesman. A thousand inmates had taken over Attica prison in upstate New York in September 1971 and held 43 hostages for four days. Over those four days, negotiations for an end to the siege crumbled. On September 13 state troopers stormed the fortress in a bungled rescue operation and killed 39 people.


“I don’t know any other employer who could murder their employees and get away with it, except the government,” a former hostage remarked. In 2005, he and his co-workers were awarded &#036;1.3 million in damages.

Link. (http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/web/20050913-attica-prison-hostages-new_york.shtml)

[Vallegrande]

Previous to reading this post the only referance to Attica i&#39;ve heard is in a Rage Agianst the Machine song. Thnx for opening my eyes man.
Raz, there is another one I heard called CIA (Criminals In Action) with Zack De La Rocha: "Attica Attica/ Drug Agents you bring your statica/ My alphabet will slash and then can flip you, automatica"

Then another one was "Dog Day Afternoon" with Al Pacino as a bank robber, where he screams "Attica&#33; Attica&#33; Attica&#33;" with the onlookers cheering him on.

I just know that Attica had a lot to do with illegal narcotic dealing from the CIA.

Hey wasn&#39;t Bush Sr. head of the Narcotics in the CIA during Reagans time???

[Hampton]

He was VP to the gipper, CIA head during Ford, and Attica has more to do with George Jackson than with the CIA. The only connection I have found is in that song.

[Clarksist]

Quite the interesting turn of events. While I&#39;m sure that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of both arguments, I somehow find myself on the side of the insurrectionary prisoners (hmm... wonder why :P).

I have heard the term "Attica" many times before, but I never knew what it alluded to. Tis a good band name.

[Hiero]

Ohh so thats what Attica is. I though he was refering to Attica as in the plains where Athens is.

[Vallegrande]

I read about the Attica Manifesto that was requested by the prisoners. The one that struck my eye was the right for them to form unions. That just blows my mind, I support this if it were possible.

[Organic Revolution]

i read about this in howard zinns book. very sad, very interesting. hampton, thanks for the links.

[novemba]

the prisoners should have killed every fuckin pig when they got the chance

[Clarksist]

the prisoners should have killed every fuckin pig when they got the chance


And what would that solve? There would be more dead people, and the same outcome. Truly, most police officers become policemen to protect & serve, even though they aren&#39;t killing them does nothing but rob an innocent person of their life.